If stuffing isn't actually, well, stuffing any sort of cavity, isn't it called dressing?

I think we should call it what it is, and stop creating confusion.

I'm sad at the demise of true stuffing, and the paranoia about food poisoning; people are too scared to make real stuffing anymore. Case in point: when was the last time you had chicken and stuffing? When I dream of my grandmothers, their respective chicken and stuffing dishes are always part of the dream/memory. AT should do a post about overcoming your stuffing fear...

@mschatelaine - It's not a fear of food poisoning for most, I think, it is a fear of the horrible dry meat that results from cooking the stuffing to correct doneness. It just makes more sense to cook them separately.

I have a dressing similar to this, which calls for either meat or mushrooms, and I liked the mushroom version so much that I've never actually tried it with the sausage. Mushrooms and vegetable stock are a great vegetarian option.

We always used different kinds of bread (Italian, potato, leftover hamburger buns..) that we'd collect for a few weeks and stash in the freezer or in a basket above the fridge, then that morning my mom would spread it out on cookie sheets to dry in the oven and it was my brother's and my job to break it up into pieces in a giant bowl, sitting there in our pajamas. And now we're in our twenties and it's still our favorite part! :)

I've never stuffed my bird so I guess it's 'dressing'. I liked using sausage, onions, celery, pecans, re-hydrated craisins and herbs. I have trouble with how much liquid to use.

@mschatelaine - I think that it's important to remember that this site is comprised of real people with their own opinions. If you feel so entitled to yours, they should, in turn, be allowed their own.

This stuffing recipe sounds well thought out, and adaptable for everyone's dietary needs or flavor-partial families. Thank you, I was looking for just this!

...I'd add that dressing just doesn't taste as good as stuffing to me. The OP writes that she likes it to be moist, and so adds a fair bit of liquid. Stuffing it into a turkey cavity would automatically make it moist...

@caseoftornados -- If you stuff the neck cavity of the turkey, there is absolutely no issue. Personally, I've never had a problem of dry meat because of the stuffing needing to come up to temperature... and I've stuffed turkeys, ducks, chickens, geese, lamb -- as well as chicken breasts, pork chops and meat rolls of various types. Basting helps, as well as foil tenting. I usually put a meat stuffing into the neck, and a bread stuffing into the cavity.

Personally, I dislike dressing because it is usuallyI don't care for crunchiness in stuffing, and dressing tends to be dried out. The flavours in dressing never marry as beautifully and deliciously as they do in stuffing. The closest I come to dressing is bread sauce, which is a lovely gooey English creation.

Have you ever made stuffing with gluten free bread? If so, how does it come out? We use Rudi's gluten free multigrain bread on a daily basis, would this work? Any bread suggestions?

I always stuff our turkey and we have incredibly moist turkeys (too much so, some years!) and stuffing cooked to appropriate temperature. If you know how to cook a turkey, I don't think it's hard to stuff the bird.

Our stuffing is a meal in and of itself! It's really moist, just spicy enough, tons of seasoning veggies, and always with tons of chopped fresh gulf shrimp. It wouldn't feel like the holidays if I wasn't hunched over the kitchen sink peeling shrimp for my mom! We end up eating too many spoonfuls before it ever makes it in the turkey!

@DesperatelyKneaded -- sorry, but where have I ever indicated that others are not entitled to their own opinion?

I am merely musing on that sad fate of stuffing and suggesting that co-opting the term for dressing is misleading. And yes, I do opine about my preference -- and remain interested in the opinions of others.

I have been on apartmenttherapy and thekitchn since almost the very beginning (under a different name), and this is the first time I have received a comment such as yours...

@mschatelaine

I like stuffing in the turkey too, but it's not because of paranoia that I don't stuff the cavity anymore. It's a)my turkey cooks faster without it and b)I can more more stuffing. There's never enough if you just stuff the cavity.

The trick to making dressing just as good is using real homemade turkey stock, and a generous pour of melted butter too. If you don't like it crunchy, be generous with the stock and butter and keep it tightly covered with tin foil.

I don't add nuts, fruit or sausage to mine- I go simple with torn up sourdough, torn fresh herbs (sage, thyme), sauteed garlic, celery, and onion.

We do a cornbread dressing, and this year I'm going to learn how to make it from my grandmother. I know there's cornbread, sage, and giblets involved, but no one else knows how to make it. Time to learn!

We love stuffing so I usually make enough to stuff the bird and have to cook some on the side. Years ago I read a tip about lining your baking dish with cabbage to keep the dressing moist and sort of steam it like a cabbage roll and have used that method ever since. And no, it doesn't impart any cabbage flavor. I do baste once or twice and only add it to the oven a couple hours after my turkey has been in. You cannot tell the difference between what stuffing/dressing was cooked in the bird and what wasn't. Just thought I'd share that tip.

My mom made slow cooker stuffing the last few years and it's what I plan on making this year...there are certainly no crunchy bits, so doesn't work so well if you're seeking that..but still super tasty and it removes an item from the oven/stove (possibly the most critical reason I am planning for it this year).

Not a big stuffing fan. I make my grandmother's cornbread dressing at both Thanksgiving and Christmas. Now that, I can eat my weight in!

I love stuffing but the plain boring kind :) My sister always makes a "fancy" one with nuts and dried fruit or sausage, and mine is sourdough, chicken broth, butter, celery, onions and sage (with lots of pepper). I love it super moist. We fry our bird so the stuffing is in a dish.

Silly Yankees, this isn't real dressing. :P. Haha, as a Mississippi girl, to us, stuffing consists of.cubed bread and mix-ins, regardless of whether it's inside the bird or not. Dressing is not made from prebaked, cubed bread. It's cornbread batter with poultry meat (either chicken or turkey), stock, sage, and often hardboiled eggs and onion or whatever else mixed in and then baked. We're pretty set in our ways, and our terminology.

confounded do you have a recipe for the dressing you mention? It sounds tasty!

In general, I have only one modification. I take the innards (giblets: neck, liver, heart, etc.) and boil them with the herbs that I'm going to use in the dressing. When they're fully cooked, I fish them back out and use the herbed liquid as my "stock." Addition of chopped giblets is optional, but I find that minced finely enough, they're a welcome addition). In general, I use a combination of recipes with onions and garlic and sage (and other spices) but it varies with what I have on hand and what I feel like that year. Can go in the bird (yummy) or be cooked (microwaved, ovened, etc) separately. Used with Pepperidge Farm or StoveTop brand mixes in a box, because the bags are usually too crushed to have good texture.

Stuffing is definitely my jam. I make a similar one with dried cherries and either walnuts or hazelnuts.

I have had great success with using GF bread to make bread cubes for stuffing/dressing. Season well and toast (which can be done ahead of time) and no one could tell that it was GF. I used my friend's "normal" everyday bread which is corn based, but I'm sure Rudi's could work as well.

Stuffing is cooked IN the bird. Dressing is baked in a pan. In other words, you can't call it stuffing unless you stuff it inside of something. LOL

Let me apologize.
I had (prior to this post) read a long string of critical comments, felt frustrated, then misunderstood you written voice, and lashed out.
I feel that a lot of the time people like to inform others that their way is the "wrong way" and I find it very frustrating. This was NOT the case with your comment - now that I read it with a clear head.
Sorry! :)

Okay if you can't cooked anything you shoun't try my girlfriend have been trying to cook a turkey it had been five hour and the turkey isn't ready yet .

Everyone loved this stuffing! I used a little over a pound of mixed mushrooms (shitake and crimini) instead of the sausage and it worked really well.

I feel the same way, Dk - case in point, the comment above yours...in my family, stuffing is stuffing, whether baked in the bird or in a pan; dressing is something you pour on a green salad. However, to each their own & i find it frustrating that people get so ruffled over others calling a dish something different than they do. I hope everyone had a lovely holiday!