Grandma Grace's Poultry Stuffing

adapted from Grace Ribaudo's recipe

To me, this is the classic stuffing recipe. Notably, it is almost identical to the Gately family stuffing recipe, except that the Gately recipe uses sage as the primary seasoning instead of thyme. I pack the stuffing inside the bird pretty tight, and use a thermometer to test the stuffing and bird for doneness. This same stuffing recipe works fairly well as a dressing recipe too.  - Will

Stuffs a large chicken or small turkey. Double the recipe for a 20 pound turkey.

• 4 tablespoons butter
• 1 small onion or 1/2 large onion, chopped
• 2 stalks celery
• 8 slices toasted bread, torn into pieces
• 1 egg (not beaten)
• thyme
• fresh ground pepper
• 1/2 to 1 cup chicken broth or water.
• dash of salt IF using water instead of broth

Saute the onion and celery in butter until soft. Pour over bread in a large bowl. Add egg. Sprinkle with thyme to lightly cover mixture. And pepper. Mix with spoon or hands. Add broth or water until stuffing is moist and holds together. Stuff into both ends of bird. Cook with bird until stuffing reaches 170°F.

Tips:

1. If baking seperately from bird, cook covered until last 15 minutes, then remove cover. This keeps the stuffing moist, while still letting the top of the stuffing dry out a little. I'm not sure about cooking times, since I've done this only when I had extra stuffing, and then I adjust the time depending on how much extra stuffing there is.