GIZZARD STUFFING RECIPE RECIPES

Steps:

• Leave the bread out in a container in a single layer to dry out for at least 24 hours, preferably a few days.
• Rehydrate the morels and or other mushrooms in the stock for at least 30 minutes (overnight rehydrating is fine too, as you are transferring the mushroom flavor to the stock here) then agitate to remove grit, remove the mushrooms, squeezing the stock from them back into the container.
• Coarsely chop the mushrooms, trying to keep them in semi large pieces especially if they’re small. When in doubt, you want larger pieces of mushroom as opposed to smaller.
• Let any debris in the stock from the mushrooms settle, then pour it carefully into a small pan, leaving the debris at the bottom of the container, sacrificing a tablespoon of stock to ensure there’s no grit in the stuffing. Reduce the stock by half, or until it’s roughly 2 cups, then reserve.
• When the stock is cooled enough to not cook the egg, beat the egg in well, along with 1/2-1 teaspoon salt (or to taste) along with generous grinds of black pepper, about 10-15. If your stock or butter are salted, you will want to salt it to taste. Re: chilling the stock, I often put things outside to cool off quickly in the fall: it's Nature's blast chiller!
• Sweat the gizzards or bacon, sage, onion and celery in the 4oz of butter, grating in the garlic using a microplane (alternately you can mince the garlic). If you’re using regular commercial bacon, render it first until crisp first before adding the butter.
• Add the rehydrated mushrooms and a couple grinds of pepper and cook over medium heat (a steady bubble) for 10 minutes for the flavors to meld.
• Put the bread cubes in a large mixing bowl, then pour in the stock-egg mix, and then the buttery vegetable mix making sure to scrape every last drop of goodness into the bowl with the bread.
• Gently mix the stuffing, adding the parsley if using, and set the mixture aside to hydrate before baking for at least an hour. It's also fine to leave it overnight, and it will benefit from the extended hydration.
• To bake it, bring the stuffing to room temperature, then preheat the oven to 350. Melt the two extra tablespoons of butter, drizzle evenly over the top, bake for 30-45 minutes or until browned.

Steps:

• Place gizzards in a saucepan with enough water to cover by 1 inch. Bring to a boil over medium heat, cover, and cook for 1 1/2 hours. Drain and chop into bite size pieces.
• Melt butter in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Fry gizzards in butter for about 15 minutes. Season with salt and pepper to taste.