[zoocrew]

Whilst the stuffing is good, is it the best thing? I had never really considered this (sriously) but I may just not use stuffing in my bird this year.

My Link

[yardmower]

For Goodness sakes! We've been stuffing turkeys for generations, now all of a sudden somebody decides we shouldn't
do it? I'll continue to do it thank you. I haven't died yet.

[Just thinkin' hard]

Alton Brown says, "Stuffing is evil." "Well, most of the time."

[zoocrew]

Most of the chefs I've seen on the Food Network say stuffing the turkey and cooking them together is not the best way to go. 

This post has been edited by zoocrew: 22 December 2011 - 10:22 PM

[cherokeewoman]

Have never stuffed a turkey.... we have dressing....

[raclay]

We always make dressing, but can someone please explain to me WHY they(on the link) recommend cooking a stuffed turkey to a minimum of 165F but an un-stuffed turkey to 175F. It seems to me that one would suggest to cook the stuffed bird to the higher temperature. Maybe it's the late hours, but this makes no sense to me right now. Help me out here someone, please.

[fishnthec]

I have grown up eating stuffing straight from the turkey. My grandmother and then my mom would do both stuffing and dressing. I only do dressing just because it is easier, but I still eat that stuffing at my mom's house. I haven't died from it yet, but death by stuffing wouldn't be such a bad way to go.

[Just thinkin' hard]

raclay, on 23 December 2011 - 02:54 AM, said:

We always make dressing, but can someone please explain to me WHY they(on the link) recommend cooking a stuffed turkey to a minimum of 165F but an un-stuffed turkey to 175F. It seems to me that one would suggest to cook the stuffed bird to the higher temperature. Maybe it's the late hours, but this makes no sense to me right now. Help me out here someone, please.

The turkey is soooooo overcooked if you cook it to 175 with the stuffing in it. To get the stuffing to 175 (or the thighs which are next to the stuffing) - the breast meat is waaaaay overdone.

Another reason not to have stuffing.

[mei lan]

cherokeewoman, on 23 December 2011 - 02:38 AM, said:

Have never stuffed a turkey.... we have dressing....

Ditto. From my experience, the stuffing thing is more of a yankee thing. The thought of cooking something inside the turkey is a little bit gross. Seems like the temp and humidity wouldn't be constant, and I just imagine all sorts of little bacteria and stuff in there. Which would cook to death, I'm sure. I'd just rather have my dressing out of a pan.

[Papi]

I always stuff. Yep I come from a yankee family, I escaped Ohio when I was 4, so after 40 years down here I'm a southerner.

This past Thanksgiving I made the bird for the first time since Blondie (born and raised in SOWEGA) and I have been married, she made me prepare her a side pan of dressing. Swore up and down she wouldn't eat my stuffing. It's unsanitary. There is no way you can get the stuffing in the bird up to the proper temp to kill bacteria. blah blah blah yadda yadda yadda. I've been eating stuffed bird my entire life and never once have been sick other than being miserable for eating so much. :lo: I pulled the 20 pound bird out of the oven right at 165 degrees and immediately stuck our long probe digital thermometer into the middle of the stuffing. Yep, 165 degrees. Blondie saw it with her own eyes, ate it and loved it!

I love you born and bred southerners but dang y'all some weird folks sometimes.

Brine your birds, you will never have another dry tasteless turkey again! JSYK

[Blondiega1]

Papi is a stuffer.

I've always been a dressing girl.

For the first time in my life, I tried the stuffing he made. Yummy stuff!
And he made sure, using a probe thermometer, that the internal temperature of the stuffing was above 165.

[mei lan]

Papi, on 23 December 2011 - 10:36 AM, said:

I always stuff. Yep I come from a yankee family, I escaped Ohio when I was 4, so after 40 years down here I'm a southerner.

Nah. You're still a yankee. You're just not a damnyankee.

PS - I have heard that about the brining, but never tried it. Good to know.

[Blondiega1]

Papi, on 23 December 2011 - 10:36 AM, said:

I always stuff. Yep I come from a yankee family, I escaped Ohio when I was 4, so after 40 years down here I'm a southerner.

This past Thanksgiving I made the bird for the first time since Blondie (born and raised in SOWEGA) and I have been married, she made me prepare her a side pan of dressing. Swore up and down she wouldn't eat my stuffing. It's unsanitary. There is no way you can get the stuffing in the bird up to the proper temp to kill bacteria. blah blah blah yadda yadda yadda. I've been eating stuffed bird my entire life and never once have been sick other than being miserable for eating so much. :lo: I pulled the 20 pound bird out of the oven right at 165 degrees and immediately stuck our long probe digital thermometer into the middle of the stuffing. Yep, 165 degrees. Blondie saw it with her own eyes, ate it and loved it!

I love you born and bred southerners but dang y'all some weird folks sometimes.

Brine your birds, you will never have another dry tasteless turkey again! JSYK

Will you please stop posting almost the same thing as me at the same time as me!!
It's getting freaky!

[Papi]

Blondiega1, on 23 December 2011 - 10:40 AM, said:

Will you please stop posting almost the same thing as me at the same time as me!!
It's getting freaky!

I like freaky.

mei lan, on 23 December 2011 - 10:39 AM, said:

Nah. You're still a yankee. You're just not a damnyankee.

PS - I have heard that about the brining, but never tried it. Good to know.

I've always heard that I was a damnyankee cause I didn't go back,

[mei lan]

Papi, on 23 December 2011 - 10:43 AM, said:

I've always heard that I was a damnyankee cause I didn't go back,

Nah. Damnyankees are ones we don't like that didn't go back. The ones who stay and who we like (and who really are southerners at heart) are just regular yankees.

PS - Glad you identified Ohio as yankee. I can't tell you how many yankees I've heard say, "But it's not a yankee state! It's a midwestern state!" To which I always reply, "Hon, any state north of Kentucky/Virginia, west of Texas, and south of Orlando is a yankee state." When they ask about the south of Orlando part, I explain the term "Florida yankee" to them.

[Blondiega1]

Papi, on 23 December 2011 - 10:43 AM, said:

I like freaky.

Maybe later.

This post has been edited by Blondiega1: 23 December 2011 - 10:50 AM

[Papi]

mei lan, on 23 December 2011 - 10:49 AM, said:

Nah. Damnyankees are ones we don't like that didn't go back. The ones who stay and who we like (and who really are southerners at heart) are just regular yankees.

PS - Glad you identified Ohio as yankee. I can't tell you how many yankees I've heard say, "But it's not a yankee state! It's a midwestern state!" To which I always reply, "Hon, any state north of Kentucky/Virginia, west of Texas, and south of Orlando is a yankee state." When they ask about the south of Orlando part, I explain the term "Florida yankee" to them.

BTW, here is my brine recipe. Try it, you will not be disappointed.

2 Gal Water
2 Cups Kosher Salt
3 Cups Sugar
1/4 Cup Zatarains Liquid Crab Boil
4 TBS Black Pepper
1 TBS Dried Rosemary
1 TBS Thyme
1/4 Cup Molasses
1/4 Cup White Wine (not Cooking Wine)
1/4 Cup Worcestershire

Soak a 12 pound turkey in this mixture overnight or 10-12 hours in the fridge. We have a huge soup pot that I put mine in. It was big enough to handle the 20 pound bird.
Pull it out, give it a light rinse, pat dry, STUFF IT , Cook as usual.

I also brine when I am going to smoke a turkey like I did yesterday. I also smoked a turkey at Thanksgiving that was the bomb!

This post has been edited by Papi: 23 December 2011 - 10:55 AM

[mei lan]

Ooh...I'm totally saving that recipe! I'm starving!!!

Blondiega1, on 23 December 2011 - 10:50 AM, said:

Maybe later.

Hwy, now! This is a family message board!

[zoocrew]

I'm bringing this back from last year with timely information.

[Papi]

zoocrew, on 19 November 2012 - 07:32 PM, said:

I'm bringing this back from last year with timely information.

I got one reason to stuff it.

IT'S FREAKING DELICIOUS!

Hasn't killed me in 45 years.

And besides, I proved it to Blondie last year that the turkey was perfectly done. Nice and moist. The internal temp of the stuffing was 165. Right where it should have been.

[CitizenCain]

Reason no. 6 ....A stuffed turkey will never take you out shopping.

[MissSophie]

Been eating it stuffed my whole life; never used a thermometer. We bake all night at about 250; get up in the middle of the night to baste and pull out some of the broth. We keep it well sealed; always moist. Right before serving, i take off the lid and let it brown. YUM, YUM

[LPPT]

Just reminder that sea salt has antibacterial properties, if you are going to soak to thaw make sure you ad some to the water. Also rinsing it very good can help remove harmful bacteria. My mom rubbed her bird down with salt before cooking, it is also a good idea to use seasalt inside and out for that.

The wives tale about chicken soup being good for a cols was a Jewish wives tale, they believe it was the sea salt that helped

[~Chester~]

Oh, you means stuffing the bird.

[surepip]

Papi, on 19 November 2012 - 07:37 PM, said:

I got one reason to stuff it.

IT'S FREAKING DELICIOUS!

Hasn't killed me in 45 years.

And besides, I proved it to Blondie last year that the turkey was perfectly done. Nice and moist. The internal temp of the stuffing was 165. Right where it should have been.

Problem is we are having more and more problems with some of the salmonellae, and stuffed birds can be a prblem with salmolella.

[krwills]

I have been brining my turkeys for many years. This year we are going to deep fry it. Can we still brine & dry or do we have to inject it?

[TJB]

Papi, on 23 December 2011 - 10:36 AM, said:

I always stuff. Yep I come from a yankee family, I escaped Ohio when I was 4, so after 40 years down here I'm a southerner.

This past Thanksgiving I made the bird for the first time since Blondie (born and raised in SOWEGA) and I have been married, she made me prepare her a side pan of dressing. Swore up and down she wouldn't eat my stuffing. It's unsanitary. There is no way you can get the stuffing in the bird up to the proper temp to kill bacteria. blah blah blah yadda yadda yadda. I've been eating stuffed bird my entire life and never once have been sick other than being miserable for eating so much. :lo: I pulled the 20 pound bird out of the oven right at 165 degrees and immediately stuck our long probe digital thermometer into the middle of the stuffing. Yep, 165 degrees. Blondie saw it with her own eyes, ate it and loved it!

I love you born and bred southerners but dang y'all some weird folks sometimes.

Brine your birds, you will never have another dry tasteless turkey again! JSYK

I've always stuffed the turkey and have never had a problem. By the way, it's delicious.

[Blondiega1]

Papi, on 19 November 2012 - 07:37 PM, said:

I got one reason to stuff it.

IT'S FREAKING DELICIOUS!

Hasn't killed me in 45 years.

And besides, I proved it to Blondie last year that the turkey was perfectly done. Nice and moist. The internal temp of the stuffing was 165. Right where it should have been.

Yeah.....I'm a convert.

I'm food safety certified so I was always against stuffing a bird.
Papi made sure the temps were all where they needed to be and I tried my first stuffing last year.
It was delicious!
The bird adds so much flavor.

The key is just to get that internal temp of the stuffing above 165 degrees.

[Go BLUE!]

My mom does NOT stuff the bird, because no one in the family likes the way the stuffing turns out. It's all soggy and greasy. When my grandfather was alive she would stuff the bird because that is how he preferred it.

[markdavd]

Just thinkin, on 22 December 2011 - 09:02 PM, said:

Alton Brown says, "Stuffing is evil." "Well, most of the time."

IIRC, Alton did stuff the bird one time, but he put the stuffing in cheesecloth before putting it in the cavity. That made it easy to get all the stuffing out without having to dig it out.

It probably would make it easier to continue cooking the stuffing if the turkey is at temp but the stuffing isn't.

What's interesting is the rig he put together for frying a turkey. And to answer the earlier question - he did brine it first.

[surepip]

krwills, on 20 November 2012 - 07:37 AM, said:

I have been brining my turkeys for many years. This year we are going to deep fry it. Can we still brine & dry or do we have to inject it?

Brining works much better. It is a chemical reaction where the salt in the brine mixture causes the meat to absorb the liquid uniformly through out the bird.

Injecting shoots the liquid into a portion of the meat, but also leaves an exit hole. When you put the bird into the frying oil, lots of the liquid is going to come back out.

Rinse the bird well after brining, and pat dry inside and out.

I also lightly dust mine with a seasoned flour.