Food
Potato Lover’s Stuffing
Made with mashed potatoes, breadcrumbs, seasoning, onion, and celery, this potato stuffing is both easy and delicious.
By Yankee Magazine|Nov 11 2021|
Coffee By Design | Portland, Maine
Photo Credit : Katherine Keenan
I have been making this stuffing for many years. My father in law didn`t like giblets , so my mother in law came up with this same recipe. Delicious!
My mother made our potato stuffing with the giblets,heart chopped. The stuffing after being cooked in the turkey was grey in color but was delicious.
That’s exactly how our grampy made it, with the giblets. I’ve been wanting to replicate it for my dad. I think this recipe will do it.
The family potato stuffing uses milk crackers instead of bread crumbs and an egg, and light cream. I add finely minced celery and onion while potatoes are hot. Add egg and butter and cream and continue to mash. I then add milk crackers alternately with cream. Poultry seasoning (Bell’s) is added to taste. Put into the oven for approx half hour . Add a bit of turkey or chicken broth and mix, carefully not to make it too loose.
My mother “kept Kosher”, according to her! The only meat we ate that was truly Kosher, after being killed Kosher at a slaughterhouse owned by a relative, which my mothers’ father helped him found, because my father had a heart condition and his doctor told my mother not to salt his meat, that was killed Kosher because that “extra salt” could kill him was Kosher poultry, which really was salted before we ate it. We also went to a Kosher butcher in Auburn, ME on Sunday mornings when mom needed chickens, which the butcher killed on Friday afternoon and let them bleed from the neck in his cellar until Sunday, so my mother didn’t salt those delicious chickens. My mother kept Kosher until she met my father, who was from ME. We ate chicken every Sunday at noon (dinner). His family introduced my mother and me to lobster, etc. (Chinese food, which definitely was not Kosher!). It was “very interesting” what my mother allowed into her “Kosher home” food-wise! Her mother brought her own Kosher food to our home to eat! We couldn’t “legally” mix milk with meat for cooking, however, mom did allow Fleishmann’s margarine in the house, which has some milk in it because the Kosher margarine does not melt!
My Mom made her stuffing very much like this but I remember her using water and no milk. It far beat any that I’ve ever made.
We add diced apple to ours.
Yea! My favorite stuffing. My father always made it very much like this so I follow the tradition. His family was from Canada, so I believe this is a Canadien recipe. J
Jeanne, I think it’s Canadian, too. We always had this stuffing when we went north for Canadian Thanksgiving (our Columbus Day) years ago. Loved it !
I grew up in southern New Jersey and had “West Jersey”/Pennsylvania roots- this is Mom’s stuffing! I make it today in a casserole/ one-dish-meal by adding dried cranberries and ground turkey. Also I use a pre-seasoned stuffing mix now for convenience. It is delicious and I have converted all my friends and inlaws to Mom’s “Dutch” stuffing! (It keeps the bird moister if used inside too.)
When I lived in PA we called it filling. And it was very filling!
Yep, we call it potato filling. Lots of butter and we always add an egg and then bake in the oven until the top has little brown peaks. Yummy!!!! Can’t have a winter holiday without it. PS: I never measure.
Terrific
always had bread stuffing cooked in the turkey, we will have to try this one…
Never heard of this stuffing until we moved to Central Pa. Believe it is of German Origin. Very popular in the Amish communities on PA. Never heard of it until we moved there. Very good..lots of carbs!
I grew up in Connecticut with this stuffing, from the Irish side of the family! It is delicious, but until this article, I had never seen it mentioned in any cookbook or recipe collection!
My Lithuanian Grandmother made this stuffing. She emigrated to South Boston. It was my first one. She used Bell’s seasoning which came out of Weymouth. I have never seen anyone make it since. I suspect she got the recipe from Bell’s. I say that because her beef stew recipe sounds like it came from The Campbell Soup Co. Thank you so much.
This stuffing is very similar to the one my Nana used to make years ago but she added a pound of roll sausage such as Jimmy Dean. Browned it and put it in the stuffing. I make it for my family every year.
Yep, we call it potato filling. Lots of butter and we always add an egg and then bake in the oven until the top has little brown peaks. Yummy!!!! Can’t have a winter holiday without it. PS: I never measure.
My family has been making this here in Nova Scotia for years and years and years. My grandfather is of German Dutch extraction from the New Germany area. It is very much a Canadian Maritime traditional stuffing. They also do it on PEI. A turkey dinner would not be the same without it. Lots of Canadian Maritimers immigrated to the New England states during and after the depression and just stayed. Perhaps that is how the recipe landed there?
That could be. There are many citizens with Canadian ancestry in Maine. A lot of great recipes we enjoy were brought over with them .
We called this “stuffing”, as we did actually stuff the turkey with it. My family has been making potato stuffing forever (Irish descent), very similar to this recipe. Nowadays, we cook it outside the turkey for all those food safety reasons! My cheat on that is I add some juices/gravy to the stuffing to give it more of that cooked in the turkey flavor. Bell’s Seasoning is a must! (And, like Ruth L said, I never measure!)
Sorry, missed mentioning: my Irish ancestors came to the US by way of Nova Scotia.
Sounds delicious! … I have used a rice mixture instead of potatoes: rice with sausages, tomatoes, & onions in one end of the bird; and rice with a fruit mixture of diced apples, cranberries, dried apricots, & prunes in the other. Also tasty … and almost a meal when baked in a separate dish … and meat is added!
In Aroostook County we call it dressing . We add Bell’s Poultry seasoning ( to taste ) , enough so the potatoes look grayish . If you don’t want to put it inside the turkey , like me , put it in a casserole dish and about an hour before the turkey is done ; pour juice from the turkey in it . Stir to combine , dot with butter and bake in the oven until the turkey is done. Usually 45 minutes to an hour depending on how big a batch you make . More people = more potatoes and TOASTED BREAD CRUMBS , and more seasoning.
I need to add to my comment . We don’t use milk in the dressing mixture. And if you don’t know , Aroostook County is in Northern Maine.
It is “filling” not stuffing, a side dish not from inside the turkey. It was the main attraction for us at Thanksgiving. My mom would always make twice as much as needed. It was such a treat, sadly we only had it on that one day each year. I guess that made it so special.
My family is German from Berks County, PA since 1748. I always thought potato filling was PA Dutch. Shows how small the world really is.
My great grandmother made potato stuffing it was fabulous. I’m from n Ireland I can never replicate it I know there was mashed potatoes, onion, chopped liver of turkey , breadcrumbs. It was cooked inside the turkey (the only way for truly good stuffing). The giblets and neck were used to make vegetable broth. My gt. gran couldn’t read or write and when your young you don’t pay enough attention. This would have been a co. Antrim Northern Ireland recipe if anyone else knows more let me know.