Less than 15 minutes is on the clock to write this blog.  I have dressing to make to stuff into a  turkey’s cavity.  Fortunately my secret to a perfect stuffing  takes less than 5 minutes to compose.

Two ingredients cap a perfect dressing:  Butter and brandy.

Need I say more?  Ask my son-in-law.  He waits all year  for my stuffing.  He says he dreams about his plate overflowing with stuffing scooped out from the roasted beast.  Chef daughter also mimics my stuffing at her chi-chi restaurant.  Now, that’s a compliment.

No, I don’t fill the turkey’s cavity with just three  sticks of butter and a cup of brandy.  But I do use just about that much when stuffing an 18+ pound turkey along with the basics, stale bread or stale corn bread, celery, onions, sage, nuts, dried cranberries, chopped apples, salt, pepper, garlic, roasted and salted sunflower seeds, pepitas (pumpkin seeds), red peppers, red chili flakes, and oregano.

I don’t have a recipe.  I never measure.  I don’t use eggs.  I hate using chicken broth. I don’t add turkey guts.  And I might add white wine and a tad more brandy or butter if it doesn’t seem moist enough.

My first step is to absolutely smother the dried/toasted bread chunks with butter.  This is obviously not a low-calorie recipe. My trade-off is I don’t serve hot rolls and butter. 

Then I flavor the butter-soaked bread with the spices, being mindful of the salt–especially when using salted butter.  We like our stuffing tangy, so I’m heavy with the chili. 

I blend the brandy, that I didn’t drink, in with the rest of the ingredients.   This helps keep the bread becoming too soggy. 

The stuffing that fills the bird’s cavity is just as good as the stuffing that I also roast in a casserole dish.  I blend  both the cavity-roasted dressing and the casserole dish dressing  and serve as one.  It’s crispy, complex, and something that my sons in law’s dreams are made of!

Happy holidays!