Stuffing

Dry the bread

Spread the cubes on two sheet pans and leave them out overnight, or bake them at 275F (135C) for 30 to 40 minutes, tossing once. They should be dry and hard all the way through, not toasted brown. Fresh bread has nowhere to put the stock and collapses into paste.

Heat the oven to 350F (175C)

Butter a 9 by 13 inch baking dish.

Cook the vegetables in plenty of butter

Melt the butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the onion and celery with the salt and cook 8 to 10 minutes, stirring, until soft and translucent with no color. Stir in the sage, thyme, and pepper and cook 1 minute more, until they smell strong.

Moisten the bread gradually

Put the bread cubes in a very large bowl and scrape in the buttered vegetables. Add 3 cups of stock in three additions, folding after each one. Stop when a squeezed handful holds together and feels damp but no liquid runs out. Add the last half cup only if dry cubes remain. Soaked bread bakes into pudding.

Stir in the eggs and parsley

Fold in the beaten eggs and parsley until evenly distributed. The eggs are what hold the finished stuffing together in a spoonable slab rather than a loose pile. Transfer to the dish and spread level without packing it down.

Bake covered, then uncovered

Cover with foil and bake 25 minutes. Remove the foil and bake 20 to 25 minutes more, until the top is browned and crisp and the center reads 165F (74C) on a thermometer. Rest 10 minutes.

Bake it in a dish, not the bird. Stuffing cooked inside a turkey has to reach 165F (74C) to be safe, and the breast meat is dry long before the center of the cavity gets there. A separate dish is the safer choice and gives you far more crisp surface.