Meritt's Traditional Stuffing

I have a collection of perhaps a million or two (literally) recipes, and although I have a thousand for stuffings, I'm not sure why anyone would want to mess around with an already perfect food like traditional stuffing. "Sweet Potato with Persimmons and Plum Stuffing" or "Farro and Sausage Stuffing" or "Potato Stuffing" (which is basically a 'side dish' with WHOLE white potatoes - which completely ruins the whole 'stuffing' idea in the first place)... It's bad enough that I have memories of picking 'yucky raisins' out of my Grandmothers stuffing (even some of the adults had tiny little poop piles on the side of THEIR plates) but to add oddities just because you want to be 'different' is silly. Give me a good old fashioned stuffing and I'm in heaven. It's my favorite part of the meal!


OLD FASHIONED STUFFING

1/2 c onion, chopped
3/4 c celery, chopped
1/4 c butter
4 c bread crumbs and cubed
3/4 t salt
1/8 t pepper
1/4-1/2 t poultry seasoning
1/4-1/2 t sage
1/2 - 1 c water
1 egg, beaten

Cook celery and onion in butter. Add this to the bread cubes in a large pan. Sprinkle with seasonings and add water and egg. Toss with a fork and stuff the bird.

*I sometimes add a bouillion cube to the water or use homemade chicken broth if I have it on hand. I also tend to double the onion, as I love it. The amount of water used depends on how dry your bread cubes are. I start saving 'bread scraps' about 2 months before Thanksgiving. The heals and last couple pieces of each loaf are laid out on the counter for 1-2 days until completely dried out. Then I break them into bite sized pieces and place them inside the bread bag. I add to this regularly until I have enough for stuffing. Sometimes I double this recipe, if we have a large turkey that year.