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Peeps...

Speaking from personal experience, I know how much tuba players like to eat. I thought I'd share my secret crock pot stuffing recipe with the crowd in honor of Turkey Day. Perhaps you have some special tastes you'd like to share as well?

This recipe tastes exactly like bird stuffing, and the kicker is you can make as much as you want. When researching crock pot stuffing recipes, I came across many variants. Some used cornbread, or pecans and apples, or maybe sausage and other weird s***. Others were for lazy cooks, and used pre-seasoned stuffing mix. I like this one because you can really control/vary the flavor (more so than with the pre-seasoned mixes). It also means you can cook your bird without the stuffing inside of it, which I believe is the best way to do it (especially for folks down south with the deep fryers!). This mix of ingredients just nets out to a nice final taste. I’ve tweaked and modified this recipe over the years, and first share some notes on its preparation...

The bread cubes are homemade, using a 50/50 combination of sheepherder and sourdough breads. Get one each of those big round loaves, pre-sliced. Stack four or five slices of bread, saw them long-ways into 3/8â€

Sounds tasty, very tasty.

But I have to tell you, for all "regular" Crock Pot (meaning the actual name-brand appliances) recipes, the knob on the front really is a coded message: whatever your favourite recipe, especially for roasts, hot pots, and such, the "true" directions are that you pack it all in according to directions right before breakfast and then turn it on. "Low" means you're having it for supper, "High" means you're having it for lunch, and "Warm" means you're late for dinner!

Yes, as you surmise, being a tuba player and supporting a family with a day job, and actually being the cook, I use a Crock Pot often. I actually have three, depending on what I'm doing, from hors d'Å“uvres little weenies to roast for a dozen, depending on the occasion.

But this recipe is new to me. I'll definitely have to try it sometime during the season. Thanks.

iiipopes wrote:Sounds tasty, very tasty.

I've been told, point-blank, that the only reason I'm allowed into my folks' house at Thanksgiving is because I bring the stuffing.



It *will* become a staple at your family's holiday table, I'll tell you that much!

...D

I usually get sheepherder's bread at Ralph's (our local supermarket chain). It's not an unusual/deli item, and can typically be found in the bread aisle. The loaves I get of sourdough (usually San Francisco) and sheepherders (maybe Sara Lee?) are the the big round ones that've been pre-sliced. Sheepherder's bread is somewhat soft, not hard like sourdough or French bread. If you can't find it, a work-around might be a good loaf of plain white bread. Having or not having sheepherder's bread won't make or break your recipe - it just happened to be what I chose to use. It doesn't have a strong characteristic flavor like sourdough, and is Basque in origin.

The thing that I find special about the crock pot method is the texture it produces - just like bird stuffing. The seasonings produce a flavor that - to me, anyway - is what good, traditional stuffing tastes like. Personally, I've never gone in for all those wild, new-fangled "upgrades". If that's your thing, though, cool by me. You could use the crock pot method for those too.

The liquid is called Haco Liquid Seasoning. It comes in a 40 oz. plastic bottle, and is the liquid version of their dry Hacomat seasoning. Haco products are typically sold to restaurants, and Swiss Chalet is the company that imports them into the U.S. I've never seen any of their stuff for sale in a retail store. However, you might try contacting them directly to see if someone in your area stocks it. I've always ordered mine directly from them online.

The Hacomat and Haco Liquid Seasoning have very similar, totally unique flavors. I use the liquid in my stocks, and the dry variant in dressings and rubs. Like the sheepherder's bread, not having it won't kill your recipe. There are many other flavors at work in that mix.

Used properly, the Haco flavor is a background player that sits mysteriously just out of view. It's the one that gets people scratching their heads trying to figure out what it is. Many consider it to be more of a "flavor enhancer" than a stand-alone. I'm a total spice junkie, and have never come across anything that tastes even remotely close. As such, I can't recommend a substitute, but like I said - you'll be just fine without it. The Haco Belarom dry seasoning is also a great one to have, and totally unique. Adding a little bit to ground beef will produce some tasty burgers!

I'm smelling up the house right now making giblet stock for gravy. It's another Franken-recipe I'm trying out that was cobbled together from three or four different sources. I always tell folks that if they like something I make, to hold on to that flavor.... they may never taste it again! Ahh, the joys of jazz improv cooking, ehh?



Good luck, and please feel free to post any other questions if you need further clarification.

...D

I'll try to pop by after my first dinner!

I'm curious - did anyone give the recipe a go-around? If so, how did it turn out?

...D

The Jackson wrote:

ewwwwww....

Why do I feel bl-eeewwwwwwwww-d and tat-t-ewwwwwwwwwd after that?

Right. Let's play the F-ewwwwwwwww-d!!

windshieldbug wrote:Right. Let's play the F-ewwwwwwwww-d!!

Yup -- figgered there was a family involved somehow (with that much f-ewwwwwwwww-d) ...