Chestnut Stuffing

 Mink Family Stuffing (Chestnut stuffing)

My mom notes that one can (should) be generous with the onions, celery, and chestnuts. We always used the Pepperidge Farm bread cubes for stuffing when I was growing up. Now tastes have evolved, and my mom recommends tearing a loaf of good bread instead, but to some people it's not the same. She never adds egg. She usually does stuff the bird, but only a fraction of the total stuffing fits, so it gets incorporated with the rest when the bird is done cooking. For our family, the chestnuts are key, for flavor and tradition. The night before Thanksgiving, we boil the chestnuts and peel them all together. It burns your fingers, and is devilishly hard, but it's the torture that binds :)

Aside from burned fingertips, the aroma of the onions, butter, celery, and parsley cooking on Thanksgiving morning (for the stuffing) is one of the strongest sense memories I associate with the holiday, and what I miss most when I'm not at my parents' house. 

I don't think my mom uses sage.