Recipes

[chickenbutt]

Hi Loves!  You couldn't pay me to stuff a turkey.  I make mine in a casserole dish.      I guess the whole putting it inside the turkey and having the blood run through it as the turkey cooks just skeeves me out.

But, we all have our favorites!     

If you want to put it inside there, I cannot imagine the sausage being a problem, though.    But then I'm totally NOT an expert on that either.

[momtochloe]

@LTT1 I shouldn't be weighing in on this as I have no direct experience but I would think that if the sausage is already cooked there wouldn't be any issues but I would never put raw sausage in the turkey cavity (when my mom was with us we always stuffed the turkey cavity with the dressing but we didn't use sausage).

Hope someone posts that actually has some hands on experience with this as I would like to know too!

[novamc1]

I vote against raw sausage placed into dresing/stuffing.  It should be sauteed along with celery, onions and whatever else being added to the bread/seasoning mix.  Stuffing should not need  to be "cooked" after it's put together---just heated up, either in a casserole or inside a big bird.

[Meezerpleezer]

I add mild sausage to my dressing and add spices separately to the bread. 

[chickenbutt]

ITA with Novamc.  No matter how you choose to do it - inside the turkey or in a casserole - definitely cook the sausage first.   I can't even imagine doing it raw either way.  

[LTT1]

@momtochloe@chickenbutt

I got a recipe!  Thanks to @MartieHugs on the 60's thread!

She DOES use sausage (cooked) to stuff the inside of the turkey...

I'm not trying to tell anybody what to do, but for a REALLY MOIST turkey, stuffing makes the difference.  I think Helen Corbitt (my fav cookbook author) says to rub the inside and the outside of the turkey (after washing) liberally with salt... to prevent salmonella.  

Here is the recipe MartieHugs shared:

Brown 1 lb. of breakfast sausage with 1/3 c. each chopped onions and chopped celery. Cook until sausage is done and veggies are soft. Add a large bag of seasoned stuffing mix - I prefer cubed - and  1/2 Crisco melted in 2 c. hot water. Stir until moistened, but not soggy. (I've been known to use a stick of butter instead of Crisco). Sometimes I add a peeled, cubed apple, and a handfull of dried cranberries. Lightly, and I mean lightly stuff the turkey, both from the neck and tail. The stuffing will expand when the turkey roasts. I'm not good at trussing the turkey,

so I cover the tail opening with a buttered heel of bread. Cook the turkey as usual; the stuffing is already cooked. I put whatever is left in a casserole dish and bake after I take the turkey out of the oven, while it's resting, Before carving, remove the stuffing from the turkey and keep warm. <3

[LTT1]

Also, not to tell anybody what to do... (I hate that) but stuffing the turkey is what makes it moist -- not dry.  I feel like I posted this already... pardon if I did!

[momtochloe]

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@LTT1 wrote:

Also, not to tell anybody what to do... (I hate that) but stuffing the turkey is what makes it moist -- not dry.  I feel like I posted this already... pardon if I did!

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@LTT1 my mom made the best stuffing but many people when they first saw it were rather curious about it . . . she used bread crumbs iso cubes so it made for a very dense dressing which we would then slice up.

After people were introduced to it there was no way she could ever make enough of it.  The overflow went into a casserole dish but that always went last because it just didn't have the flavor of the turkey itself.

That's a good idea about the buttered bread to hold the stuffing in.  We have something that looks like a cross between a needle and a nail that you would weave through the skin to hold the stuffing in.  They have all sorts of silicone things that you can buy now but I will never give those needles/nails up . . .

[LTT1]

@momtochloe

Love these hints about the "intricacies" of making turkey with stuffing!  It is my favorite meal to prepare (once a year!) and there is NOTHING better for my taste buds than a succulent turkey done properly!

I use lots of butter in the recipes b/c people used to not know about the dangers of all of that butter and animal fat!  Those were the days!

[IamMrsG]

I make two stuffings, neither of which I put inside the bird.  One is the typical cornbread version, the other is not so typical and is a Mushroom Stuffing from Suzanne Somers.  Last year I decided to simplify and just go with the cornbread version.  Wouldn't you know our son looked around the table and asked, "What?  No Mushroom Stuffing?  Huh."   

For those who are interested:

Mushroom Sausage Stuffing
from Suzanne Somers

yield: 6 cups

4 onions (thinly sliced)
2 to 4 Tablespoons olive oil
4 cups coarsely chopped shiitake and oyster mushrooms (or regular white button mushrooms)
salt and freshly ground black pepper
½ cup dry white wine
2 Tablespoons butter
2 pounds spicy pork sausage
1 bunch fresh tarragon (leaves only)

Saute the onions in olive oil over medium-low heat until caramelized, about 30 minutes. Turn the heat up to medium-high and add the mushrooms.

Saute the mushrooms until crisp on the edges, about 10-15 minutes. Season with salt and pepper. Turn the heat to high and add the wine.

Let the wine cook off for a couple of minutes, then lower the heat and simmer with the mushrooms for another 10 minutes. Stir in the butter 1 tablespoon at a time until combined.  Remove from the heat and set aside.

In large skillet, brown the sausage. When cooked through, about 5 to 7 minutes, add to the mushroom mixture along with the tarragon and combine thoroughly.

Mrs. G's note:  I make this a day or two in advance, then rewarm in a low oven.