Growing up, my mother always stuffed the turkey. And that was the best tasting part of Thanksgiving. My wife refuses to stuff the turkey (or will refuse to eat any if I do it). I use the same recipe (apples and sage seasoned sausage are the key ingredients) as my mother used but it just does not taste the same. My wife brings up the undercooked turkey/stuffing issue and getting sick. But it never happened as I was growing up. So, do you stuff the turkey or not?
Noo never stuff...Stuffing adds mass which increases cooking time and increased cooking time results in dry meat. Plus it is just an open invititation for all the microbial nasties lurking in the kitchen. Make ur stuffing in a pan if you want it, or maybe a nice bread pudding. Use the empty turky cavity to add aromatics to increse flavor.
Noo never stuff...Stuffing adds mass which increases cooking time and increased cooking time results in dry meat. Plus it is just an open invititation for all the microbial nasties lurking in the kitchen. Make ur stuffing in a pan if you want it, or maybe a nice bread pudding. Use the empty turky cavity to add aromatics to increse flavor.
Alright...you're coming to work in my kitchen!!! You are dead on...stuffing the turkey is actually dangerous as the stuffing will not be properly cooked if the turkey is cooked properly and visa versa...quite a number of medical cases are attributed every year to stuffing cooked in the cavity...now you say it won't taste the same? It takes a little more work, but make a nice chicken or turkey stock, reduce to concentrate flavors and use that in the preparation of the stuffing...or simply roast the turkey and halfway through the process add the pan drippings to the stuffing mixture and put that into the oven in a roasting pan...the two should finish at the same time (45 min or so at 350F)...
We are like all the rest of these reponses except we call it dressing. If you stuff, you get that stuffing. But dressing ( outside of) is the bestest. You use bread crumbs and cornbread too. Not that dry stuff in the stores.
For probably the last 10 or 12 years, our Thanksgiving turkey has been injected with marinade (usually Cajun), rubbed with spices and deep fried in peanut oil. My dad's a master at this, and does it to perfection. Sometimes, depending on number of us getting together, he'll fry 2, each with its own taste. Good stuff!
The answer is simple:...don't undercook your turkey. I have been eating stuffed turkey all of my 60 years, and I have not had a bad one yet. You just keep it basted, well covered, and cook it slowly and it will come out well done all the way through, tender and very juicy. The secret is lower heat, longer cooking time and keeping it moist. If you use too high a heat setting, yes, you WILL dry it out on the outside and undercook it on the inside. Lower heat with very long cooking time is the answer. My grandmother cooked turkey this way, my mother cooked turkey this way, my mother in law does it this way, and my wife of 37 years does it this way...we have NEVER had a problem. They must be doing something right.
Talk about stuffing, you ought to try a Cajun "turducken", which is a turkey, stuffed with a duck, which is stuffed with a chicken. You're talking about salmonella central if you don't do that one right!
Talk about stuffing, you ought to try a Cajun "turducken", which is a turkey, stuffed with a duck, which is stuffed with a chicken. You're talking about salmonella central if you don't do that one right!
How do they pull that off? Maybe the "chicken" in the middle is one of those marshmallow peeps?
Being from the South, we call it "dressing" and we stuff our turkey with dressing. Dressing is ALWAYS made from cornbread. No self respecting Southerner would make dressing from plain bread, that's uncouth.
Last edited by wb4tjh : November 19th, 2006 at 02:02 PM.
I just checked with my resident turkey expert...my wife...she cooks it at 325 degrees overnight. We put the turkey in the oven before we go to bed, and by morning the house is filled with the heavenly aroma of roasting turkey. When the meat is separting from the bones, it's thoroughly done all the way thru, including the stuffing. Ya' just gotta' love Thanksgiving!
November 19th, 2006, 12:08 AM
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