Making Stuffing for Turkey

When you are making stuffing for turkey, you are accomplishing two tasks at once: You are helping to season the turkey, and you are making a wonderful side dish. Classic bread stuffing ingredients include corn bread, slices of white bread, ground sage, butter, eggs, onion, celery, chicken broth, salt and pepper. However, you don't have to go with the traditional ingredients.

Different Types of Turkey Stuffing
When making homemade turkey stuffing, you can choose from several recipes. You can prepare sausage dressing, which is simply basic stuffing with the addition of pork sausage. Some southerners like to prepare oyster stuffing. You also may consider using such ingredients as apples, water chestnuts, pecans, dried cranberries, rice or even mushrooms.

Turkey stuffing recipes can also include some gourmet flavors. Try adding shiitake mushrooms, andouille sausage and a small piece of fresh mozzarella. You can even make "Turducken" and stuff a turkey with a chicken that has been stuffed with a duck. This technique requires a bit of skill, but it's extremely popular in the South.

Stuffing the Turkey
There are two ways you can go about stuffing a turkey. You can pack the stuffing by hand and then tie the legs to prevent the stuffing from escaping. Or, you can use a food-safe cloth bag. A cloth bag makes it possible to continue cooking the stuffing while the turkey rests. Why would you want to do this? When making a stuffed turkey, it's almost impossible for the turkey and stuffing to get done at the same time, unless you slow cook the turkey. In order for the stuffing to be cooked to a proper temperature, the turkey has to be overcooked. A cloth bag can be removed from the bird so that the stuffing can continue to cook without drying out the bird.

What to Do With Excess Stuffing
Most stuffing recipes make too much to fit inside one turkey. If you don't plan on making more than one bird, you can always make turkey dressing by placing excess stuffing in a baking dish and baking it alongside the turkey. This is a much prettier option than having a turkey with stuffing overflowing.

How to Cook Stuffing Safely
If you choose to cook your stuffing inside the turkey, there are some precautions you need to take.

• Choose a method that allows you to cook the turkey slowly. This will ensure that the turkey and stuffing get done at the same time.
• Don't start making the stuffing until you're ready to stuff it in the bird.
• Be sure to cook vegetables and meat before adding them to the dressing.
• Make sure the temperature of the stuffing reaches 160 degrees Fahrenheit, as recommended by the United States Department of Agriculture. Even if the turkey reaches that temperature, the stuffing may still be cooler, and it can still cause food poisoning.

With stuffing, you can make something new each year. Chances are your guests won't be expecting a stuffing that includes dried cranberries, orange zest, pecans and wild rice. So, when planning your Thanksgiving dinner this year, think about all the possibilities. After just one year of making homemade stuffing, you'll be making it for many holidays to come. Best of all, your family will be begging for the recipes.