Turkey and Stuffing ideas

Cafe Society
21

My favorite stuffing recipe comes from More-With-Less Cookbook by Doris Janzen Longacre.

4 C cornbread, crumbled (I usually use Jiffy mix cornbread)
1 3/4 C croutons

Melt in skillet: 1/4 C margarine

Add:
4 stalks celery, sliced
1 large onion, chopped
1/3 C chopped walnuts (optional, but delicious)
1 t. celery seed
1/4 C minced parsley (optional)
2 t poultry seasoning
salt and pepper

saute’ until tender and add to bread mixture.

Brown in skillet: 3 oz (or more) pork sausage

Add to bread mixture along with 1 C chicken broth. Combine and turn into greased casserole. Sprinkle with sausage drippings. Bake at 325F for 40 minutes.

This is absolutely my favorite recipe for stuffing. My mother in law makes a much wetter, heavier, mushy bread stuffing, and there’s simply no comparing the two. Now, this one is quite dry and crumbly. It’s hard to put leftovers into a turkey sandwich the day after Thanksgiving. If you wanted it moister, just add the whole can of chicken broth instead of half a can. The nuts add just the right amount of crunch, the sausage adds salt and fat and a bit of peppery spice…it’s just yum.

22

The link I posted above to the turducken recipe has the following:

23

My recipe is similar to this one…and I too add cooked sausage. No eggs or giblets, but I use chicken stock for the liquid. I also add a few chestnuts to the mix. Yum!

Williams Sonoma carries some in the jar, all ready to go. I use half the jar at Thanksgiving, and freeze the other half for use at Christmas.

24

I stand corrected.

Funny thing is, I just saw the new stuffing episode yesterday, and the first thought that ran through my mind was “gee, I guess that post of mine was wrong after all.”

Of course, the hoops Alton says you’ve got to jump through to do stuffing without getting either a dry bird or biological hazard keeps me firmly in the “stuffing is evil” camp. And yes, the second recipe you linked to is pretty much what I use (it’s very close to the instructions he wrote in Gourmet last year, which is what I used when cooking my uber-bird).

And I note that Alton did not stuff for the “All Star Thanksgiving” dealie that FN put together, which tells me Alton is pursuing stuffing as a largely theoretical exercise himself – a show to stop the flow of “stuffing is NOT evil” emails rather than a show that reflects his actual Thanksgiving practices.

25

Cornbread & sausage stuffing, with apples!

26

Turkey fryers are dangerous, they tip easily etc. Alton Brown and Consumer reports agree on this. If you do use one, use it somewhere that if if is knocked over, it won’t catch anything else on fire when it is engulfed in flames.
I always use some soy sauce on the skin after rubbing it with salt and spices. It makes it a nicer color and tastes really good.

27

Makes enough for a 9x13 pan.
Cornbread:
2 cups yellow cornmeal
2 cups flour
8 tsp baking powder
1/2 cup sugar
2 tsp salt
2 cups milk
2 eggs
1 tbs oil
Heat oven to 425. Mix dry ingredients in a large bowl. Place oil in pan and heat in the oven while you add the wet ingredients to the bowl. Mix well. Remove hot pan from oven, swirl the oil around to coat sides of pan, and pour oil into batter. Mix well, and pour into pan. Bake 20-25 minutes, until golden brown.
Cornbread Dressing:
1 9x13 pan cornbread, cooled and finely crumbled
1/2 onion, finely chopped
2-3 ribs of celery, finely chopped
4 tsp sage
2 tsp poultry seasoning
2 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper
1 stick of butter, melted
2-3 eggs
2-3 cans chicken broth (or fresh from the simmering giblets)
splash of milk (optional)
Mix cornbread, onions, celery and seasonings. (You can add some chopped giblets if you like.) Add melted butter and the eggs. Mix (with your hands!). Add broth, a little at a time until sufficiently moist. Cornbread should just barely hold together when squeezed. You can add a splash of milk for more moistness. Place into a 9x13 pan, and bake for 30 minutes at 350.

28

Someone should really mention that brining is the only way to go :wink: . I’ve gotten rave reviews from really tough audiences (including my mother-in-law) with brined birds. I should also point out another of Cook’s Illustrated’s recommendations that hasn’t been mentioned yet, which is air-drying the bird in the fridge overnight after brining it. Essentially, you remove the bird from the brining solution and place it, uncovered, on a roasting rack or other wire rack. Pat the skin dry with paper towels, and put the whole thing in the fridge overnight (or at least for several hours. This takes most of the extra moisture induced by brining out of the bird’s skin, so that it browns and crisps nicely in the oven. Otherwise, a brined bird’s skin can still be a bit on the pale/soft side when the bird’s otherwise done. It’s an extra step, makes the entire process a three day affair (one to brine, one to air dry, and one to cook), and takes up a lot of space in the fridge at a time when it’s likely to be at a premium, but the results in my experience are outstanding. The meat continues to be moist and flavorful, the skin richly brown and crisp – turkeyfection!

As for the brining solution, I tend to be a purist, sticking mainly with water, salt, and sugar, but I have had interesting and tasty results from adding a bit of liquid smoke (the real stuff, not that smoke flavoring crap).

Oh yeah – this all assumes you’re using a fresh turkey. If you’re going frozen, just throw the damned thing the oven any old way, cause nothing you do in preparation is going to save it.

29

Mrs. danalan makes a tremendous stuffing. She uses King’s Hawaiian bread, shredding it into crumbs and drying them in a warm oven. The other main ingredients are bacon, sausage, onion, a variety of hot peppers (remove veins and seeds, and mince), and some spices. For my portion she substitues meatless versions of the bacon and sausage as I don’t eat red meat.

She has to make so much stuffing to satisfy everyone that only a token amount gets cooked in the bird. As far as roasting the turkey, her secret is the 60+ year old self-basting roasting pan – big enough for a 20# bird – that she inherited from her aunt Ella.

30

What a fun thread!

I generally wing most of my cooking (pun somewhat intended), and this christmas I’ll be part of the Turkey Prep squad.

I intend to:

Brine - Salt + herbs - not sure which herbs right yet, but sure that garlic’ll be a part of it! I’ll have to remember to watch the salt usage in other steps though; Thanks rackensack for the drying suggestion - another thing to remember!

Butterfly - Speeds the cooking, and maximizes the yummy skin! You don’t get any of that nasty soggy stuff on the underside of the bird.

I’ll either pipe an herbed butter under the skin, or just apply it to the top - depends on how much room I’ve got in the kitchen. Herb’s’ll be rosemary and sage, maybe something else if inspiration hits.

I’ll prepare some version of the stuffing below, and when I prepare it I’ll slide it underneath the turkey to catch the drippings as it cooks. This is suggested by “America’s Test Kitchen” in some book of theirs, and it sounds great.

The stuffing’ll be made as follows:

Gibblets, chopped and fried w/ onions and garlic; maybe some other flavorful meat like bacon or pancetta;

  • carrots, Celery; if it was just me I’d add chestnuts but that won’t work for some of the people I’ll be cooking for. . .

For ease I’ll probably grab a bag of Pepperidge Farm stuffing croutons, though I’ll probably ditch the flavor-pack and substitute my own concoction of fresh rosemary, sage, and thyme.

Put the veggies, gibblets, and croutons/herbs together in a pan along with some measure of broth, and set under the Turkey at some point towards the end of the roasting - in time for it to absorb drippings and then cook off moisture until it gets that lovely pudding-ish consistency. For old time’s sake, I’ll also lop off some of the best bits of skin from the carcass (the areas that don’t have great meat associated with them) and mix those into the dressing before serving. . .

These are very traditional flavors for my family. Were I to experiment (which I don’t generally do around holidays - I’m a traditionalist) I’d do things like add polish sausage to the dressing, perhaps paprika to the rub and explore a spicy cajun-ish flavor. Or maybe more asian flavors like Ginger and lemon. Who knows, perhaps some peanuts in the stuffing to make it reminiscent of satay peanut sauce?

Good luck everybody!

to quote Jaques Pepin and/or Mme. Julia: “Happy Cooking!”

31

Everything’s better with bacon, right? So, why not put it in stuffing?! Here’s my favorite:

1/2 pound thick-cut bacon slices, cut crosswise into 1/2-inch-wide strips
4 cups chopped onions
3 cups chopped celery
1 cup chopped dried apples
1 tablespoon chopped fresh thyme
1 1/2 teaspoons dried rubbed sage
2 7.4-ounce jars roasted whole chestnuts, coarsely broken

8 cups dried corn bread cubes
1 3/4 cups (or more) low-salt chicken broth
2 tablespoons (1/4 stick) butter, melted

Cook bacon in heavy large skillet over medium-high heat until brown and crisp. Using slotted spoon, transfer bacon to large bowl. Pour off all but 2 tablespoons drippings from skillet. Add onions and celery to drippings in skillet. Cover and cook over medium heat until vegetables are soft, stirring occasionally, about 12 minutes. Add vegetables to bacon; mix in apples, thyme, and sage, then chestnuts. (Can be made 1 day ahead. Cover and chill. Reheat to lukewarm before continuing.)

Add corn bread stuffing mix to chestnut mixture. Mix in 1 3/4 cups broth. Drizzle with butter.

To bake stuffing in turkey:
Loosely fill main cavity and neck cavity of turkey with stuffing. Add enough broth to remaining stuffing to moisten slightly (1/4 cup to 3/4 cup, depending on amount of remaining stuffing). Generously butter baking dish. Spoon remaining stuffing into prepared dish. Cover dish with buttered foil, buttered side down. Bake stuffing in dish — alongside turkey or while turkey is resting — until heated through, about 25 minutes. Uncover stuffing in dish. Bake until top of stuffing is slightly crisp and golden, about 15 minutes longer.

To bake stuffing in dish:
Preheat oven to 350°F. Generously butter 13x9x2-inch glass baking dish. Add enough extra broth to stuffing to moisten (3/4 cup to 1 1/4 cups). Transfer stuffing to prepared dish. Cover with buttered foil, buttered side down. Bake until heated through, about 40 minutes. Uncover and bake until top is slightly crisp and golden, about 20 minutes longer.

Makes 10 to 12 servings.

32

People say they love my turkey gravy, but if anyone has another gravy method to share, I’d like to hear it.

Basically, I put the giblets (but not the liver) in a pan with some celery and onion, add water to cover, and boil until the giblets are tender, then chop them into little pieces. Eat the heart before someone else grabs it. Toss the celery and onion but save the water.

Skim off the icky stuff from the water, add some drippings from the turkey, and add some thyme and sage, or some chicken bullion cubes, and put the chopped giblets back in.

Simmer this for awhile and thicken with a mixture of arrowroot and water, or cornstarch and water.

I’ve also made gravy by just thickening all the turkey pan drippings, but I’m afraid that method (although tasty) leaves just too much fat in the gravy.

33

Crap, the dingos ate my post.

AuntiePam, I was agreeing with you on your gravy-making skills (except I give the giblets to the dog after I make the broth. Lucky dog.)

BUT (and it’s a big but) I don’t like a gravy thickened “cold”, ie with arrowroot or cornstarch. What I do is take equal amounts of real butter and flour. Cook them in a heavy saucepan (big enough for all of the gravy) over medium heat, stirring, stirring, stirring the whole time. When it’s browned to a nice color and the flour no longer tastes floury, I slowly add the broth. Sometimes I use homemade chicken stock, since it tastes stronger to me.

And this is how I’ve become the gravy queen of the family. Even my mom (and we women of the family are known for our horror at having someone else in our kitchens!) will drag me in to do it at her house. Cowboy’s family appreciates a good gravy too - I don’t think they’ve had it since the Grandma from Oklahoma passed away.

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I haven’t had luck with flour because I can’t get rid of the floury taste. So I’m probably just not cooking it long enough. Cool!

Lucky dog is right. At my house, we fight over the gizzard. I fry the liver separately and nibble on it while everything else is cooking.

35

Thyme. Must have thyme. Fresh thyme. Bird + fresh thyme = yummy.

I love thyme on poultry so much that I’d almost be inclined to save the sage and rosemary for the stuffing and just go with salt, pepper and thyme. Almost.

36

Here’s a turkey recipe that’s a little different- it’s a maple glazed boneless turkey breast.

Here’s my dressing (it’s dressing if it is cooked separately in a pan, stuffing if cooked in the turkey) recipe:

1 loaf good white bread (crusty bread or sandwich bread will work, but don’t use sourdough- it’ll taste funny)
1 1/3 cup chicken or vegetable stock
2/3 cup olive oil, plus enough to saute the leeks and mushrooms in
2 large leeks
Brown crimini mushrooms (you can also use white button mushrooms)
Dried sage and salt/pepper to taste

Slice open the leeks and clean them in the sink, to get any sand out.

Slice the leeks and mushrooms in your food processor with the slicer disk.

Saute the leeks and mushrooms in a large frying pan with the dried sage, salt, and pepper until the leeks don’t look raw any more.

Crumb the bread in the food processor. Put the chopping blade in (you don’t have to wash out anything that’s left of the mushrooms and leeks before doing this), tear hunks off the bread, and pulse the food processor until the hunks are made into crumbs.

Put the bread crumbs and leek/mushroom mixture in a large mixing bowl.

Pour the chicken stock and the olive oil into the bowl. Mix with a large, sturdy spoon.

Spray cooking spray (Pam or similar) into a 9x13 glass baking dish. Dump the dressing out of the bowl and into the dish, and smooth it out.

Cook while you cook your turkey. The dressing should get crispy on the top and bottom.

37

That’s exactly it–if you’re tasting the flour, you didn’t cook your roux long enough.

What I do to make gravy:

A week or so before T-day, I buy a bunch of turkey wings and legs at the market, and roast them to a dark brown in the oven. I throw these into a stockpot with some onion, carrot, celery, parsley stems, sprigs of thyme, a spoonful of black peppercorns, and a bay leaf or two. Cover with water, bring to a boil, then turn down to a simmer for about 6-8 hours. Strain out all the solids, skim any fat, then store away in the fridge until T-day.

When the big day comes, I’ll pour that stock into a pot with the neck retrieved from the turkey, add a cup of white wine, and let that simmer until it’s reduced by half. I’ll retrieve some of the fat from the turkey drippings (instead of butter or oil) to make the roux. 1 tablespoon of roux will thicken 1 cup of liquid, so if you’re making, let’s say, 4 cups of gravy, then you need 2 tablespoons of fat and 2 tablespoons of flour. In your saucepan on medium heat, add your fat first, then add flour. Cook your roux, stirring well, for about 3-5 minutes. Grab a whisk and make sure your stock is still hot. Add a little of the stock at a time–a ladle makes this easy–and whisk constantly to incorporate, which will keep you from getting any lumps. When you add your first bit of stock, you’ll notice the roux will soak it up right away and it’ll look like paste there for a little bit, until you add more. I’ll usually add some of the juices from the turkey drippings, but I tend to use more of them for the pan of dressing instead.

38

I’ll try it, the roux.

Does the gravy reheat okay? I’m considering making the gravy the day before. Seems like there’s always too much to do at the last minute, and gravy is a big part of that.

39

As far as AB and stuffing goes, he often does shows and recipes to placate the fans that yell at him. The stuffed turkey is among these, as is the sweet potato recipe (on his food network biography, he mentiones he hates sweet potatos.)

However, I still agree that stuffing is evil, because of the reasons stated. It can make a dry turkey, or make you sick. If oyu want the stuffing to have some real turkey flavor, just cook it with some of the drippings and/or chicken stock.

But, for the LOVE OF OG, brine that turkey! I’m going to have to convince my mom to brine the turkey this year. But I doubt I’ll be able to convince her to not stuff the turkey.

40

I don’t want pink breast meat, otherwise brining sounds very good.