Turkey Stuffing?

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BIGAL
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Turkey Stuffing?

Post by BIGAL » November 24, 2011, 6:27 pm

Anyone know of a good "stuffing recipe" for turkeys as well as a good recipe for cooking turkey? =P~



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BobHelm
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Turkey Stuffing?

Post by BobHelm » November 24, 2011, 7:08 pm

I think it is very much 'each to their own' on stuffing.
If you do want to actually put stuffing in the bird then it is probably better to go for one of the 'meat' type stuffings.
500g minced pork
1 large onion
250g fresh white bread crumbs
1 egg
Salt and pepper to taste

Place the sausage meat in a large bowl.
Chop the onion very finely, and add to the sausage meat.
Add the bread crumbs and mix in well.
Beat the egg and use it to bind all together.
Add salt and pepper to taste.
Stuff the neck end of the turkey. Remember when calculating the cooking time for the turkey, to add the weight of the forcemeat stuffing to the total weight of the turkey, then calculate.
Personally I prefer a 'simple' stuffing, served separately, along the lines of

Breadcrumbs.
Very finely chopped onion.
Chopped Sage, if you can get, dried at a push.
Beaten Egg
Salt & pepper
Large jerk of butter.

Mix the lot together in a 'pyrex' type bowl. You want quite a loose mixture, not too wet or compressed.
Stick in the oven at about 180 for 20 to 30 minutes, remove when it starts to brown. It should be crumbly, not glued together so you can slice!!

As for cooking...
Smear the breast with butter.
Cover the breast with bacon & a few herbs, cover the lot in tin foil.
Cook at about 180 degrees for 20 minutes per pound (half kilo) plus 20 minutes.
Every hour baste the breast with any juice that has appeared in the pan.
The way to check if cooked is to stick a knife through the thickest part of the thigh, if the liquid runs clear it is cooked...blood equals not cooked.
About 20 minutes before its cooking time is up take off the foil to allow to brown - if necessary turn the oven up to 200.

Allow the turkey to be ready about half an hour before the time you want to eat. That way if the turkey requires extra cooking you have the time. If the turkey is ready exactly when it should be then removing it from the oven & letting it stand will be beneficial when it comes to carving it.

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Turkey Stuffing?

Post by Mosquito » November 24, 2011, 9:09 pm

Getting hungry!!! My Thanksgiving Dinner will consist of chicken on a stick and sticky rice w/ a cold Leo!!!!

Oh,I get depressed over the holidays in Thailand.............then I think about all the readily available 18-24 year olds down the street (maybe a little farther) that think I"m a sexy man!!!!

Life is Good!!!!!

P.S. Stove Top Stuffing with chopped onions and mushrooms added........always use to do it for me!!!!!

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BIGAL
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Turkey Stuffing?

Post by BIGAL » November 25, 2011, 7:49 am

:-P :-P :-P :-P :-P

Thank you so much Bob, that looks like a classical turkey recipe and stuffing, I can not wait to try this one on Sunday! Much appreciated. One question, I have been told to marinade it overnight in milk the day before cooking, this apparently to get it tenderized?

Mosquito, 18-24 yrs of age, is really too old for a turkey!

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Turkey Stuffing?

Post by pienmash » November 25, 2011, 8:03 am

Bigal ... In the past ive used the basic paxo box stuffing then added my own ingredients as well like sausahe meat , chopped walnuts etc ,,,, quick n easy ,, like me

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BobHelm
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Turkey Stuffing?

Post by BobHelm » November 25, 2011, 8:04 am

BIGAL wrote: One question, I have been told to marinade it overnight in milk the day before cooking, this apparently to get it tenderized?
Must admit that I have not heard of that one, or tried it.

Tenderness is not usually a problem with turkey - unless you are going for the more senior citizens Mosquito mentions. :D The usual complaint is that it is too dry. Not over-cooking & basting often & then recovering with the tin foil between taking out the oven & carving is about all you can do to leave it cooked yet still moist..

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BangkokButcher
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Turkey Stuffing?

Post by BangkokButcher » November 25, 2011, 9:17 am

All white meat and poultry (turkey, chicken and pork) do soften up a little if soaked in milk, it's just an old chefs trick, a bit like pineapple and beef really.

Big Al, if you have a Butterball turkey, I wouldn't worry, as it's already basted in Buttermilk.
If you have another brand or something locally produced, it may help a little, but like Bob said, turkey is not usually that tough nowadays. I believe old breeding methods used produced a very 'stringy' meat many years ago, hence the need for 'further attention'.

As for stuffing the bird, why not go the whole 9 yards and knock up a Turducken?
Just get the bones taken out of the turkey, stuff it with a boneless duck, then stuff the duck with a chicken.

A meal to die for, but a headache to prepare :)

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Shado
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Turkey Stuffing?

Post by Shado » November 25, 2011, 9:27 am

BangkokButcher wrote: "Big Al, if you have a Butterball turkey, I wouldn't worry, as it's already basted in Buttermilk."

Being from the states I've been eating Butterball turkeys for years. This is the first time that I've heard about them being already basted in buttermilk. Are you sure about that? It is certainly a new one for me. :-k

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Turkey Stuffing?

Post by BangkokButcher » November 25, 2011, 11:44 am

Shado, when I used to purchase Butterball turkeys in the UK, their reps used this (buttermilk basting) as one of their unique selling points, so I presumed it was a worldwide thing.

Just checked one downstairs, and it just states that it's 'pre-basted', no idea what with though, so cancel my comment above.

Actual wording from the packaging:
"frozen Butterball turkeys are pre-basted to make them extra tender and juicy!"

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Shado
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Turkey Stuffing?

Post by Shado » November 25, 2011, 12:47 pm

I'm only familar with the pre-basted frozen Butterball turkeys in/from the states. I've bought them in Udon Thani and they seemed to be the same. The fresh Butterballs are not pre-basted.

I found this on the web:

"Butterball's premium young frozen turkeys are "pre-basted"—that is, injected with a solution that includes salt (so there's no need for brining), starch, and sodium phosphate, which keeps the turkey juicy."

http://www.saveur.com/article/Kitchen/w ... anksgiving

Bottom line: Butterball turkeys don't need to be soaked in milk prior to roasting. I've enjoyed Thanksgiving dinners with my grandmothers, mom, aunts and other exceptional cooks for well over 50 years and I never heard of anyone using any type milk in the preparation or cooking. Just thaw 'em, season and roast 'em. :D

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Turkey Stuffing?

Post by 555 » November 25, 2011, 3:41 pm

Thanksgiving is over but this is what I had to do once and it worked for me--with forethought; might not ever have to buy stuffing again. This is American (is there a difference?). Two recipes. One I found on the internet. The other, I improvised off the one from the internet.

Homemade Stuffing:
-6 cups cubed bread
-1 tablespoon parsley flakes
-3 chicken bullion cubes
-1/4 cup dried minced onion
-1/2 cup dried minced celery
-1 teaspoon thyme
-1 teaspoon black pepper
-1/2 teaspoon sage
-1/2 teaspoon salt
Preparation:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees, F.
Bake bread 8-10 minutes. In large bowl toss bread with remaining ingredients till evenly coated. Store in airtight container. Will keep for 1-4 months or 12 months frozen.
Cook as if for prepackaged mix. Combine 2 cups stuffing mix with 1/2 cup water and 2 tablespoons melted butter.

What I improvised:
-6 cups cubed bread (cut into about 1/2 inch cubes) This is around 1 and 1/2 loaves of Udon Thani bread.
-1/2 fresh onion diced
-beef dashida to taste (powdered form of bullion cubes) seen at Tesco next to airport in Korean section.

Method:
No double oven. Sigh. Turkey in the oven. Can't bake the breadcrumbs and didn't think of it the day before...So. Bring out the wok. Put wok on stove on very low. Add diced breadcrumbs just enough to cover the bottom, not piled or doubled up. Toast. With a spoon scoop toasted breadcrumbs out and away from small burnt shavings at bottom of pan. Throw burnt shavings away. Repeat the tedious process. When done with the toasting, set on paper towel lined plate (it took three dinner plates) and set to the side. Now, take the onion and butter and cook in a pan (in this case, the same wok after wiping it down with a paper towel) and cook until slightly glassy. Next, calculate how many cups of water to cook the whole thing. This comes out to 1 and 1/2 cups water. Put the water into a pot that has a cover. Do not cover at this time. Add the onions and hunt around for whatever herbs you would like to put in or have. In this case, dried vegetable seasoning, basil, oregano, thyme, sage etc. Bring to a boil. Add dashida one teaspoon at a time and taste to your liking and just a teeny bit more because the bread will cancel some of the "salt" out. Add as much or as little butter as you would like. Bring everything to a boil for a few minutes. Turn off. Add the bread crumbs, tossing all the while with a fork. Cover with lid of pot. Set to the side for a few minutes. Serve with the turkey and gravy.

And so. It did actually work for me even when I realized to my horror that toasting is not the same as putting in the oven...Everyone liked it and next time I think I will premake at least the breadcrumbs, put it into a airtight container and use a duck broth to add a different dimension to the stuffing taste.
Hope this helps and don't forget to make to greenbean casserole ahead of time also!

Good Luck,
555

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BIGAL
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Turkey Stuffing?

Post by BIGAL » November 25, 2011, 6:21 pm

A big thank you for all the advice, I am a complete novice at this, and the recipes are going to be followed for sure, especially the stuffing! I just checked in the freezer, the turkey is a USA butterball, 6.3 kg, but no mention of pre basting on the packaging! I guess I will therefore just soak a little in milk overnight. Going to do this on Sunday, so big thaw out tommorow, interesting the packaging states not to thaw out at room temperature but rather in the oven? I must say that the Turducken sounds amazing, never heard of that, but will not attempt it on my first run at this! : :razz:

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Shado
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Turkey Stuffing?

Post by Shado » November 25, 2011, 8:20 pm

Thaw out your turkey in the refrigerator. Should take a couple of days for the 6.3 kg bird. Really no need to soak in milk, however, if that is what you really want to do make sure you rinse it completely free of milk before roasting. The milk will coagulate or burn if left on the bird.

Here is everything you need to know about your bird from "How to" tips to preparation and using left overs.

http://www.butterball.com/tips-how-tos/ ... s/overview

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BIGAL
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Turkey Stuffing?

Post by BIGAL » November 28, 2011, 12:31 am

I have got to say that was the tastiest and best damn turkey I have ever tasted! I can now recommend Butterball Turkey's from USA, wow! Cooked in exactly 4 hours, fed 9 hungry guests and still plenty of leftovers! Thank you to all for the advice and recipes, it was spot on. :razz:

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