Stuffing

On Friday, I told you why you shouldn't stuff your turkey. I also promised that I'd tell you how to make a turkey dressing that is cooked outside of the bird that tastes at least as good as stuffing cooked inside the turkey.

It can be done, and it is not that difficult.

1. Turkey Infusion
   Why does stuffing cooked inside a turkey taste good? It tastes good because it catches a lot of drippings from the turkey. The stuffing soaks up that flavor. I made a rich turkey stock from turkey necks and wings. My dressing will get tossed and basted with some of this. The rest of it will go towards gravy. When the dressing is ready to be served, it will get tossed in a bowl with some of the drippings from the roast turkey. It isn't going to miss out on turkey flavor.
2. Use Fat
   Fat carries flavor. Turkey drippings will help with this, but we also want to get some in at earlier stages. Remember the turkey stock? I skimmed a good bit of fat off of that. I'll use this fat to saute vegetables that will go into the dressing. You can also mix a bit of sausage in with your stuffing if you want.
3. Let It Blend
   I'm going to start cooking my dressing before Thanksgiving day. I'll toss together most of the ingredients and bake it at a low temperature for a bit, basting it with my turkey infusion. Then I'll let it hang out in the refrigerator overnight. You know how some things are better the next day? This is one of them. That's an advantage you can't get when you stuff the bird. On Thanksgiving, I'll mix some eggs into the stuffing (maybe with some sausage), and bake it to get a nice crust.
4. Vary Texture
   Did I say crust? That's another thing you don't really get when you stuff the bird. Stuffing tends to be spongy and soggy. You don't get much texture variation. With dressing, you can... and I like to play to advantages. I'll use a ton of different ingredients with different textures. In terms of bread this year, I'm thinking challah and pumpernickel. I might throw some bagel in there, too.

My family, like many, has a bad habit of Late Turkey Syndrome. Traditionally, we'd plan for Thanksgiving Dinner to be served at, say, six. The turkey wouldn't be done for another hour or two. A few years ago, my brother had our family over for Thanksgiving at his place in California, and he let me cook the turkey. I've been doing it since, and we've been free from Late Turkey Syndrome.

How did I do it? Read on...

1. Turkey, Part I:
   My basic method comes from Alton Brown's Good Eats Roast Turkey recipe. Why? It works. I'll have a fifteen pound turkey done in two and a half hours, and it will be good. The first time I made turkey this way for my family, they spent all morning pestering me to put the turkey in the oven. I kept putting them off. They thought we wouldn't be eating it until midnight. They were wrong.
   
   I do tweak the flavorings here. The brine gets apple cider and bay leaves, for instance. While isn't mentioned in the recipe, you may want to cover browned areas with aluminum foil after the first thirty minutes of roasting to prevent burnination.
   
   
2. Turkey, Part II:
   I never leave well enough alone, so I had to improve on Alton Brown's turkey. How? Through basting. Normally, basting a turkey is counter-productive. First, normal basting of a turkey isn't going to lead to a juicier bird. A turkey's skin is waterproof. Normal basting is pointless. Second, normal basting a turkey involves opening the oven, cooling it dramatically. This is one of those things that leads to Late Turkey Syndrome.
   
   So, if normal basting is bad, then clearly what we need is abnormal basting. What could be simpler? We need to be able to baste (1) under the turkey's skin (2) without opening the oven door. How do we accomplish this? Apples and butter.¹ As they are heated, apples tend to release liquid. Similarly, butter melts. Freeze a stick of butter. Cut this and an apple (use a non-mealy variety that will get mushy when cooked) into slivers. Put these under the skin of the turkey before roasting it. If you are garlic-obsessed, you can add some garlic slivers in there, too. They aren't going to have quite the same effect, but you'll get roasted garlic bits in your turkey, and that's nothing to complain about.
   
   
3. Stuffing:
   Forget about stuffing. Instead, use dressing. It is the same thing - cooked outside of the turkey. Why? I am less concerned about the health reasons, actually, than I am on the effect that stuffing has on cooking time. Stuffing a turkey introduces a ton of variables to a turkey depending upon the density and moisture level of the stuffing. Stuffing is one of the main contributors to Late Turkey Syndrome. It isn't worth it.
   
   My mother disagrees. We get in a fight every year about stuffing the turkey. She says it tastes better. Then I make stuffing that she loves and she recants her objections. Three hundred and fifty days later, she has forgotten this.
   
   How do I make dressing² that tastes as good as stuffing? That's another post. I promise you that it will be up on Monday at the latest. [update: Read it here!]

¹ Not apple butter, though that is an interesting thought for a turkey glaze...
² Generally, I just call it stuffing, since "dressing" is ambiguous.