Homemade meat stuffing
By jtrovato65
This is my Nana's stuffing recipe. My kids always screamed when they saw the apple or the hard boiled eggs but you can't even see them when the stuffing is done. I have even dared them to find apiece after it is cooked.
1 Picture
Ingredients
- 2 1/2 lbs ground beef, your choice of cut
- 1 lb ground pork, I use Jones Sausage Roll*
- 1 cup large dice celery
- 1 cup large dice onion
- 6 -12 ounces Pepperidge farm onion and garlic croutons/ I always buy an extra bag in case I need more croutons.
- 1 lb butter, you may not need it all
- 1 can whole cranberry sauce
- 1 or 2 apples peeled 7 chopped small
- 2 hard boiled eggs
- 1 pound cooked to nice 7 crispy bacon
- poultry seasoning
- salt
- pepper
- * optional : A handful of chopped pecans
Details
Servings 12
Level of difficulty Average
Preparation time 60mins
Cost Average budget
Preparation
Step 1
First, have a very large bowl or pot close to stove top so you can put ingredients in as they are cooked.
Second, you need a good sized fry pan, preferably with deep, straight sides.
a good pair of tongs and large spoon.
next are the ingredients. These are estimations, I don't really measure.
you might want to do the prep ahead so as to be able to cook and stuff all at once.
*you could use just ground pork but the sausage gives a better taste.
Heat fry pan and oil lightly with a pat of butter.
Fry 1/2 the beef and 1/2 the sausage together. Make sure to break it all up and mix it well until all is cooked. Dump it all into the pot/bowl you have waiting. Juices and all. Add the bacon & the cranberries and the chopped up hard boiled eggs.Also add a chopped up peeled apple or two for sweetness.
Step 2
Do the same to the rest of the beef and sausage. Mix thoroughly.
Melt 1/4 cup (4 Tbs) butter in fry pan and saute the celery until almost cooked. Dump it all into the pot/bowl and mix thoroughly.
Melt 1/4 cup (4 Tbs) butter in fry pan and saute the onion until wilted, but not brown. Dump all into the pot/bowl and mix thoroughly.
Add seasonings at this point. Use the amount that is to your liking. Mix very well.
If it seems too dry at this point, melt more butter in the fry pan and add to the mix.
Finally, add the 1 box of croutons and mix several times over the next 15-20 minutes.
There should be little or no liquid in the bottom of the pot/bowl after this time. The croutons should have absorbed it. If not, add more croutons and repeat.
If you want to add the chopped pecans you can throw them in now.
Step 3
Now you can either put the stuffing in a casserole dish, roaster or other baking pan , and cook separately from the turkey.
I always stuff as much as I can inside the turkey because that's the stuffing that tastes the best. What doesn't fit I put into another pan and while i cooking the turkey I will take some of the juices from the turkey pan and baste them into the extra pan of stuffing so it gets some of the flavor of the turkey.
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