# Dressing or Stuffing? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 16, 2018, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dressing-or-stuffing/824618 "2018-11-16T15:07:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2018, 4:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dressing-or-stuffing/824618/41 "2018-11-17T04:17:35Z")
Dressing is good. I don’t really see the point of cooking it in the bird, since it seems you have to remove it, rather than have them both cut together as some sort of combo dish. ---
**Author:** ![MoonMoon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/moonmoon/32/2959_2.png) [@MoonMoon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MoonMoon)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2018, 10:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dressing-or-stuffing/824618/42 "2018-11-17T10:11:02Z")
> [@Loach](#): > > The stuffing you put in the bird is called stuffing. > > The stuffing you cook outside of the bird because there is never enough stuffing is called stuffing. > > I acknowledge that some people chose to call stuffing “dressing.” Yes. ---
**Author:** ![Enright3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/enright3/32/2897_2.png) [@Enright3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enright3)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2018, 11:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dressing-or-stuffing/824618/43 "2018-11-17T11:36:13Z")
I chose both because to me they’re interchangeable. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2018, 12:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dressing-or-stuffing/824618/44 "2018-11-17T12:07:07Z")
> [@Chefguy](#): > > There is zero reason to worry about this if a person has even a modicum of good sense. After I remove the stuffing from the bird, it goes into the microwave until it’s steaming hot. And my mother always stuffed the bird way before microwaves were available. In 70 years of eating stuffing, I’ve never gotten ill from it. I shove a thermometer into the center of the stuffing, and don’t remove the bird from the over until the stuffing is hot enough to be safe. I also pre-heat the oven and put hot stuffing into the bird, so it doesn’t sit around at “warm” very long. > [@BigT](#): > > Dressing is good. I don’t really see the point of cooking it in the bird, since it seems you have to remove it, rather than have them both cut together as some sort of combo dish. I make seasoned bread stuffing for Thanksgiving, because it’s traditional and other family members like it, but i don’t care for it. It’s too soggy. I might like it better in a casserole. I also makea wild rice and cranberry stuffing for my new year’s Eve goose. There’s always too much, and i cook the extra in a casserole. I added lots of butter, but no broth, because i serve that batch to vegetarians. The stuffing I remove from the goose is vastly better than the dressing I bake in the casserole. Maybe if i made a batch of goose broth in advance, and added some of that there’d be less difference. But goose broth is not among my staples. And, vegetarian guests… ---
**Author:** ![scabpicker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scabpicker/32/8268_2.png) [@scabpicker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scabpicker)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2018, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dressing-or-stuffing/824618/45 "2018-11-17T14:51:39Z")
> [@TRC4941](#): > > I said I was deranged and prefer stuffing only because that’s what we call it. We don’t actually stuff it in the turkey. Don’t feel bad, the same thing happened over here. ---
**Author:** ![Suburban\_Plankton](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/suburban_plankton/32/219_2.png) [@Suburban\_Plankton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Suburban_Plankton)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2018, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dressing-or-stuffing/824618/46 "2018-11-22T19:34:15Z")
In my personal opinion, the only reason to have turkey on Thanksgiving is so that it can be stuffed. I would prefer if the industry moved away from “broad breasted” birds in favor of “large cavity” ones. I will eat the dressing for my second or third helping if that’s all that’s left, but it is by its very nature an inferior product. ---
**Author:** ![wolfman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/a8b319/32.png) [@wolfman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfman)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2018, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dressing-or-stuffing/824618/47 "2018-11-22T20:54:40Z")
> [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](#): > > It’s properly called “wadding”. Hehe, you calling it wadding made me think of black powder guns, and then I started imagining a turkey’s cavity loaded up as a cannon, and well… I can only imagine it would be a spectacular scene, although a complete failure as either a meal or a weapon. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2018, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dressing-or-stuffing/824618/48 "2018-11-22T21:37:45Z")
> [@Suburban\_Plankton](#): > > In my personal opinion, the only reason to have turkey on Thanksgiving is so that it can be stuffed. I would prefer if the industry moved away from “broad breasted” birds in favor of “large cavity” ones. > > I will eat the dressing for my second or third helping if that’s all that’s left, but it is by its very nature an inferior product. I got a heritage bronze turkey this year, and as we stuffed it, we remarked on how capacious the cavity was. All the stuffing was, in fact, stuffed in the bird ---
**Author:** ![Tibby](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tibby/32/17030_2.png) [@Tibby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tibby)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2018, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dressing-or-stuffing/824618/49 "2018-11-22T22:10:04Z")
**Dressing or Stuffing?** When I want to sound pretentious I call it _dressing_; all other times I call it _stuffing_. Same _stuff_, different name. That gooey yellow stuff some of you are calling _dressing_ is what I call _corn souffle_. That’s good, too, but it’s subservient to stuffing (sort of a side/side dish). My mom made the world’s best stuffing: sausage and giblets and lots of love. When plated, we’d pour copious amounts of her giblet gravy on top of the stuffing and everything else—including the pumpkin pie … and the cat, if he wasn’t quick enough. Wish I got her stuffing recipe before she died. Moms shouldn’t be allowed to die before their children. I just finished up my Thanksgiving feast—_Hungry-Man Roasted Carved White Meat Turkey Frozen Dinner._ Actually, it was pretty good. Not as good as mom’s, but good nonetheless. First time I’ve eaten a TV dinner for more than a few decades. Have my tastes degenerated significantly, or do frozen dinners taste much better than they used to? As I recall, 1970’s style TV dinners were wretched concoctions. Prep and clean-up was a breeze (8 minutes in the microwave/plastic container chucked in the trashcan). 5 generous slices of turkey: 1 for the dog, 1 for the cat and 3 for me (the chef gets extra in our house). ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Me](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d2c977/32.png) [@Mr.Me](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Me)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2018, 1:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dressing-or-stuffing/824618/50 "2018-11-23T01:08:47Z")
Cornbread dressing, plenty of sage, cooked in the same pan as the bird, but not inside the bird. Perfection. If that’s not available, I’ll eat whatever you got. Except oysters. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2018, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dressing-or-stuffing/824618/51 "2018-11-23T21:29:49Z")
> [@Kron](#): > > Count me as another who uses the word “stuffing” whether or not it gets stuffed anywhere (aside from my mouth, of course). Ditto. “Dressing” is that stuff you put on salads. ---
**Author:** ![dba\_Fred](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c37758/32.png) [@dba\_Fred](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dba_Fred)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2018, 7:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dressing-or-stuffing/824618/52 "2018-11-25T07:33:35Z")
_As god as my witness, I thought unstuffed turkeys could fly!_ ---
**Author:** ![Biggirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biggirl/32/3294_2.png) [@Biggirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biggirl)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2018, 12:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dressing-or-stuffing/824618/53 "2018-11-25T12:35:18Z")
If it is in the bird it is stuffing. If it is in an aluminum pan, it’s dressing. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dressing-or-stuffing/824618.md?page=2)