Classic sage and sausage stuffing

Split four ribs of celery lengthwise and cut them down into dice.

Dice the onion cutting loosely radially, aiming at an imaginary point about half an onion radius below the board, with one horizontal slice to split the larger end pieces. That gives the most even dice in the fewest strokes.

Brown the sausage with the butter, breaking it up with a pastry cutter or a potato masher as it firms up, to no big chunks but not a pulverized powder.

Pick the sage off the stems, bundle it and finely mince it.

Cut the crusts off the bread, cube it, spread it on sheet trays and dry it in the oven at 275F with convection on, until there is no softness left and the cubes are like biscuit.

Dry the bread rather than stale it. Drying drives out moisture and makes room for the stock; staling is starch retrogradation, where gelatinized starch recrystallizes as it cools and goes hard even when it is not dry.

Aside, for breadcrumbs from the crusts: soak the crusts in water until completely wet, squeeze out the excess by hand, break them up, dry them on a sheet tray in the oven, then grind them in a food processor.

Add the onion and celery to the pan with the sage, then the smashed garlic, and cook until softened but not browned. Garlic added with the onion will not burn: the moisture coming out of the onion and celery holds the pan near the boiling point of water.

Beat three eggs with half of the chicken broth and the chopped parsley, to temper the eggs so they do not scramble when they meet the hot mixture.

Add the remaining two cups of stock straight into the pan to stop the cooking and deglaze it.

Turn off the heat, pour the pan mixture over the dried bread and stir, then slowly fold in the egg mixture a little at a time so it does not scramble.

Fold in the remaining bread until everything is soaked and there are no big dry chunks left.

Return the mixture to the baking pan. Taste it: no salt was added, because the sausage is salty and even low sodium stock carries some.

Cool, then refrigerate up to a couple of days before baking.

Bake at 325F until browned and bubbly on top, about 45 minutes to an hour. It puffs as the eggs souffle and the liquid turns to steam, and the top goes brown and crusty.