Thanksgiving Turkey Question

So what is it Stuffing or Dressing.

  • Stuffing

    Votes: 20 62.5%
  • Dressing

    Votes: 12 37.5%

  • Total voters
    32

Jim1392

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So what do you call it? In my family it's called stuffing inside the Turkey. This question was asked on a show this morning with many different answers depending on where you came from.

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Stuffing... Weither inside or outside the bird, I don't care ! Just give it to me.
 
EXACTLY!! Stuffing goes inside the bird and is GROSS, dressing is made in a pan in the oven and is to die for!!
if you think stuffing inside the bird is gross its because you've never had it made right. Far as how I was raised is if it's in the bird it's stuffing if its in a pan it's dressing. Guess me and Bailey was raised thesame far as that goes, but disagree when saying whether stuffing is good or not.
 
if you think stuffing inside the bird is gross its because you've never had it made right. Far as how I was raised is if it's in the bird it's stuffing if its in a pan it's dressing. Guess me and Bailey was raised thesame far as that goes, but disagree when saying whether stuffing is good or not.

The reason I don't like stuffing (inside the bird) is the raw bird juice that it lays in while cooking. Makes it soft and (in my mind) questionable to consume...
 
Oh snap! Now I am reminded that I need to make a batch of pepper relish on top of everything else I have to do this week. (We can't have turkey sandwiches in this house without it.)
 
The reason I don't like stuffing (inside the bird) is the raw bird juice that it lays in while cooking. Makes it soft and (in my mind) questionable to consume...
Both Alton Brown and ATK say to stuff the bird with veggies, and don't eat the stuffing.

And stuffing = in the bird, dressing = out of the bird

if you think stuffing inside the bird is gross its because you've never had it made right.

I would be interested in trying it "made right", then.
 
Stuffing is that bread based stuff you make with Turkey. Dressing is that nasty stuff you put on top of a Salad.
 
My wife makes a mushroom stuffing/dressing in the oven. IDGAF what it’s called. It’s very good. I particularly like the parts that touch the sides of the bowl that get a little crusty. Pour a little gravy on there and it’s perfect.
 
We call it dressing. I've yet to see a stuffed turkey.

Dressing it is my man. And I can see that you're from SE NC...……….we got it right down here ! And I'm gonna add dressing to my sig line as drawing my line in the sand. lol
 
How on earth could it be stuffing when you have Dukes in the fridge, meringue on top of yo' banana pudding, Charmin on yo' toilet rack, and all of the other genuine southern living delights in yo' cabinets ?
 
It's stuffing, whether in the bird or out of the bird. Mom's recipe still is the best I've had. And she made it both ways, depending on how scared people were of the "germs" inside the bird! LOL.
 
I tried to find Rick Bragg's comment on this topic. If you don't know who he is, you're missing out. He's one of the US's best storytellers, and hilarious. He's got several Audiobooks and clips on the YooToobs.

Read this with an Alabama accent.
You can keep your stuffing. My favorite Thanksgiving side is just that—on the side—and we call it dressing.


The word "stuffing" had a lot of connotations when I was a boy. None of them had anything to do with food.
Sofas had stuffing. But then again, I rarely heard the word "sofa." We sat on "couches." The first time I heard the word "sofa" I thought it was "Sofia," and I never did figure out why anyone had to sit on the poor woman. Once, I heard someone say they had to restuff their Sofia. This haunts me still.


I digress. Teddy bears had stuffing for insides. Baseballs had it. We were urged to "knock the stuffing out of it." If you caught a big fish, or shot a deer, or even a big gobbler, you could have them "stuffed and mounted." I was mightily confused.


Thanksgiving turkeys, however, did not have stuffing, though sometimes my aunt Jo did shove a whole stick of margarine in there. Stuffing, I would be educated, was another word for dressing. And our dressing, as God intended, was cooked separately, in a shallow baking dish or pan.


It was not something the great cooks in my family were willing to debate.


"Stick your hand up the back end of a raw turkey?" said my aunt Gracie Juanita, shaking her head violently from side to side. "That is not natural."


"Ain't even human," my mother said.


But the word stuffing was everywhere, come November. I heard it on the television, usually accompanied by images of a massive turkey with a golden cascade of breadcrumbs tumbling from its insides. Was I missing out? Why didn't we have stuffing if they had stuffing on Father Knows Best?


"You ain't missing nothin'," my mother told me.


I would learn that, like so many things I struggled to understand, it was a Southern thing, like why a faucet inside the house was a faucet but outside the house it became a hydrant. And Southerners, especially mine, did not tolerate in-the-bird dressing.


"It was kind of like dating a Catholic," said a very Southern friend. "Thank you, but, no." I dated many Catholics. I never had stuffing.


I would learn it stemmed from a generational fear of undercooked poultry. How could the turkey cook all the way through, my people reasoned, if the heat could not swirl around inside the bird? Onions, lemons, butter, and other seasoning were allowed, but a thick gob of breadcrumbs was salmonella waiting to happen. But even if bacteria were not an issue, the cooks in my family would have shunned stuffing for one simple reason: taste.


Our dressing started with an iron skillet of cornbread, mixed with onion, sage, and the fatty, golden nectar from boiled turkey or chicken, usually the pieces that would otherwise be thrown away. It was baked until a golden crust formed on the top, leaving the inside firm but creamy. Too dry and it set up like cake. Too wet and it was a watery mess. It had to be perfect, and usually was.


Years ago, I stood in a supermarket, staring at a "stuffing mix" of spices and prepackaged breadcrumbs—tiny, hard little cubes. Mama, I thought, was right again. But when I mentioned that we were having turkey and dressing at my house, my Yankee friends looked confused. You mean, they asked, the stuff you put on salads?


It is a miracle we fought only one war.

https://www.southernliving.com/culture/fully-dressed
 
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