Sausage and Apple Stuffing
Stuffing have been a part of cooking since Roman times, usually relying on pieces of bread or another starch to bulk up a meal. Somewhat akin to a savory bread pudding, stuffing is a great example of a recipe which is greater than the sum of its parts—stale bread and humble vegetables absorbing the flavors of the other ingredients and binding them together. This stuffing recipe celebrates several common American fall flavors—apples, sage, cranberries, and sausage.[1]
When it comes to Thanksgiving, I strongly recommend against cooking a bird like a turkey with a dense stuffing in the cavity, as the geometry of the bird precludes safely cooking any stuffing in the cavity to temperature without inevitably overcooking the rest of the bird. By cooking our stuffing separately and serving it as a side, we can better control the cook of both the turkey and the stuffing.
Ingredients
12 oz country bread, diced
16 oz Italian sweet sausage
2 onions, diced
3 stalks celery, diced
3 apples, peeled and diced
1 sprig sage, chopped
2 cups turkey broth
1 cup dried cranberries (optional)
3 eggs
3 oz butter
Salt to taste
Black pepper to taste
The day before you intend to cook the stuffing, dice the bread into ½ inch cubes and spread them out on a tray to stale for at least 8 hours, preferably overnight. Drying the bread allows it to absorb the broth and liquids from the other ingredients, improving the flavor of the final stuffing and preventing it from being too soggy. It’s important that the dice is small and uniform, so that bites of stuffing will include some of each ingredient.
On the day you’re ready to assemble the stuffing, prepare the sausage meat by removing the sausage from its casing. Place the sausage meat in a cold nonstick skillet, and break it up into small pieces. Heat the skillet gradually over medium-low heat, rendering fat from the sausage. Fry the sausage in its own fat until browned and fully cooked, which should take about 10 minutes. Remove the cooked sausage from the skillet and set aside in a large mixing bowl.
While the sausage is cooking, prepare the vegetation. Finely dice the onions and celery into ½ inch pieces, and peel and chop the apples into ½ inch pieces. Remove the sage leaves from the stalks and chiffonade (finely chop) them.[2]
Add 2 oz butter to the now-empty skillet and melt it over medium-high heat. Add the diced onions and celery to the skillet and cook the vegetables, stirring occasionally, until very soft. This should take about 20 minutes. This is further than you’d normally cook a mirepoix, but we want very soft vegetables for this application, which will blend better into the other ingredients.
In a large bowl, combine the sausage, vegetables, bread, diced apples, chopped sage, and optional dried cranberries. If your largest bowl is too small to comfortably hold these ingredients, work in batches instead. Mix the ingredients together, and season to taste with salt and black pepper.
Beat the three eggs, and mix the beaten eggs with 2 cups of turkey broth. Gradually pour this mixture into the bowl. Depending on how dry your bread is, you may have to add more or less of the egg and broth mixture. Ideally, we want the bread to be saturated with the mixture, with no excess liquid at the bottom of the bowl. Stir until all of the ingredients are well combined. Then pour the stuffing mixture into a well-greased 9”x13” baking dish, using clean hands to gently press the stuffing into the dish. We are looking for an ideal thickness of about 1½ to 2 inches. Feel free to use other baking dishes or a cast-iron skillet to bake the stuffing.
Seal the top of the baking dish with aluminum foil. You can either proceed immediately to baking, or you can store the stuffing in the refrigerator for up to 1 day. For a Thanksgiving or Christmas dinner, I recommend doing these steps a day in advance, so on the day of service, you can just throw the premade stuffing into the oven.
When you’re ready to bake, preheat the oven to 350° F. Brush the top of the stuffing with 1 oz melted butter, which will assist in browning. Then reseal the top of the dish with foil and bake, covered, for 20 minutes, or until warmed through. Then remove the foil and bake for an additional 20 minutes uncovered, to brown the top. Remove from the oven when the stuffing is done to your liking, and let rest for 10 minutes prior to service. The rest period is important, as it will allow the bread in the stuffing to relax and absorb more of the moisture, resulting in a more uniformly textured bite.
Substitutions
If you don’t have turkey broth on hand, you can substitute it for chicken broth or stock. Thyme is a welcome addition to the stuffing, as is parsley. You can substitute breakfast sausage for the Italian sausage in this dish. Sourdough bread and French bread both work well in this recipe. However, avoid for this application soft or dense breads, such as brioche.
[1] Other names for stuffing include “farce” and “forcemeat.” Stuffing-like foods which are cooked in a casserole, rather than stuffed into another food, are referred to by some as “dressing,” rather than “stuffing.”
[2] “Chiffonade” means “little ribbons” in French.
Recipe
Prep Time: 20 min Cook Time: 1 hr 10 min Total Time: 1 hr 40 min
(+8 hrs inactive) (1 day)
Difficulty: 2/5
Heat Sources: 1 burner, oven
Equipment: nonstick skillet, 9”x13” baking dish, aluminum foil
Servings: 8
Ingredients
12 oz country bread, diced
16 oz Italian sweet sausage
2 onions, diced
3 stalks celery, diced
3 apples, peeled and diced
1 sprig sage, chopped
2 cups turkey broth
1 cup dried cranberries (optional)
3 eggs
3 oz butter
Salt to taste
Black pepper to taste
Instructions
1. The day before cooking, dice the bread into ½ inch cubes and spread them out on a tray to stale overnight.
2. Remove the sausage from its casing, and place in a cold skillet, breaking the sausage up into small pieces. Heat the skillet over medium-low heat, rendering fat from the sausage. Fry the sausage pieces until browned and fully cooked, about 10 minutes. Remove the cooked sausage from the skillet and set aside.
3. Meanwhile, dice the onions, celery, and apples into ½ inch pieces.
4. Melt 2 oz butter in the empty skillet over medium-high heat. Add the onions and celery to the skillet and cook, stirring occasionally, for about 20 minutes, or until very soft.
5. In a large mixing bowl, combine the diced bread, cooked sausage, cooked vegetables, diced apples, finely chopped sage, and dried cranberries. Mix well and season to taste with salt and pepper.
6. Beat the eggs, mix them with the turkey broth, and pour the mixture into the large bowl with the other ingredients. Stir until all ingredients are well combined.
7. Pour the stuffing mixture into a well-greased 9”x13” baking dish, using clean hands to gently press the stuffing into the dish. Seal the top of the baking dish with aluminum foil. Either bake the stuffing immediately, or store in the refrigerator for up to 1 day until ready to bake.
8. When ready to bake, preheat the oven to 350° F. Temporarily remove the foil and brush the top of the stuffing with 1 oz melted butter. Replace the foil to reseal the top of the stuffing.
9. Bake the stuffing, covered, for 20 minutes or until warmed through. Then remove the foil and bake for an additional 20 minutes uncovered to brown the top. Remove from the oven and let rest for 10 minutes before serving.
