Thomas Turkus Dressing

This week I am thinking about next week. Thomas Turkus is coming to a plate near you. I think back and remember all the Turkey Dinners Mom used to cook. The week she passed away she was worried about how she was going to get up from her sick bed and cook Thanksgiving Dinner.

Mom made her own dressing most of her married years and family gatherings, while she was still cooking for the holidays. Only in her later years did she buy any of the boxed bread crumbs and seasonings. She always saved the heels of bread and stale bread for dressing. She mixed in her own seasonings and stuffed the turkey. She would get up early in the morning and put the turkey in the oven and start it baking for the day. She always had a big turkey and it took a long time to bake.

Because I live by myself I will not buy a turkey. I have a couple of Cornish Hens to bake and they will be more than enough for me. I will make my semi-home made dressing and add a few touches to it. I like to make oyster dressing with mushrooms and Chinese Water Chestnuts, about a half cup of cooked rice and about a half cup of oatmeal. I will save and add the liquid from canned mushrooms and the water chestnuts to the chicken broth I just saved. I add the seasoning and the bread crumbs. Yes, I buy the boxed dressing bread crumbs with the dry, pre-packed seasoning, but when I am finished it will be a lot better than what come out of the original box.

There are all kinds of recipes available online, but make it "your own' recipe and add what you like. Chop and add the liver, the heart or the gizzard if that is what you want in your dressing. I might mention that a Cornish Hen is small and you can't get too much stuffing into the cavity. I will add mine on the on the side with other vegetables.

Do you think it is too early to think about Thanksgiving? Nope, there will be a run to the stores for the next week and a half because the mailboxes are full of Thanksgiving food ads today. Go early and get what you want, need or can afford.

This morning I fried my eggs in one teaspoon of chicken fat. It was rendered out from the chicken I roasted last week along with the broth. To render the chicken fat from the chicken save all the skin, fat, bones, liquid and carcass of the chicken. Place in a pot to boil, add water and season to taste. Boil about 15 to 20 minutes and let stand to cool. When cool enough pour through a strainer and save the broth in a container in the refrigerator. When the broth is cold the fat will raise to the top and you can skim it off and put into a separate container and cover. You will never get 100 % percent of the fat of the broth, but that is OK. You want a little fat in the broth. Toss the skin and bones.

Don't forget, there are a lot of hungry people out there this year...do what you can, if you can.

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