Yum!! My mom did this every Thanksgiving. Her stuffing/dressing was always the best part. Not sick once. Nobody. My mom is Connecticut Yankee.

My sister took Thanksgiving over from her. She married a Southerner/Texan. They do cheese in the potatoes, cornbread pudding and baked stuffing. I am happy to be fed, but miss my mom's stuffing!

I am hosting for the first time this year and got the prepared/oven-ready stuffing from Whole Foods. Stuffing will not be in the bird.

I remember as a kid--we'd even pop open the oven ing and scoop out the nice crisp stuffing sticking out of the bird while it was cooking. The crusty part was the best.

I still eat raw cookie dough too....44-years old.

Yes.

There's no way my family would ever go without stuffing. I think this advice not to stuff the turkey is BS, frankly.

We stuff the main cavity with regular and the neck cavity gets stuffed with oyster stuffing (same stuffing with Chincoteague oysters mixed in). We're a Shore family. We also make a ton, and there's usually an extra pan than just goes in the oven.

Anonymous wrote:My mom does. She never killed us all those years growing up. She's doing it again this week!

Anyone else still stuff? Or is my family doomed?

I remember Alton Brown/Good Eats doing a version where you wrap the stuffing in cheesecloth, so that you can pull it out and put it in a dish then bake it to safe temp when the bird is done.

Anonymous wrote:My mom does. She never killed us all those years growing up. She's doing it again this week!

Anyone else still stuff? Or is my family doomed?

I do. Stuffing tastes so much better when it's inside the bird. If someone ends up dying because of it, it's not a bad way to go.

Anonymous wrote:I usually add some chopped up onions and herbs, but prepare the stuffing separately.

Cooks Illustrated had a method of making dressing with chicken wings on top so it could soak up the juices. Haven't tried that yet, but it sounded good.

Here it is - I'd skip the cherries and pecans myself:
http://www.cooksillustrated.com/recipes/6219-bread-stuffing-with-sausage-dried-cherries-and-pecans

better link:
http://www.thebittenword.com/thebittenword/2010/11/thanksgiving-2010-rustic-bread-stuffing-with-sausage-cherries-and-pecans.html

I usually add some chopped up onions and herbs, but prepare the stuffing separately.

Cooks Illustrated had a method of making dressing with chicken wings on top so it could soak up the juices. Haven't tried that yet, but it sounded good.

Here it is - I'd skip the cherries and pecans myself:
http://www.cooksillustrated.com/recipes/6219-bread-stuffing-with-sausage-dried-cherries-and-pecans

Anonymous wrote:Op here.

I swear I know a lot about food, yet I never knew the distinction between stuffing and dressing! Thank you!

+1. Ditto!

Cornbread stufffing is gross. I hate all of the grit.

I cut an apple and put in the turkey to help keep it moist. I make cornbread stuffing in a crock pot.

No we don't.

I used to do both, but I found that we all prefer dressing, and nobody ate much of the stuffing that went in the bird, so I don't bother any more.

The turkey cooks better with water filled apple onion lemon etc (steams from the inside) So now we just do dressing. I have never heard of anyone getting sick from turkey -- don't know why they still say that. I guess if you had rock hard frozen turkey and then left it our for days to thaw...?

Op here.

I swear I know a lot about food, yet I never knew the distinction between stuffing and dressing! Thank you!

We make sage stuffing. But we need more stuffing than you can stuff into one large turkey. So we both stuff and make the rest as dressing.