Corinna's Diary

Thanksgiving Tips, Tricks & More

1. Plan— preplan as much as possible, and give yourself enough time for shopping as not all stores carry the same seasonal ingredients. The worst thing to do is become stressed out because you’re short on time!
2. Thaw the bird— thawing time depends on the size of the turkey, however allowing for 2-3 days in the fridge before the day of cooking will allow it to thoroughly thaw beforehand.
3. Don’t stuff the bird! In cooking school, you are taught to never stuff the cavity of poultry EVER because the risk of food borne illness (salmonella).
4. However as a chef, the other important reason I don’t stuff the bird is because the turkey becomes grossly overcooked by the time the stuffing is considered food safe. You can prepare the stuffing in a separate baking dish, and not worry about anyone getting sick or complaining about dry turkey!
   
   Do as much prep work in advance, so the day of you can focus your energy on all the things you are grateful for!

The Best Ever Stuffing Recipe

Ingredients:

3/4 cup unsalted butter, cut into cubes
10 cups sourdough bread, cubed and allowed to dry out overnight 1/3 cup coarsely chopped hazelnuts
3 tbsp olive oil
4 Italian sausage (hot, mild or sweet), casings removed
2 yellow onions, chopped
4 stalks celery, diced
1 bulb fennel, chopped
2 tbsp chopped fresh sage
1/2 cup dry white wine
2 large eggs, beaten
2 cups turkey or chicken stock

Method:

Preheat oven to 350F; butter a 3 qt baking dish.
Heat oil in a large skillet, add sausage and cook 7-10 min. or until browned; breaking up into small pieces as it cooks. Transfer to a separate bowl. Add 1/2 cup of the cubed butter, onion, celery and fennel with sage, salt and pepper and saute 10 min. or until golden brown. Add wine and simmer 5 min. until reduced. Place bread, nuts and sausage and onion mixture into a large bowl.

Whisk 2 cups of stock with eggs and add to bread mixture, and stir until moistened; add more stock 1/4 cup at a time until combined and bread is hydrated. Transfer to the prepared baking dish and dot with remaining 1/4 cup of butter.

Butter one side of aluminum foil and cover the stuffing with foil, butter side down. Bake 30 min then increase oven temperature to 450F and bake uncovered 25 min. until top of stuffing is golden brown and crisp.

*Stuffing can be made the day before! Cover and chill until ready to bake!

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