Chestnut and Bacon Stuffing is a traditional Scottish recipe for a classic stuffing or forcemeat made from a blend of onions, bacon, chestnuts and pork sausage meat bound with egg that is intended for the Christmas turkey or goose. The full recipe is presented here and I hope you enjoy this classic Scottish version of: Chestnut and Bacon Stuffing.
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Chestnut stuffings first became popular in Britain during the 18th century, introduced by French chefs. Stuffing itself was developed as a method of keeping the bird moist as it was spit roasted as it increased the time needed for the heat of the fire to penetrate the bird. This recipe will be enough for a 5kg goose or turkey.
Ingredients:
25g butter
1 large onion, finely chopped
100g streaky bacon, diced
500g cooked chestnuts (tinned or vacuum packed), finely chopped
4 tbsp fresh parsley, chopped
1 dessert spoon fresh thyme, chopped
pinch of ground mace
200g pork sausage meat
1 egg, beaten
salt and freshly-ground black pepper, to taste
Method:
Melt the butter in a frying pan, add the onion and bacon and fry for about 10 minutes.
Take off the heat and turn into a bowl. Stir in the chestnuts, parsley, thyme, mace and sausage meat. Mix with your hands then work in the beaten egg. Season to taste with salt and black pepper and mix once more.
Cover and set aside in the refrigerator until you are ready to stuff and cook your bird. Use to stuff both the neck and the body cavity. Roast the stuffed bird in the usual manner.
Alternatively you could pack the mixture into a greased loaf tin and bake in this for about 40 minutes. Then turn out and serve sliced to accompany your roasts.
