Elinor’s Turkey and Dressing

The holiday season between Thanksgiving and Christmas  is always an opportunity for family meals together with parents, grandparents,  cousins, and special friends.  In Texas, that usually means  “Road Trip”!

Our extensive Texas Highways help us travel to see loved ones, bringing our favorite dishes, desserts, and recipes to share. Why let a few hundred miles stand between a home cooked turkey and all the trimmings, a few football games, and grazing on leftovers?

Here’s a proven Turkey and Dressing recipe from what my family came to know as “the little book”.  My Mother, Elinor, (Meme to her grandkids)  always traveled with this small spiral notebook as we spent holiday meals either in Houston or often at my grandparents farm, and later when she moved to the country.  It was her survivor go-to recipes. More on some of  ‘tlb” recipes will follow in the future. This is basic homestyle cooking and stands the test of time and trends.

Turkey and Dressing

• 1 turkey
• 1 stick margarine or butter
• 1 cup onion, chopped fine
• 3 cups celery, chopped fine
• 3/4 cup fresh parsley, chopped fine
• 6 eggs
•  9 cups baked cornbread, crumbled
• 9 cups white bread, about a loaf
• 6 cups or more stock from giblets
• 6 teaspoon salt
• 3 teaspoons pepper

Thaw turkey and remove neck from body cavity and giblets from neck cavity. Boil giblets and neck until tender.

Clean and salt turkey. Do not use tenderizer on turkey.

For dressing mix together; melted butter, onions, celery, fresh parsley and eggs. Crumble baked cornbread and mix in. Soak bread in water and then squeeze water out and crumble up and mix in.

Add salt and pepper and stock, mix all together. Pull meat off of neck and chop giblets and mix in.

Put dressing in baking dish or roaster pan. Bake at 350 degrees 45  minutes to 1 hour or until done.

Bake turkey at 350 degrees for approximately 20 minutes per pound.