As I was reading through the various newspaper food pages yesterday, I was bombarded with Thanksgiving recipes. Soups, sides, pies and, of course, turkeys (brined, fried and everything in between) made my mouth water, my tummy rumble and reminded me how much I love a delicious Turkey Day feast. Because I am joining my husband’s family for Thanksgiving this year, it will be the first not spending it with my mom. While I’m excited to share in the traditions of the Bedwells, I will miss some of my mom’s cooking—even the faux potatoes which have graced our table a time or two.
The following recipe comes from my mom and was adapted from a recipe she found in TV Guide more than 25 years ago. While I’ve seen some dishes come and go from our table over the years, the one constant is her stuffing with linguica. My mom is old school and still stuffs the bird with the cooked stuffing, while I prepare it as follows.
Happy Thanksgiving!
Portuguese-Style Thanksgiving Stuffing
3/4 pound bacon, diced
1 pound linguica (traditional Portuguese sausage), casings removed and diced
1 large onion, chopped
3/4 cup sliced celery
1 cup chopped flat-leaf parsley
1 tablespoon fresh sage, finely chopped
1 tablespoon fresh thyme, finely chopped
1 loaf French bread, cubed and left out overnight
2 cups reduced-sodium chicken broth
Salt and pepper to taste
In a large sauté pan, cook bacon until crisp then add linguica. Remove meat and set aside. Skim off half of the oil. Add onion, celery and herbs and sauté for 5 minutes. Add cooked meat and sauté an additional 5 minutes. Stir in bread cubes and chicken broth. Add additional broth until desired consistency. Cook for additional 5 minutes watching closely to make sure the stuffing doesn’t dry out (if it does, add more broth). Season to taste with salt and pepper. Serve with gravy.
Serves 6
hoganfe handmade handbag originals says
Oh thanks for the yummy recipes!
Kim Auman says
Hi,
So glad you listed this recipe. My Portuguese family on my dad’s side always serves linguica sausage stuffing with their bird. I have made it in the past but have opted for other dressings because I live in Wisconsin and can’t get linguica. Well, this year I have it and I didn’t want to call my grandmother and say I didn’t have the recipe! So your recipe was very helpful. The only things that were different were the fact that you didn’t include a green bell pepper and traditionally we have never used bacon.
Thanks again and have a Merry Christmas!
Kim
marcy says
Just wanted to say thank you! This has become the stuffing we always have on Turkey day! Just stopped off the recheck the recipe and figured I should leave a comment since we enjoy it so much:)
elaine says
Can packaged stuffing be used in this recipe. If so how much! Hurry big day almost here!
sacfhoodies says
You can absolutely use packaged stuffing. I prefer just the plain french bread so that you aren’t adding any competing flavors. Enjoy!
sacfhoodies says
Oh, and I’m not sure how much. You may want to purchase a few bags and have some extra chicken broth to get the desired moistness.
marcy says
It’s me again… double checking the recipe before another big Turkey day where I will bring out this amazing stuffing to my drooling Portuguese grandmother’s delight! I am using a gluten free bread this year. I sure hope it works! If you have any suggestions, please post them! I’ve never worked with gluten free bread in this way and am nervous it’ll be mush.
Jake Ferguson says
Hi Marcy! So thrilled that my family’s tradition is now your family’s tradition. So cool!!! I bet the gluten-free bread will work, just make sure it’s really, really dry and use as much chicken stock as you need to get the right moisture ratio. Post a pic on our Facebook page so that we can see it. Happy Thanksgiving!!! — Kim