Maybe you've noticed over the years, turkey stuffing is pretty much the food equivalent of a family crest. Handed down mother to daughter and daughter to son, the same recipe seems to surface each year at Thanksgiving.
There's the occasional holiday when the family ventures off to try something new, but it doesn't seem to stick and by the next year, it's back to the familiar - the stuffing we were raised on.
My good friend Frannie Bergamini who lives in the Moraga, Ca. lost her mom about a year ago, but she and her four siblings fondly remember "mom's" oyster stuffing. Each of the kids has perhaps added a signature touch of their own, but it still closely resembles the dressing Grandma Eleanor passed on to their mom, Elaine.
When I was visiting Fran on a recent excursion with our "foodie" friends, we started anticipating Thanksgiving and began bragging rights about our own stuffing recipes. She was talking up Elaine and Eleanor's oyster stuffing and I realized I'd never even tasted oyster stuffing!
I asked her to send it to me, and as usual, though these recipes have passed the test of time, no one seems to actually have a recipe. It's a "little of this and a little of that" kind of thing.
So, Frannie contacted her sister and brother to find out what they had in the way of measurements. Luckily, Elaine had dictated the recipe to her sister Cara, complete with quantities.
Fran asked her older brother Steve where it originated and he said, "Our great, great Grandma Pitchford. She brought it out with her on an ox cart from Missouri to Yosemite."
Fran immediately asked, "Did they have smoked oysters in a can back then?"
All joking aside, "It actually came from Grandma Perry when she vacationed in New Orleans in the early 1950s."
Fran says oyster stuffing is an acquired taste, but for her family it has "holiday" written all over it!
"Mom passed a year ago," Fran reflected. "And keeping tradition we will forever make her oyster dressing."
My own family loves Poppa Willie's (my dad) mom's stuffing recipe, which is still my very favorite. To me, Thanksgiving isn't complete without it, though I will admit, as Christmas approaches, I certainly wouldn't turn away a Southwest cornbread stuffing!
- Elaine and Eleanor's Traditional Oyster Dressing
1 1-lb loaf of white bread - tear into ½-inch pieces (you can use any bread) you can dry in oven
2 cups finely chopped celery
2 cups finely chopped onions
2 eggs - beaten
½ cup chopped parsley
2 tablespoons minced garlic
3 tablespoons poultry seasoning, or to taste
¼ teaspoon nutmeg
2 teaspoons lemon juice
3 small cans of smoked oysters, or one cup canned oysters, drained (reserve ½ cup of the liquid for stuffing) Elaine used smoked oysters in her recipe.
¾ cup butter, melted
1 cup toasted nuts (pecans or walnuts) optional
Combine all ingredients in large bowl - stuff bird loosely. There is usually extra so we butter a baking dish cover and cook for 45 minutes on 350. Simple, "but it has holiday all over it."
- Poppa Willie's Mama's Stuffing
1 loaf wheat bread, torn into small pieces
1 loaf white bread, or French bread, torn into small pieces
2 sleeves of saltine crackers, crushed in a baggie with a rolling pin
1 cup boiling water
2 large yellow onions, coarsely chopped
2 cubes butter
1 tablespoon dried sage (if you have fresh, use one teaspoon, minced)
2-3 tablespoons poultry seasoning
1-2 teaspoons thyme (if using fresh, use 1 teaspoon, minced)
Salt and pepper to taste
In an extra large bowl, place bread pieces. In a second, smaller bowl place crushed crackers. Pour boiling water over crackers to moisten. Stir with fork to get all crumbs damp. Allow to sit until room temperature. Add crackers to bread in large bowl. Season with herbs and toss.
Meanwhile, in a large sauté pan, melt ½ cube of butter and add chopped onions. Sauté until onions are soft and beginning to brown. Remove onions to bowl with bread. In same pan, melt the remaining butter and pour over stuffing ingredients. Toss gently, until bread is fairly-well coated. Season to taste with additional herbs, salt and pepper. Stuff turkey cavity with stuffing and put remainder in a covered casserole. Heat extra for about 20-30 minutes while turkey is being carved.
(Note in photo, fall foliage is for decoration only, not to be eaten.)
Susie Iventosch can be reached at suziven@hughes.net
