Dress your holiday bird for success

Our method: Cooking in the pan
At my house, stuffing needs to borrow from both the savory and the sweet list. It needs to be firm enough to hold its own on a plate teaming with juices from the bird, cranberry sauce, and vegetable accompaniments, and it should absorb some gravy but not turn soggy from it. That’s why we’re fans of pan-baked stuffing: Soft inside, crusty on top, it works well.

Working with sourdough bread prevents the stuffing from growing too sweet under the influence of shredded orange peel, currants, cider, and an apple, while plenty of butter, walnuts, regular chicken broth, onions, celery, salt, pepper, and sage do their part to bring out the tastes of autumn.

The Perfect Stuffing

• 1 cup butter (2 sticks)
• 1 ¼ cup diced onions
• 1 diced apple
• 1 ½ cups diced celery
• 10 cups sourdough bread, cut in small cubes
• ½ cup dried currants
• ½ cup chopped walnuts
• 1 cup chopped parsley
• 1 Tbsp. grated orange peel
• Salt, to taste
• Pepper, to taste
• 11/4 cup chicken broth
• 1 cup apple cider
• 1 Tbsp grated orange peel

1. Toast cubed sourdough bread at 450 degrees for eight minutes, until bread is crusty but not hardened. Let cool for 10 minutes before mixing with other ingredients.

2. Melt butter and add onions, celery, and apple. Saute for up to 10 minutes, till softened.

3. Blend bread, sage, parsley, orange peel, currants, chopped walnuts, salt and pepper. Add butter, onion, celery and apple mixture and mix well.

4. Add broth and apple juice in ¼ cup to ½ cup increments, testing to make sure that the bread does not grow soggy.

5. Butter a 13x9x2 baking dish, fill with stuffing, and cover with buttered foil.

6. Cook at 350 degrees for 50 minutes. Remove foil and cook another 15 to 20 minutes, or until a light crust forms on the top of the stuffing.