# Favorite Stuffing Recipe



## spaZDaisE04 (Nov 18, 2004)

Im in charge of making the stuffing this thanksgiving because I wanted to make something this thanksgiving and thats what im in charge of.  If anyone has any really  yummy plate -emptying- stuffing? lol I made the one that rachel ray made on her 60 minute episode but it didnt taste as good as I thought It would. . .thanks in aadvance


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## debthecook (Nov 18, 2004)

The only stuffing I make: Italian Style Stuffing:

http://www.rickrodgers.com/recipes/italian_stuffing.html


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## middie (Nov 19, 2004)

my mom's is the best. she uses stale white bread celery onion bacon sage poultry seasoning salt pepper and a little accent. that's about it. she doesn't measure so i can't give you an exact amount.


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## chez suz (Nov 19, 2004)

My stuffing will have...sausage, apples,chestnuts and a handful of dried cherries....of course the base is good bagette stale bread...lots of onion and celery...and liquid to moisten is tawny port and chicken stock.
I don't stuff the bird.


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## buckytom (Nov 19, 2004)

i use a bag of pepperidge farm cornbread stuffing, about an equal amount of a cubed stale loaf of a good whole wheat multigrain bread; turkey stock; 2 large sweet italian turkey sausages (removed from casing and browned/crumbled); diced celery, onions, and granny smith apples; and a little chopped walnuts.


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## chez suz (Nov 19, 2004)

...I like the idea of the Turkey Sausage...might give that a try!


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## abjcooking (Nov 19, 2004)

This is one my family has been using for years.  It is actually my grandmother's recipe.  We have never really been adventurous in trying any other recipes because it just wouldn't be Thanksgiving without my grandma's stuffing.

3 boxes Stove Top Cornbread Dressing
1 cup celery, chopped
1 cup green pepper, chopped
1 cup onion, chopped
3 T. butter melted
3/4 cup butter, cubed
1 pound ground sausage (I prefer Jimmy Dean regular)
1 can chicken broth (may need to use a little more)

I have made the dressing the night before and put in refrigerator overnight.  You will need to add additional broth if you do this.

Saute celery, green pepper, and onions in 3 T. butter.  Cook until tender.  Brown 1 lb. sausage and drain on paper towel.  Place 3/4 cup cubed butter, saute vegetables, and seasoning packages from cornbread dressing in 9x13 inch baking dish.

Add 4 1/2 cups HOT water.  Stir just to blend and partially melt the butter.  Add crumb packages and sausage.  Stir to moisten.

Pour chicken broth over top to moisten.  (May use broth from turkey of you have enough.)

Bake uncovered at 400 degrees for 30-45 minutes.  May take longer.  Look for dressing to appear set and browned on top.


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## middie (Nov 19, 2004)

found a recipe for apple sage dressing if you want that?


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## debthecook (Nov 19, 2004)

My parents always made it with SALTINE CRACKERS!!! and this is YEARS AND YEARS AGO.  It was good though, lots of celery, onions and parsely.


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## Sarah 1426 (Nov 19, 2004)

My grandmothers recipie is very very good. I will get it and post it on here tomorrow. I was going to get it anyway because I was going to make it on thanksgiving so I will post it when I get it.


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## spaZDaisE04 (Nov 20, 2004)

*stuffing*

mmm apple sage dressing? ill try that one and see how it is befor i make it for thaksgiving.  lol i always make things first before the day I need them. . 

melissa


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## middie (Nov 20, 2004)

Apple Sage Dressing

2 pounds tart sweet apples, pared, cored, and cut in 1/4 inch slices
1/2 cup dry white wine
juice of 1 lemon
8 tablespoons butter or margarine, divided
2 medium onions, diced
4 large celery stalks, diced
kosher salt
ground black pepper
1 pound sweet italian turkey sausage, casing removed
3 tablespoons fresh sage leaves, minced
2 tablespoons fresh thyme leaves, minced
1 tablespoon fresh summer savory leaves, minced
10 cups cubed bread
1 1/2 cups toasted walnuts or hazlenuts


toss first three ingredients together and set aside. melt 6 tablespoons butter in saucepan over med-low heat. add onions and celery: saute about 15 minutes. season with salt and pepper to taste.

add sausage: crumble with fork and cooked until lightly browned. put into a bowl.

melt remaining 2 tablespoons butter in saucepan. turn heat up to medium and saute apples stirring frequently until they begin to soften. add to sausage mixture. add the herbs. season with salt and pepper as desired.
add bread and nuts. toss gently to mix.


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## Chief Longwind Of The North (Nov 21, 2004)

Alright you stuffing champions.  My greatest weakness in cooking is my turkey dressing. I've tried for years to make that wonderful stuff that my mother, my grandparents, and my dad made so well, seemingly without effort.  You're making me jealous.  

So pack some in dry ice and mail it to me  

*I wan't to create my own incredible stuffing from scratch!*

I can make award-winning pies, incredible cakes and pastries, meats, fowl, breads, you name it, I can make it.  But do you think I can get stuffing down?  Woe is me.  Woe is me. (heavy sigh)

But then again, whether it is calculous, or a problem on our phone system that has the experts stymied, or making that perfect roast for my freinds and relatives, I've yet to find a problem that can beat me.  It's only a matter of time.  I will beat this problem.  Do you hear me!  I WILL MAKE PERFECT STUFFING YET, AND WITHOUT HELP.

No I'm not really crazy.  Really I'm not.  Hey!  What's that ambulance doing out there?  Who are those guys in the white coats?  Wait.  What's that song I hear?  Help!  There putting me in a straight jacket.  Help!  Hellllllllp!  (And, they're comming to take me away, ha ha.  They're comming to take me away ho, ho, hee, hee, ha, ha, to the funny farm, where everythings beautifull all the time,  and I'll be happy to see those nice young men in there clean white coats, and there comming to take me away ha, ha...   

Seeeeya; Goodweed of the North


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## kitchenelf (Nov 21, 2004)

LOL Goodweed - hope to see you soon!!!!!!!  All these dressings sound wonderful and the stories to go with some are truly priceless!!!!!

I just use stale bread, sauté onions and celery, lots of fresh thyme, sage, eggs, milk, lots of stock from cooking the neck, etc., I normally add mushrooms but this year I'm not - everyone wants it more basic - (that would make it 25 to 1 to I guess I'll leave them out 'cause there's some big boys that come over on Thanksgiving) - I've never tried a cornbread stuffing.  I split the dressing reserving a small amount for oyster dressing - sometimes I used the smoked oysters and sometimes fresh - if they are fresh I sauté them first in some butter then add them.  

The turkey sausage sounds like a great addition though - I will cook that with my celery and onions - thanks buckytom!!

I've made chestnut dressing but for some reason I don't like it - it has that "nutty" flavor - sorry, had to say that for oldcoot!!!


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## Audeo (Nov 21, 2004)

This one is my husband’s favorite and is one of two dressings I will be making.  And it’s a lot lower in fat than the cornbread dressing I make.  I think I originally obtained this one from Epicurious, but that was a couple of years ago.  I’ve made a few changes to fit the husband’s palette…  And it is sooo good!

Italian-Style Sourdough Bread Dressing with Parmesan, Sage and Walnuts

1 country-style white sourdough bread loaves, torn into inch pieces (about 8 cups)
Light Olive Oil
1 cup of fresh grated Parmesan cheese

3 tablespoons butter
1 large red onions, chopped
1-1/2 cups celery, chopped
1 large red bell peppers, chopped
4 garlic cloves, chopped
2 teaspoons chopped fresh rosemary (not stems)
2 teaspoons chopped fresh sage
2 teaspoons dried oregano
1/2 cup walnuts, chopped and toasted
½ cup of thinly sliced fresh basil
3 large eggs, beaten
Chicken stock

Preheat oven to 400 degrees (F) and spray two large-rimmed baking sheets with nonstick spray.

Place bread pieces in a very large bowl.  Add about 2 tablespoons of the olive oil, several turns of fresh ground black pepper and ½ cup of the parmesan, and toss well to coat as evenly as possible.  Spread the coated bread in a single layer on each of the prepared baking sheets, but toast one sheet at a time until the bread is golden, stirring occasionally.  This takes about ten minutes per baking sheet.  Set aside to cool and return to the large bowl.

Melt the butter with another 2 tablespoons of olive oil in a large heavy skillet over medium-high heat.  Add onions, celery and bell peppers and saute’ until the vegetables begin to brown on the edges and are almost tender…about 10-15 minutes.  Add the chopped garlic, rosemary, sage and oregano and stir gently for a minute.  Add the walnuts and continue to saute’ for another 2 minutes or so.  Remove from heat and add to toasted bread in the bowl. Add the basil and the remaining ½ cup of parmesan, along with salt and more ground pepper to taste and toss well to combine.  Add beaten eggs and mix well.  Add chicken stock (about 1 cup) until the dressing is thoroughly moistened, but not soupy.  (You want the bread to soak up the stock and not have a pool of the stock at the bottom of the bowl.)

Generously oil an 12x9x2-inch baking dish and pour the stuffing into the dish, spreading the mixture evenly.  Cover with a length of heavy-duty aluminum foil that has also been covered with olive oil and seal the edges well.  Bake in a preheated 350-degree (F) oven for about 35-40 minutes, then remove the foil and bake uncovered until the top is slightly crisp and golden, about 15 minutes longer.


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## AllenOK (Nov 21, 2004)

I have lots of stuffing/dressing recipes, from a binge of looking for different stuffing recipes years ago.  I haven't really figured out a way to cut/paste a list of the titles out of the folder I store them in.  Ask me what you want, and I'll try to help.

Oddly enough, I've only made one or two of them, and have since developed my own cornbread dressing recipe.  I perfected this recipe last winter, by roasting several chickens, and varying the recipe each time.  This is a good way to test a dressing out, and not risking familial offense during a holiday, and not having to cook big, elaborate Turkey dinners just to try a dressing recipe.

Cornbread Stuffing
Yields:  6 servings

¾ batch of East Coast Grill cornbread recipe 
-or- about 4 c cornbread
2 T vegetable oil
½ c diced onions
½ c diced celery
1 t minced garlic
1 t salt
1 t ground black pepper
1 t thyme
1 t sage
1 c chicken stock
2 eggs, beaten

	NOTE:  Use an 10” cast iron skillet for this one, and you can actually bake the dressing in the same pan as you sauté the vegetables in.
	Heat a pan over high heat.  Add the oil.  Reduce heat to medium, and add the onions, celery, garlic, salt, pepper, thyme, and sage.  Sauté until onions are soft, transparent, and lightly caramelized. While this is cooking, crumble the cornbread..  When the onions are lightly browned, remove from the heat, and add the crumbled cornbread and stir.  Add the chicken stock and mix thoroughly.  The mixture should be fairly wet.  Add the egg and mix thoroughly.  Press the mixture firmly into a baking dish (or use the cast iron skillet).  Bake at 350°F for one hour.


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## crewsk (Nov 22, 2004)

My mom has been making this one for as long as I can remember! It is rather simple but very good. I'll be making it this year for the first time.

Sage Dressing

6C crumbled cornbread
6C. crumbled biscuits
1/2 to 1C. chopped onion
6tsp. sage
1/2tsp. pepper
1/2 stick margarine, melted
3 to 6C chicken broth
1C. chopped celery(optional)
2-3tsp. salt
2 eggs, beaten

Mix all ingredients well. Bake in greased pan at 350F for 1 to 1 1/2 hours.


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## lizaliza (Nov 22, 2004)

*Italian Stuffing*

Thanks "Debthecook" for the link to the Italian Stuffing with Sausage and Parmesan.  I'm excited to make it.  I completed my grocery list and will have this with family this year at Thanksgiving.


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## Chief Longwind Of The North (Nov 23, 2004)

Crewsk;  I've never heard of anyone using biscuits in their stuffing.  But I'm and open minded kind of guy.  Plus, the other ingrediants give me a starting point for the correct amount of herbs, spices, and liquid to add.  

I'm going to try your recipe, but with croutons instead of biscuits.  The way I make my biscuits, they are too tender.  I fear they just wouldn't have enough body for the stuffing.

Thanks for the recipe though.  As I said, the rest looks just right.  

Seeeeeya; Goodweed of the North


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## crewsk (Nov 23, 2004)

Goodweed, if you eat my biscuits you will need a few gallons of water or something to wash them down, or maybe even some new teeth.  This is the recipea I used to make the biscuits for the dressing though, I got it from cooks.com. I didn't roll them out or anything. I tripled the recipea & spread the dough in a 9x13 baking pan. They were not pretty, but they tasted better than the ones I try to make when I roll them out.
 BISCUITS      
2 c. flour (or 2 c. self-rising omit salt & baking powder)
3 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
2-3 tbsp. shortening
2/3 c. milk (3/4 c. for lighter biscuits)
Cut in shortening with flour. Add milk; mix well. Roll out 1/2 inch thick on well floured surface, with floured rolling pin. Cut with 2 inch biscuit cutter. Place in greased pan just touching or 1/4-1/2 inch spacing. Or, biscuits may be shaped in palm of floured hand with dough golf ball size. Bake at 450 degrees for 10-12 minutes. Approximately 12-16 biscuits.

Buttermilk Biscuits: Use buttermilk in place of milk, 2 teaspoons baking powder and 1/4 teaspoon soda.

Herb Biscuits: 1/2 cup crumbled dry sage. Good served with children.

Cheese Biscuits: Add 1/2 cup grated Cheddar cheese or American cheese to flour and shortening.


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## In the Kitchen (Nov 24, 2004)

*Oyster Dressing*

Now they asked me to fix oyster dressing along with regular.  Anyone got recipe they have so I can go get ingredients?  I got cookbooks but I used all of them already.  Does someone have tried and true dressing they like?  Thanks for understanding.  Stores are open till 12 tonite.


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## Audeo (Nov 24, 2004)

ITK, I may be way too late to help you, but I make a cornbread dressing with oysters and absolutely love the stuff!  I described the "recipe" to Goodweed below this thread on the second page of "Smooshy Cornbread Dressings" or something like that.  

To make this, you make the driest cornbread imagineable (look further below for Psiguyy's thread requesting everyone's worst cornbread recipe) and then follow the thread under "Smooshy"

You may already have the stuff in your pantry, except for the oysters perhaps...


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## In the Kitchen (Nov 24, 2004)

Audeo, if I wasn't so confused I would have taken time to read more of the comments on this site.  I just found out this morning they wanted me to fix something instead of getting something ready made.  They didn't like the combination.  Said I could make something better. Ho Ho Ho.  I do like oyster dressing but there is only one person who cares for it and I am going to make your Italian Dressing.  That sounds good and since you say your husband likes it must be a winner.  At this point, I marinated the turkey in bourbon and drank enough to help me cope with all the cooking I have tomorrow so I guess I am going to bed without the oysters.  I do thank you for your time and hope your Thanksgiving is everything you want it to be.  I am sure if your drink enough bourbon anything will turn out good. First time for marinating in bourbon.  Had to throw in 2 1/2 cups kind of much.  Smells good.Thanks again Audeo I do appreiate your comments and will print them out.


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## Audeo (Nov 25, 2004)

ROFL here, ITK!!!!!

As I'm beginning to wrap up the cooking for the evening (an hour more, then TWO for cleanup, LOL!), I'll be pouring me a wee dram, I assure you!

I look forward to hearing about all the bragging over your cooking tomorrow...it's too bad that you went ahead and showed them how well you could cook, so now they want more!!!

I wish you a warm, wonderful Thanksgiving, as well.   I am thoroughly looking forward to the entire day!


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## In the Kitchen (Nov 28, 2004)

Hi Audeo, my Thanksgiving went well and I thank all of you for participating.  I did make your husband's favorite stuffing but because it was at last minute, I think I made some things quick especially the stuffing.  My pumpkin pie fell out of the shell when I wanted to put it in the oven but I had made pecan pie and coconut custard.  Pumpkin is always regular and I don't think they wanted to ask where it was.  They knew they made me fix it at last minute.  They all fell asleep after the meal so assume it was okay.  I spent almost whole evening cleaning every pot and dish I own.  Not to mention the fridge is crammed with odds and ends.  I may sound like I am complaining but next year probably will do the same.  Every year they say they want to give me break but then change their minds and ask if I wouldn't want to prepare fresh bird?  Did any of you keep the bones for soup?  I couldn't really think of saving the bones again.  I guess I am starting to slow down.  I sure know one thing drinking couple nips helped my mood the night before and no one in my neighborhood stayed home.  Only smelled the turkey at my house.  Seems like I can still smell it even though it was fixed last week.  Imagination working overtime.  Well, now Christmas and what will we do then?


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## Lifter (Nov 29, 2004)

While readers are on task and topic, thinking about "stuiffing", I'll repeat this once more, as it draws few criticisms at home...

If we agree to brine the turkey, we have access to the neck, heart, giblets and liver well in advance...

So, in a smallpot, perhaps the night before, lets cook the neck, heart, and giblets in about 2.5 cups of gently salted water at a low boil for about 20 minutes...(you might add a quarter cup of chopped garlic)

Then add the liver and continue cooking for an aditional 30 minutes.

Allow it to cool, remove the neck, strip the meat and discard the bones...strip  the gristle off the "giblets"...

Toss the whole lot, water and garlic included, into a blender "osteriser" and reduce to watery "pulp"...reserve for the next day, when you will "do" the turkey...

(The following is based on a 14 lb turkey..increase as needed for bigger birds)

I use about a loaf, to 1.5 loaves of Dempster's 12 grain bread, and cut away all the crust material, tearing up the bread, into small pieces, indeed around the size of packaged croutons...

Set that aside, and feed the birds and squirrels with the discards (its Christmas for them, too!)

In a cast fry pan, melt a half cup of margerine over low heat...when this is reduced to a liquid, a 3" diameter yellow onion, finely diced, (garlic, if you did not include with the organ meat the night before) and a stalk of celery very finely sliced and chopped...(I'm still thinking on the carrot addition, but it would work!) sauteed until translucent, and turn off the heat...stir in your ground up sage, or poultry seasoning spices (I'm down to using poultry seasoning, but stubbornly remain "sure" if I could just manage to be able to "smell" a bit better, I could gauge the Sage properly, and go that route instead...

I can "carefreely" add in some parsley, oregano, marjoram and ground rosemary to this mix, and stir very thoroughly, that the retained heat will "sweat" the spices into the mix...

Start ladling the bread crumbs  in and swirling and mixing, that they are "infused" with the spicing and flavouring that I'm trying to attain...

Note that a number of other Members report adding walnut meats, probably ground up, to this...I haven't tried that, but before "blood pressure" became a family eating issue, I would at this point be adding several dashes of the "nutty" taste of soya sauce, and again, spreading it around...

Pull that "soup" of water/stock, garlic and organ meat out that was "prepped" last night and again, mix thoroughly...

Continue adding the bread crumbs until depleted and mixing that all are saturated  in "goodness" and the flavouring is consistent throughout...it should seem almost "pudding-like" in consistency, but somewhat drier...because, of course, the turkey fats are going to leak into it to give it the true "stuffing" texture...

Stuff this into your bird when you are immediately ready to cook (if you stuff the bird ahead of time, you are risking food poisoning!)(through the abdominal cavity, and the rest into the neck area, pinning the skin into place) and slam it into the oven, with the "skewers emplaced", breast side down, of course, "flipping the bird" after 90 minutes...yadda,yadda.yadda, we've been through that part of it, enough, surely?

And roast until the breast meat is about 150-155, the thigh meat is 170-175, and the stuffing is at least 140, measured with your digital meat probe...then pull it out, allow it to continue heating until the meat is optimized for temperature...and IMMEDIATELY dig out all the stuffing...place in a bowl and cover...

Carve your bird, and transfer all the "leakage" back to the gravy pan (there will be "lots") and create your gravy in the fashion you favour...

But you will REALLY like the stuffing!

GoodWeed, my friend, you will undoubtably hit a few memory prompts from this unto your parent's recipe and methodology, and I hope you go for it, guy!...

Sorry, but I'm sending another body up to SSM Ontario this week, as am just too tied up myself, otherwise, I'd be PM'ing you  to pick out a decent restaurant where we could meet and have me buy you dinner, and we could both bitch about what could have been "tweaked" to make it better...

Lifter


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## Chief Longwind Of The North (Nov 29, 2004)

Lifter;  I always boil up the livers and giblets for my stuffing.  I have always stuffed the bird as you describe.  The texture is fine, but where I seem to have problems is in getting the right amount of sage, thyme, and pepper just right.  Maybe I'm just being too critical.   Maybe my memory makes the stuffing of old just better than it realy was.  In any case, I'll be giving your recipe a go, as I have a son coming home from Kuwait just before Christmas, and we are definatley barbecuing a turkey then.  Believe it or not, stuffing works in the old Webber jsut as it does in the oven.  I'll let you know how it turns out.  Thanks, buuuuudy.  And yet again, we seem to have these common methods and tastes going on.  It's almost uncanny.  

Seeeeeya; Goodweed of the North


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## In the Kitchen (Nov 29, 2004)

These comments are worth framing.  I am surely going to save this as I want to be ready next time with the bird.  Lifter and Goodweed bring such detail that it takes me two or three time to 'digest' exactly how to do it.  I thank you both for the time and understanding you share.  Thanks from one who never stops learning.


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## Lifter (Dec 1, 2004)

GoodWeed, my friend, I probably have the crummiest "nose" in the world to try this...but its something I'll suggest to you, as you are probably better at it, once you give it a shot...

Given you follow "my" suggested method of running up "your" stuffing (remember! YOU are going to eat this, not ME!), try a couple of these "tips" in running it up...

Start with the EVOO in the pan, and adding your onion and garlic and sauteeing same...now get your face down above it and give it a "sniff" as it "renders" to establish the "start point" of "taste/smell", while remembering that both the onion and the garlic aroma will cook out and sweeten a lot, the longer they "cook" (an argument for the slow cooking method of the internal stuffed turkey, BTW!)

You might add your rendered "stock" that you simmered your "giblets" at this point, together with the minced meat, and at this point, start adding your seasoning, about a teaspoon at a time, with the heat kept down low, and "sniffing" the change that comes about as the seasonings cook out into the oil and "flower" into scent...(remembering the onion/garlic scent will be dying off as you go)

At a guess, the longer you cooked it up on low heat, the more "scent" you might "lose", or perhaps "develop", but if you have a good "nose" you can probably nail it down pretty good...

(Aside from that, you will have to buy the very freshest of spices you can find...regrettably they aren't dated for "bottling date" of "manufacture", but as Emeril rightly said, a few years back, if its been open and unused for more than 3-6 months, its not gonna "perform" as advertised...and you may as well dump it...a couple bucks for a fresh teaspoon of spice might seem insane, until you weigh it against a SUCCESSFUL versus DISAPPOINTING Christmas turkey...)

Likewise as you slowly add your finely ripped pieces of multi-grain bread, continue the "inhaling exercise", to define which one of the lustres are being lost due to volume of stuffing (remembering to keep mixing well!), and if you have to add more seasoning, remember to mix, stir, let it rest and the spicing to be given an opportunity to "bloom" a bit, as the stuffing treats it differently than the basic oily start...

And sure, sometimes you will absolutely "NAIL IT" (in which case, I hope you have taken notes!) and sometimes you will reminisce that a tad more of this or maybe a sprinle less of that, would (read "might") have made it perfect...we are, after all, "cooks", neither "Chefs", nor "Gods", and if you are doing the "interior stuffing" method, the bird itself may have a lot to say on the final outcome...

But I believe that our parents and grandparents probably weren't much "good" at this until they had 3-4 decades of practice either, and if you can imagine growing up in the "dirty 30's", literaly any result of a stuffed goose or turkey, or chicken, or whatever you managed to get up for Christmas or Thanksgiving would have been a "dream meal"...its a bit tougher when we have to challenge those legends...

Lifter


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## Lifter (Dec 2, 2004)

OOPS!

I forgot to add it to the previous post...!

GoodWeed, my prayers for the son coming home from Kuwait, as well as my renwed wishes and prayers that your "stuffing" comes out to his contentment, even more than yours, in this case...

You can like or dislike the USA policy on Iraq, but I can have nothing other than the outright admiration of the guys and gals in uniform that are sent over there at such enormous personal risk, and "get it done"...if any coment from me can contribute as much as an "iota" to such a serviceperson, it will be well worth the time at the keyboard...God Love Them All...

Lifter


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## Chief Longwind Of The North (Dec 3, 2004)

Lifter;  Thank you for your prayers for my son.  He is an outstading, if stubborn young man.  HIs moral standards are above reproach.  I never have had to worry about him getting into any kind of trouble, except for the way he drove my dirt-bike as a teen.  To much "try hard" and not enough "know how" at that time in his life.  But he survived it.

In any case, your prayers are a wonderful thing.

And as for the dressing advice, well, you've brought me back to the basics.  The technique you describe is what I used to always do when cooking something up.  I still usually do.  But sometimes, I fear my own cooking knowledge gets in my way.  I'll take shortcuts and thing I can guestimate the seasonings, or the timing, or how different flavors will interact with each other.  For the most part, I'm successful with that.  But sometimes, you just have to stop and smell the dressing (like that pun on the old cliche  ).  I have figured out how to make a great many things that way.  The three dishes I have to absolutely follow that advice with are pineapple sweet and sour sauce, tomato-based pasta sauces, and  chili.  I do it to a lesser extent with most other things.

Thanks for reminding me that I too am only human, and have to follow basic rules.  And I don't know any chef who doesn't test the quality of a sauce, or stew  for last minute seasoning corrections before serving it.  It's just part of the cooking process.  Again thanks.

Seeeeeya; Goodweed of the North


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