I have not written since moving but here goes. I did not cook at home for family or friends this year but had the opportunity to cook in a different setting. On Monday 11/23/09, with a small team, I cooked a traditional Thanksgiving meal for 1000. It is is not that different than cooking for 10 but does require more clean up. I will not explain how to cook for a group this large but if you are interested email me chef@matthewbabbage.com and I can answer any questions. I will give a basic recipe for stuffing and it is the one my mother always used just multiplied by about 100 times, I do not stuff the turkey but cook it in roasting pans.
Remember the health of your family and guests can depend on safe food handling practices, wash your hands before and after you touch any raw food item. I will always speak and write about the importance of sanitation when you are in the kitchen since it is one thing you can do to insure that you have a safe and healthy holiday. It is impossible to know how many cases of illness there are due to improper food preperation, handling and time verses temperature during cooking, serving and storage. The single thing that you can do to help prevent people from getting sick is to wash your hands again and again. If you have any questions wash them again.
My recipe for the stuffing is as follows.
20 loaves white bread cut in cubes
1 gallon fine diced celery sweated in 1 lb. butter until soft
1 gallon fine diced onion sweated in 1 lb. butter until soft
6 tablespoon each kosher salt and ground black pepper
3 tablespoons each ground sage and poultry seasoning
1 and 1/2 gallons turkey stock, if you chose to use canned stock cut the kosher salt in half
Cook the celery and onion and spread on a cooking pan to cool for 1/2 hour. Put all the ingredients in a large bowl with half the turkey stock and with gloved hands mix until everything is incorporated adding more turkey stock as needed. Divide the mix in five hotel pans and bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes or until the stuffing reaches 165 degrees.
