Mima's Dressing made with White Bread
Mima’s White Bread Dressing
Recipe:
Ingredients:
1 ½ loaves of bread
1 quart of stock (You can make this with chicken base or bouillon)
2-3 teaspoons of poultry seasoning
1 tsp salt (if using chicken base or bouillon to make stock, don’t use salt)
1 tsp of pepper
Optional: Oysters
Directions
Preheat oven to 350°F
Crumble bread into a large bowl
Add stock, and seasonings and mix well (I use my hands)
If adding oysters, add after combined.
Place in a large casserole dish and bake at 350°F for 30-40 minutes or until it is no longer jiggly.
This recipe is the recipe that our family has used for dressing for my entire life. To call it a recipe is a bit strange because we never really measured it. Mima never had to measure much of anything because she had so much experience and she also used the same bowls, pots, and pans for everytime she made something so she could eyeball very well. To be honest, dressing and gravy are my favorite parts of thanksgiving. I don’t really care about the turkey, but the turkey is a means to gravy, so there we are.
Thanksgiving is my jam! It is one of my very favorite days of the year. Its the day when I usually throw down with food. Thanksgiving is the only day that I love waking up early. I remember being younger and being woken up by the smell of turkey cooking at Mima’s house and I knew I was going to have an amazing day making food with Mima and days of leftovers. Mima made as much gravy as possible in the little aluminum roaster. In the year since then, I’ve been in charge of cooking, and to say I go overboard is an understatement. My husband is usually in charge of the turkey. It is cooked outside in some way shape or form. He has smoked or deep fried our turkey for years. The beginning of that process was the year that I made a turducken. I completely deboned a chicken and a duck. The turkey was deboned except for the legs and wings. It took a WHILE to cook, but the challenge of deboning 2 birds and leaving them in one piece is an accomplishment that I am still very proud of. Because it took so long to cook, it was almost like it was smoked so the next year, we just started with the smoking.
The only bad thing about smoking or deep frying a turkey is that you don’t get the drippings for gravy. We solved that problem by crock potting an entire turkey. I cut it into pieces and then cook it in two giant crock pots. We end up with at least a gallon of gravy and the turkey from the crock pot makes excellent chicken salad. I know that many people use flour to thicken their gravy, but we have always used cornstarch to thicken and kitchen bouquet because…. Why do we use that again? Oh yeah, because we use it. Seriously though, it adds color and makes the gravy look a little less scary. I usually use 1 tablespoon of cornstarch per cup of gravy, but you can always adjust by adding more cornstarch. To add the cornstarch to the turkey juice, (its a cross between stock, broth, and drippings) stir into about ½ cup of water and whisk into the gravy. To see the technique, watch this video. Sauces and Gravies Also, this is my second YouTube video so be nice. I know it’s rough and the aspect ratio is wonky, but we all learn as we go.
Comment Below what your go to, dressing base is and Happy Thanksgiving!