Thanks­giv­ing Dress­ing (serves the mass­es, or maybe 10)

2 loaves of sim­ple white (unsliced) bread, Ital­ian maybe?

1/2 stick butter
4 cloves gar­lic, minced
1 white onion, minced
4 stalks cel­ery, chopped
8 medi­um mush­rooms, chopped
12 leaves fresh sage, chopped
1 pound home­made sausage or pork sausagemeat
1 cup cream
chick­en stock (at least 2 cups, but depends on bread amounts)
2 eggs, whisked

If you pos­si­bly can, TWO nights before you want to eat it, tear the insides of the bread into lit­tle bite-size pieces. Feed the ducks with the crusts. Leave to get stale, toss­ing now and then. It is absolute­ly essen­tial to do this at least the day before. I tried once the day of, and the bread was too moist (hate that word) to absorb fla­vors prop­er­ly and it was a bust. So two days at best, one at least.

The day BEFORE, if you can (the fla­vors are so much bet­ter if they can rest togeth­er overnight), make the dress­ing. Saute the gar­lic, onion, cel­ery, mush­rooms and sage in the but­ter. Mean­while, saute the sausage, tak­ing care to break it up as much as pos­si­ble so it’s in small bites. Now, pour the veg­etable mix­ture and the sausage onto the bread, add the cream and at least two cups of stock plus the eggs, and begin mix­ing. Add more stock as you need it. The mix­ture should be wet, but not seep­ing liquid.

Pat into a non­stick-sprayed 9 x 13 pan, and leave overnight in the fridge. Pat on some but­ter bits over the sur­face and bake just before serv­ing, 45 min­utes at 375 degrees.