Name: Pork Apple Sausage Stuffing Recipe
Total time: 1 h 30 min
Yield: Serves 8 to 10.
Ingredients: 2 pounds fresh chestnuts; 3 cups turkey or chicken stock; 3 tablespoons butter, plus extra for dotting the stuffing; 1 ½ pounds fresh pork-apple sausage (if only chicken-apple sausage is available, use half-chicken-apple sausage, half sweet Italian sausage); 2 cups chopped onion; ¾ cup chopped celery; ¾ cup white wine; 6 cups country white bread, crusts mostly removed, torn into pieces and dried in the oven; Salt and pepper

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By Jonathan Gold

Nov. 21, 2015

On the off chance you have never peeled a chestnut — if somebody has peeled chestnuts for you, they love you very much — you stab a little X in the chestnuts’ flat bottoms, you stick them in the oven, and you must take them out to peel while they are hot enough to scorch your fingers or the tough inner skin never quite comes off quite right. The sharp, little edges of shell will prick you. You may have read a million tricks for peeling chestnuts more easily, but I can assure you that none of them works. And when you do finally pry a perfect, steamy, ivory-white chestnut whole from its prison, you end up chopping it anyway. It’s tragic, really; the holiday’s lash of atonement.

From the story: Restaurant critic Jonathan Gold shares his secrets to the perfect Thanksgiving stuffing

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2 pounds fresh chestnuts

3 cups turkey or chicken stock

3 tablespoons butter, plus extra for dotting the stuffing

1 ½ pounds fresh pork-apple sausage (if only chicken-apple sausage is available, use half-chicken-apple sausage, half sweet Italian sausage)

2 cups chopped onion

¾ cup chopped celery

¾ cup white wine

6 cups country white bread, crusts mostly removed, torn into pieces and dried in the oven

Salt and pepper

Peel the chestnuts: Heat oven to 450 degrees, cut a deep cross on the flat underside of each chestnut with a paring knife, and roast until the Xs begin to gape, about 15 minutes. Peel off the shells and the tough inner skins. (Chestnuts are easier to peel when they are burning hot; you may wish to roast them in batches.) Bring the stock to boil and simmer the chestnuts in the stock for 20 minutes. Drain chestnuts and reserve stock. Cool completely, then coarsely chop.

Meanwhile, melt butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Squeeze the sausages from their casings and fry for five minutes. Stir in the chopped onions and celery, and cook until the onion is soft, about 10 minutes. Pour in the white wine, raise the heat for a minute to reduce slightly, then lower heat to medium and cook for an additional five minutes.

In the biggest bowl you have, mix together the chopped chestnuts, the dried bread and the sausage-vegetable mixture. Dribble in some but probably not all of the reserved stock — you want the mixture to be moist but not soggy.

Stuff the bird, or smooth into a greased gratin dish, dot generously with butter, and bake at 350 degrees until crusty and brown, about 45 minutes.

Based on a recipe from “Hot Links and Country Flavors” by Bruce Aidells.

Jonathan Gold

Jonathan Gold was the restaurant critic for the Los Angeles Times. He won the Pulitzer Prize in criticism in 2007 and was a finalist again in 2011. A Los Angeles native, he began writing the Counter Intelligence column for the L.A. Weekly in 1986, wrote about death metal and gangsta rap for Rolling Stone and Spin among other places, and was delighted that he managed to forge a career out of the professional eating of tacos. Gold died July 21, 2018.