(no subject)

Having just typed this up in taxqueen's journal, I figure I should also post it here. This is the stuffing I grew up with, via my granpa (the one who is not actually a blood relative, but the only grandparent I really knew) who was from Alabama. Also contained within are notes about some of my more frequent modifications.

Amounts are approximate, because I never measured anything to make this. Though I think ending up with 2 parts bread and cornbread to one part everything else (three to one would also work) wouldn't be a bad rule of thumb.

Someday I really would like to try a New England Oyster stuffing, and an Itallian sausage stuffing... (Er, except the not eating meat part of things.  And even then probably not on the same day.)

My Grampa's Cornbread Stuffin'

A whole bunch of cornbread, broken or cut into reasonable sized pieces
A bunch of wheat bread, also cut into pieces (I use a nice heavy peasant bread, the kind I make all the time)
A bunch of onions, chopped
A bunch of celery, chopped
A metric fuckton of mushrooms (he used button mushrooms, and probably just a plain old-fashioned ton of them, I usually use button mushrooms and boletes, but then I often have fresh boletesaround now) sautee'd in lots of butter (I use olive oil, and probablyless of it than grandpa did of butter)
A bunch of chestnuts, roasted, peeled, and coarsely crushed (not in grandpa's recipe, but I like them)
Some jerusalem artichokes, julienned (also not in grandpa's recipe, but they go well with the chesnuts)
A bunch of fresh garlic, pressed (optionally, about five times as much garlic, sautee'd with the mushrooms to tame it a bit -- don't remember if grandpa did it this way)
Broth(traditionally all the giblets were simmered with a halved yellow onionwith its skin left on to make this broth, and maybe a bay leaf or somepeppercorns, and salt)

Mix everything but the broth in a big bowl (I used a lobster pot, mostly) most particularly make sure you get every drop of butter from the mushrooms
Add salt, and then some broth (and toss the stuffing) and repeat until everything is slightly damp but not soggy and about the right level of saltiness (if theTurkey has been brined, cut *way* back on the salt)
Stuff Turkey

For dressing, follow all steps as described above except for the stuffingof the turkey. Put stuffing in a clay pot. Pour melted butter (or not, but grandpa did) over the top, and ladle a fair bit more broth over thewhole thing. Cover and bake.

(no subject)

I'm growing bread.

Or rather, having gotten a late start (for using the levain, anyway) I'm cheating by warming my sponge, and then putting it on the propagation mat where it will be kept warmer than it would be sitting on the counter. End result: A bowl of sponge, chastely covered by a checked dishtowel, sitting on the propagation mat, under the full spectrum lights, next to the wee little basils. It's all in providing an appropriately nurturing environment, donchaknow? (This isn't about whether it will be done in time for dinner tomorrow, it's about whether I'll have to get up at two in the morning to turn the sponge into dough.)

Happiness, by the way, is relative. Today I was again deeply happy when I went out into the wind and the rain... because it wasn't raining very hard, and I could pretty much count on my comfy but not entirely waterproof jacket not getting soaked by the time I got home. (Yes, I have more waterproof jackets. This is just my favoritest.)

carbon footprint

I've been thinking a lot about my carbon footprint recently. ( Read more... )