Cut stale bread into ¾ inch cubes and place them in a large mixing bowl. (If you don’t have the time to wait for bread to go stale, you can put the cubes on a cookie sheet and dry them out in a 300 the oven for about 10 minutes. Just make sure they don’t brown too much!)

Sauté sausage in a large pan, stirring constantly to break up the meat. Once it is cooked through (about 6 minutes), remove it from the pan and add it to the bread cubes.

In the same pan, melt 4 tbsp butter and add the celery, onion, and apple. Sauté five minutes until soft, then add the herbs. Cook two minutes more, add the chicken stock and bring it to a boil.

Pour the chicken stock mixture over the bread cubes and sausage and mix well.

Place the stuffing into a baking dish. Slice the remaining half stick of butter into tabs and place on top of the stuffing. Bake at 375 degrees for 30 minutes. The top should be deliciously light brown and crispy.