Chestnut stuffing
The classic Christmas stuffing
There are many stuffing recipes out there, but for me, it has to be chestnut stuffing for Christmas. In my version, there are also walnuts and figs, which make wonderful accompaniments. This stuffing can be mixed the day before and rolled in tin foil in your fridge, ready to cook on the day. The idea of stuffing is a very old one - I’m told there are recipes from Roman times for stuffed dormouse! But let’s just stick with a stuffing to serve with turkey today...
This recipe utilizes the offal you usually find inside the turkey.
Ingredients Required
Ingredients
- 300g
- Sausage meat, coarse textured
- 75g
- Turkey liver, roughly chopped
- 40g
- Turkey heart, roughly chopped
- 50g
- Lard or beef suet
- 150g
- Chestnuts cooked, roughly chopped
- 75g
- Figs, dried, roughly chopped
- 25g
- Walnuts, shelled, roughly chopped
- 25g
- Breadcrumbs, brown
- 50ml
- Milk, whole
- 1
- Egg, medium, organic or free range
- 2 pinches
- Allspice, ground
- 1 pinch
- Sea salt
- 1 pinch
- Freshly ground black pepper
Cooking Method
Chef tips
"The best chestnuts are those that are freshly peeled, though this can be a painstaking task. In most good supermarkets, you can now buy good quality peeled frozen chestnuts."
"Rolling the stuffing in tin foil is a good technique to aid the thorough cooking and for creating attractive slices of stuffing. Alternatively, you could bake the stuffing in an ovenproof baking dish or a terrine mould."
"There are many variations: you could add your favourite herbs, or dried fruits such as prunes, dates, apricots, pine nuts, pistachios, or you could even add diced turkey heart."
Recipe © Raymond Blanc 2018
Food photography by David Griffen
