Turkey Stuffing in Bird or Not?

[Trish]

My mother-in-law is getting nervous about putting the stuffing in the bird because it seems like more and more experts (on teevee, especially) are advising to NOT put the stuffing in the turkey, to make it separately and keep it separate. Now, I'd grown up my whole life eating stuffing out of turkeys. My grandmothers, mom, his mom, everybody seemed to do that.

 

But now the conventional wisdom seems to be that's bad and dangerous. So, my question is, how dangerous? Is this based on superior medical knowledge? Have turkeys gotten more dangerous?

 

Or, is it more a matter of there will always be some cooks who don't do the procedure properly, and therefore to keep EVERYONE safe the experts are saying NO ONE should stuff a turkey? (for example, you're not supposed to stuff it the night before, only right before the bird goes in the oven)

 

I am just musing to myself, but how do y'all do YOUR stuffing?

[Word Nerd]

Here's Alton Brown's take on it:

 

When it comes to turkey, Stuffing Is Evil. That's because stuffing goes into the middle of the bird and is extremely porous. That means that as the turkey around it cooks, juices that may contain salmonella bacteria soak into the stuffing, which then must be cooked to a minimum of 165°F in order to be safe. Getting the stuffing to this temperature usually means overcooking the turkey.

The way I see it, cooking stuffing inside a turkey turns the turkey into a rather costly seal-a-meal bag. If you're a stuffing fan, I suggest cooking it separately (in which case it's "dressing," not stuffing) and inserting it into the bird while it rests. Odds are no one will notice the difference.

[littlebug42]

I have eaten stuffing from the bird all of my life and have never gotten ill. I am not personally terribly concerned about it. Dh's family won't stuff the bird with it though.

[Pretty in Pink]

You just have to make sure the stuffing reaches the proper temperature in order to safely consume it. I think the issue is probably that the bird will be done well in advance of the stuffing, so you would have to overcook the bird to properly cook the stuffing through. Most people don't want to ruin their turkey.

[myfunnybunch]

You just have to make sure the stuffing reaches the proper temperature in order to safely consume it. I think the issue is probably that the bird will be done well in advance of the stuffing, so you would have to overcook the bird to properly cook the stuffing through. Most people don't want to ruin their turkey.

 

This.

 

We cook the stuffing in the crockpot. We still call it stuffing, though. :tongue_smilie:

 

Cat

[Myeightkiddies]

Don't overstuff or pack the stuffing in too tightly.

 

If you don't want to stuff and use those bag stuffings, make it with chicken stock instead of water. If you can put off making it until the turkey is finished, use some of the turkey drippings. Also, if you don't have chicken/turkey stock, take some of the parts you don't use (you may use them but some don't; ie: neck, gizzards, etc.) and boil them in a little water. Use the water in the stuffing mix, cut the parts up and use them in your gravy/stuffing if that is your thing, or cut the meat off the parts and give them to the dog as a treat.

[Denise in Florida]

Cook stuffing separately with tons of broth and drippings drizzled on it.

 

I look to boil down the turkey bones for soup but it is hard to get the stuffing cleaned out enough. Stuffing left in the 'bones to broths' process makes it cloudy and icky looking. :glare:

[Word Nerd]

I love Alton Brown (in fact named one of my sons Alton), but I think here he is full of bologna. :001_smile:

 

Not according to numerous other sources.

[AdventureMoms]

I do "stuffing" outside the bird. I'm trying the crockpot this year, in the past I have used both oven and stove-top recipes. Mostly I do it that way because my family prefers it. Also because I like to use the carcass for broth, which is hard to do with stuffing stuck to it.

[Wendi]

Yeah, I like the stuffing in the bird, but I have only done it once. I have OCD, so I had to keep checking the stuffing to make sure it had reached the proper temperature, while the bird had already exceeded the proper temperature. The turkey was still moist (thanks, oven bag!), but I thought it was a pain. If I cook the stuffing separately, it's one less thing to worry about. I like the idea of using juices from the turkey to make the stuffing; I think I'll try that this year.

 

Wendi

[JennyD]

You might be interested in this:

 

http://dinersjournal.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/11/15/will-i-kill-my-family-if-i-cook-the-stuffing-inside-the-turkey/?ref=dining

[Tigger]

I've eaten stuffing in the bird my whole life and no one I know has ever gotten sick....!

 

I make a meat stuffing, so learned from my great-grandma, grandma and mother that with meat in the stuffing it should be cooked thoroughly first, then put into the bird to go in the oven - you don't stuff it with raw stuffing that has meat in it!

 

To make sure it's hot through the middle, you add the weight of the stuffing to the weight of the bird.....so if you have a 20-pound bird and about 3-pounds of stuffing in it, the cooking time is about an hour longer (20-min per pound).....you can also make sure it's hot in the middle with a meat thermometer - it should be at least 160-165 in the center.

 

The big thing my great-grandma was adamant about was that following dinner the bird had to be unstuffed and the meat taken off the bones, she said just putting it all in the refrigerator as is was unsafe? I still get it all separated after dinner to this day!

[DusksAngel]

We do ours outside of the bird. Sometimes with a different meat (sausage :D) Yummy!!!

[Bluegoat]

I put it in. I also eat soft ice cream when I'm pregnant though, so you may not want to follow my example.

[tkdkidsmom]

We always stuffed the bird growing up...no issues. Now that extended family is larger, we need more stuffing than the bird can hold. So now we make a giant pan of stuffing. Everyone can have some to take home, my family loves extra stuffing. :001_smile:

[KrissiK]

I do not stuff the bird. It makes me nervous. Plus, the inside of a turkey grosses me out. So, I just cook the dressing on the side.

[ereks mom]

I'm from the Deep South. I've never known anyone who makes stuffing--that is, stuffs the bird with what we call dressing. We do the turkey and the dressing separately. Nobody I know calls it "stuffing"; here it is "dressing", and it must always contain cornbread, and it must never contain sage. :D

[Heather in Neverland]

Not.

[MamaT]

I'm from the Deep South. I've never known anyone who makes stuffing--that is, stuffs the bird with what we call dressing. We do the turkey and the dressing separately. Nobody I know calls it "stuffing"; here it is "dressing", and it must always contain cornbread, and it must never contain sage. :D

 

Exactly.

[coffeegal]

I'm from the Deep South. I've never known anyone who makes stuffing--that is, stuffs the bird with what we call dressing. We do the turkey and the dressing separately. Nobody I know calls it "stuffing"; here it is "dressing", and it must always contain cornbread, and it must never contain sage. :D

 

:iagree: I grew up with dressing but dh loves stuffing, so I do both. The turkey gets stuffed and what doesn't fit in the turkey gets cooked separately. :001_smile: I do ensure the stuffing is up to proper temperature and never had a problem with dry or overcooked turkey. There's nothing like cheesecloth soaked in butter to ensure a moist turkey. ;)

[mcconnellboys]

Well, I think there have been increasing problems with salmonella poisoning from doing this in more recent years. Just to be safe, I think I'd just do it separately....

[Laurie4b]

I think it's similar to advice to not leave most foods out past 2 hours at room temperature. You can ask and most people will never have gotten sick at grandma's where the food from a 2:00 meal was left out until 7:00 while people picked at it; however, that practice sets the stage for food poisoning if there is any of the wrong kind of bacteria in the food to start with. Cooking stuffing in the turkey is similar. If you cook it enough that the stuffing is clearly "safe", then the turkey will be overcooked.

 

So though it's a low risk, who wants anyone to get food poisoning? I vote out of the bird.