Showing posts with label bread stuffing. Show all posts
Showing posts with label bread stuffing. Show all posts

Saturday, October 8, 2011

Escallopped Chicken - handed down recipe

                             Escalloped Chicken

2- cups cooked chicken meat or meat pulled from one cooked chicken

dressing:
4 1/2 cups cubed bread dried
1 1/2 tsp sage
1/4 tsp pepper
1-egg
1/2 cup chicken broth

sauce:
1 3/4 cups milk
3-additional eggs
1/2 cup flour
1/3 cup chicken broth
salt and pepper to taste

Mix dressing ingredients uncooked adding the egg last and mixing until ingredients are combined well (this can be done by hand).

Cook sauce ingredients in a sauce pan until thick and smooth stirring to ensure eggs incorporate thoroughly.

Grease an oven safe casserole dish and layer dressing and chicken alternately starting with a layer of dressing on the bottom and pouring a portion of the sauce over each layer ending with a layer of sauce on top.

Bake at 350 degrees until light brown on top.  Use a meat thermometer and use the guide for chicken to ensure proper temperature and a safe product.

Allan

Homemade Stuffing - Savory Holiday Stuffing

This is my mother's famous recipe-We'll call it Jeanette's Famous Stuffing

2-large loaves of white bread, torn apart or cubed and dried (about 2 days at room temp, or 1/2 hour oven)
1-medium onion
2-3 stalks celery
3 small or 1 large can chicken broth or 4 cups chicken/turkey broth from giblets
2-tsp rubbed sage
2-tsp poultry seasoning
1-stick real butter
salt and pepper to taste

In a large pan bring chicken broth, butter, onions and celery to boil and cook on slow heat until the celery and onions are tender; about 10-15 minutes

In a large bowl, add bread and sprinkle evenly with the sage and poultry seasoning.

Pour hot broth with the onions and celery evenly over the bread and mix as you pour just enough to evenly coat the bread (you can add more broth if necessary to moisten the bread).  The stuffing should be moist but not mushy. Slightly hard or solid on the inside of the pieces is desired as the remaining moisture will slowly seep in especially if the stuffing is cooked in the bird.

If stuffing a chicken or turkey, my mother fills the bird's cavity with hot stuffing and immediately cooks the bird until done.  This makes the best stuffing in my opinion as the juices from the turkey are absorbed for added flavor. 

If cooking the stuffing separately, bake until the consistency is to your liking.  Remember, everything is already cooked and all you are doing is baking away some of the moisture while leaving all of the flavor at this point.

According to television chefs, if stuffing a bird, heat the stuffing in the microwave until piping hot so that it does not keep the inside of the bird cold while the bird is in the oven and never stuff the bird and then refrigerate without cooking immediately.

People ask my mother for this recipe constantly. I think once you try it, you'll never make stuffing differently.  Simple but oooh sooo savory.

Allan