Mom's stuffing

With Thanksgiving rapidly approaching I thought I'd post the recipe for the BEST STUFFING IN THE WORLD courtesy of my mom:

Mom's stuffing

Thanksgiving is approaching.  Time for my Mom's stuffing soon.  This foolproof crock pot stuffing recipe is the best stuffing ever.  Thanks Barb Drake!

Ingredients:

  2-3 1.5lb loaves of firm sandwich bread

  1.5 lb Yellow onions

  3/4 lb Butter

  2-4 tbsp sage (dried or fresh)

  2-4 tbsp thyme (dried or fresh)

  1 Tbsp Rosemary

  1 Tbsp Oregano

  1 Bunch Celery

  Salt to taste

  1/2 cup fresh parsley

For bread I like the firm sandwich bread – Pepperidge Farm or Arnold are both ok.  This year I used ½ that and ½ a firm whole wheat – I thought that turned out well, too.  You’ll need at least a couple of regular size 1½ pound loaves, maybe a bit more, to fill a crock pot.

You’ll need 1 bunch of celery, cleaned and chopped fine in the food processor - but not pureed!

About 1 ½ pounds of onions, ditto
¾ lb butter

Generous amounts of sage and thyme (start with 2 heaping tablespoons each and go up according to taste)

Lesser amounts of rosemary and oregano – start with 1T or so of each.
Pepper (but no salt yet) to taste

Dry or chopped fresh parsley as desired  (I used ½ c chopped fresh since it’s still in the garden)

Simmer all slowly in a heavy pot, covered, for at least a couple of hours or until the house smells heavenly.  The essence of the herbs is more oil soluble than water soluble, so much of the flavor goes into the “broth”.  Taste at the end and add salt if necessary (depends on how salty the butter was).  It will be over-seasoned at this point but remember it’ll be diluted by all that bread.  You can refrigerate up to a couple of days at this point.

Cube the bread.  Good if it can dry, cubed, for a day or so but not a deal breaker if it doesn’t.  Warm the veggies if refrigerated, until the butter melts and all is nice and warm.  Toss spoonfuls into the bread and fluff through with your hands.  (You get to lick them at the end, which is a bonus!)  Repeat until all veggies are used. Taste to see if you need more herbs or salt.   If necessary add a little more melted butter to get everything evenly moist.  This is a “by taste” call that depends on the absorbency of the bread.  The object here is to not mush the bread – keep everything fluffy but moist.  You’ll probably still lose volume in this process. 

Spray the crock pot with pan spray.  Spoon the mix lightly into the crock pot – don’t pack – so it stays light and fluffy.  Cook on low until heated, moist and fluffy.  (Mine usually sits 4 or more hours.)  Depending on the crock pot you may have to watch the edges for overbrowning and do some judicious gentle stirring.