Baking Oyster Dressing and Plain Dressing the Old Fashioned Way.

Whee, what a wonderful Thanksgiving we have had.  My thanks go out to Emmy and Katie for their delicious Pumpkin Pie!!  It was a big help to me to have them make the pies!!  It was terrific to have all of our children and grandchildren here all around the dinning room table, we are Blessed and grateful.

I missed getting pictures of the dressing before it was served so I am just going to run through the "how to" of it in the event anyone wants to try this old but easy dish.

Here are the recipes for how our family has traditionally made two popular and old side dishes.

We have always made dressing as a side and not stuffed the turkey and we always make two dishes of dressing.  The "with oyster" and the "without".   Here are the ingredients:

1-1 1/2 pound loaf of day old bread or bread mixture of your choice
4 T. butter
1/4 C. olive oil
2 C. diced celery
2 C. diced onion
1 1/2 quart strong hot chicken or turkey broth
1 egg
1 t. freshly ground black pepper
2 t. kosher salt
1 t. ground sage
1/2 pint (1 Cup) fresh shucked oysters)

The day before I lay out the bread to dry out on large clean trays and turn it a couple of times for even drying.  The day I am making the dressing I tear it up into about 1 1/2- 2" pieces and place the dry bread in a very large bowl.  If you don't lay the bread out ahead to dry it you can toast it then tear it into the bowl.

Set this aside and saute the onions and celery in the oil and butter for about 10-15 minutes until it is tender and translucent.  Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.  Butter two baking dishes of ample size for the amount of dressing you are preparing.

Add the vegetables to the bread then start adding about 1/2 of the broth slowly as you want this to soak into the bread.  Then stir in the egg and the seasoning.  Resume adding and stirring the broth in until the mixture is very damp but not watery.  Taste for seasoning and adjust as necessary.

Pour 1/2 of the dressing into a buttered baking dish.  Add the oysters and their liquid to the remaining half of the raw dressing.

Pour it into the other dish and bake both for about 45 minutes until light brown on top and bubbling around the edges.  Serve hot along side the roasted turkey, chicken, or pork roast  it is delicious with all of these entrees.

Note:  To be sure the broth is strong I have added bouillon cubes or soup base to fortify it if necessary.