bread dressing

This is my family's traditional holiday dressing. The recipe was passed down from my Greek-Italian grandmother, but I don't know if it was a recipe coming from Europe or not. I make this recipe every Thanksgiving. The above shot is the 2024 turkey.

The exact quantities of some of the ingredients depends on the size of the turkey. The quantities listed are ideal for a 12 to 14 lb turkey. Make sure to have the stuffing good and moist before you bake it.

• turkey neck, gizzard, and heart

• water and/or a can of consomme

• 1 lb 10% fat ground beef

• 1-3 tbsp butter

• 5-6 small sausage links (or equivalent)

• 5-6 large stalks and all the small tender celery stalks in the middle(including leaves)

• 1 medium yellow onion

• 1 loaf white bread (1 1/2 loaf if turkey is large)

• 3 eggs

• 1 tsp thyme

• pinch of oregano

• 1 1/2 tsp poultry seasoning

1. The day before the dressing is to be prepared, get the bread. Poke holes in the wrapper so the bread will be dried out.

2. Chop the celery fine. Chop the 4 large stalks, and also the smaller tender interior stalks. Include the leaves of the stalks, chopping them fine as well.

3. Chop the onion fine.

4. Simmer the neck, gizzard, and heart with a can of beef consomme soup in a saucepan over medium to medium-high heat. If too much evaporates add water as needed, will need around a cup plus of liquid from this part. When the heart, neck, and gizzards are fully cooked, turn off the heat. Reserve the broth and set it aside.

5. Crumble the sausage links.

6. MInce the gizzard, heart and liver. Do not use the neck meat as it is too stringy. Discard the neck. Honestly now I usually just mince the liver because I find the heart is rubbery and tough. Same for the kidneys if they include those, I usually discard after the boil. 

7. Place the butter in a fry pan and sauté the onion and celery over medium to medium-high heat. Use enough onion so that it gives the dressing a good flavor.

8. After cooking for a while, add the ground beef and the sausage to the pan. After the ground beef and sausage are cooked, add the gizzard, heart, and liver. Cook a little longer and then turn off the heat and set the meat mixture aside.

9. Cube the stale bread and place the cubes in a large bowl.

10. Add some of the reserved broth to the bread cubes to moisten.

11. Add the meat mixture to the bread cubes and mix together.

12. Add the eggs and mix together.

13. Keep adding broth to the mixture to moisten the dressing. The dressing should be moist, as it will dry out while cooking. If there is insufficient broth, use a little water. This dressing tastes more flavorful moist.

14. Add the thyme and the poultry seasoning. Add very little oregano, possible a pinch. Stir all the ingredients together and then taste. The seasoning will probably not be quite enough, so keep adding a little seasoning at a time (not the oregano) and tasting. If you feel you want to you can add another pinch of oregano, but be careful as it is strong.

15. Stuff the turkey cavities with the stuffing. If there is extra stuffing, place it in a separate baking dish.

16. Bake the stuffing until an internal temperature of 165 has been reached. Stuffing being baked alone needs to be very moist as baking will dry it out more than stuffing baked in a turkey. Bake a dish of stuffing alone for about 1 hour at 325 degrees.

Below is an image carousel of this recipe.

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