My vote is to stuff! I cannot imagine foregoing stuffing this time of year.  Whether you stuff the bird, or smoosh it into a pan is entirely up to you.  But I wholeheartedly recommend you do both because I don’t think there has been a kitchen in all the land that had an issue with “too much stuffing.”

The cornerstone of our recipe lies in the sausage we use.  I’m totally biased, but the ingredient that adds all the magic is Jones Original Pork Sausage.  My family has been making this sausage recipe available to consumers since 1889.  We tried for a long time to keep it all to ourselves, but with all good things they need to be shared for all to enjoy.  This stuffing recipe has been around probably as long as the sausage recipe and is equally good loaded with gluten or without.

Clearly, any bulk pork sausage will suffice, but be warned, it may lack that special magic which makes this recipe the one guests ask for year after year.

Gather the following ingredients together…

8 cups of bread cubed and toasted*
4 stalks celery brunoise (chopped)
3 shallots diced fine
2 garlic cloves diced fine
1 pound of Jones Dairy Farm bulk sausage cooked, strained of fat and crumbled
4 ounces chicken stock
Salt and pepper to taste
1 bunch flat leaf parsley chopped

Toss all ingredients together in a bowl and mix thoroughly by hand.  Add more stock if it feels too dry to you.

*Two of our favorite gluten-free versions use either Posana’s Focaccia bread or Whole Food’s Bakehouse Cornbread.  You can also cube and toast your favorite gluten-free bread.  If you choose to use corn bread, you don’t need to toast it. From what I recall it doesn’t “cube” all that well.  None of this matters.  Cornbread stuffing is the bomb.  If you have never had it make a pan this year.  It is amazing!  And keep in mind I was not a lover of cornbread the first time I tried this recipe with that modification.  There is something truly spectacular about the salty, rich flavor of the pork sausage combined with the sweetness of the cornbread.

This year Chef Peter is whipping up a batch of GF cornbread so stay tuned for a “follow-up” on how that “pans” out.

~Martha Jones Pollay