Dad's Fabulous Thanksgiving Stuffing

Dad's Fabulous Stuffing

Pretty much anybody who has had my dad's stuffing agrees that there's nothing quite like it. No one makes stuffing like my dad. And the real kicker? It's totally different every year. According to Dad, he's had plenty of successes, but he's also had one or two flops, like the year he decided to do dressing like the real pilgrims would have eaten, with oysters and cornbread. But I cannot remember a year when the stuffing wasn't amazing.

I have asked my dad in the past to give me the recipe for his stuffing, and he just told me that there is no recipe. That's so ridiculously true that I don't know how I can do it justice here, but I'm going to try.

Ingredients

Bread, cut into cubes and dried
     Note: Don't do sourdough (stuffing turns out strange). Cornbread makes crumbly stuffing. French bread is good, as is challah egg bread. Sandwich and wheat bread works good too; but all wheat is heavy, and all white is mushy. A mix is best.
Onions
Celery/fennel (bulb)
Melted butter
About a pound of Italian sausage
     Note: Dad usually does some sweet Italian sausage and a couple hot Italian sausage, removed from casing. All hot is usually too hot for most people. He uses about 5 of the large links. Bear sausage is amazing, Dad says.
Herbs
     Note: Try one of these combinations: Poultry seasoning and bottled (dried) sage; garden herbs like fennel seads (toasted and crushed) and rosemary (chopped finely); fresh sage and rosemary; Herbs du Provence; oregano.
Other ingredients
     Note: Such as dried cranberries (Dad does this a lot), chestnuts, waterchestnuts, walnuts and raisins (a favorite of Grandma Peterson), pecans, dried cherries, other dried fruit, pinenuts. One year, Dad did Challah egg bread, sweet Italian sausage, roasted chestnuts, pecans, parsley, sage, chicken stock, butter, onion, salt, pepper, celery. This year, we did a specialty French bread with a bit of sandwich bread, fennel seeds (toasted and crushed), rosemary, sweet and hot Italian sausage, dried cranberries, chicken stock, butter, onion, salt, pepper, and fennel (bulb).
A couple of eggs
Chicken or turkey stock--more than you would think
Salt and pepper, to taste 

Procedure

1. Cube and dry the bread overnight.
2. Saute the onions and celery/fennel (bulb), then cook the sausage.
3. To your dried bread, add your miscellaneous ingredients, chicken or turkey stock, herbs, and salt/pepper. Taste it to get the right flavor.
4. Then add the eggs. Make sure that the stuffing is a bit moist when you put it in the bird so it doesn't dry out.
5. Add to the bird. Make sure it is hot enough when you pull it out of the turkey. If not, you will have to put it in a pan and bake it until it is done. Otherwise, it'll still have bacteria from the raw bird in it.