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<hr>Don't even think of stuffing the turkey ahead of time. That's asking or food poisoning.<hr></blockquote>That depends. My mother and her sister both made a very simple stuffing, using toasted bread that had been broken into small pieces (the toasted bread was put in a brown paper bag, then a rolling pin was used to crush it). The only other ingredients were chopped celery and onion, which they mixed with the bread and moistened sufficiently with water that it more or less held together.
Some recipes for stuffing call for sausage, and some call for egg to be used as a binder, and it is those ingredients that can lead to food poisoning if they are in the bird too long before it is hot enough to cook them.
I'm going to be home alone this Thursday, and I'll be having a Cornish game hen, stuffed the way my mother would have done it, plus mashed potatoes, broccoli, and jellied cranberry sauce. Thanksgiving dinner when my parents were alive would have included both mashed potatoes and sweet potatoes, corn, and the cranberry sauce as well as the turkey and stuffing. I like broccoli, so I've abandoned corn.
About the post at #2 ("If you're not American, then why bother...?"), I would remind the poster that maberk89 is American: South American. I agree with the poster at #2 that Thanksgiving is not part of maberk's tradition, but if we were all bound to avoid things outside our own tradition, we in the United States would never have eaten pizza, or crepes, or dozens of other things that routinely appear on our tables.
DD
It's 1:0 to maberk. He's better articulated than most of the posters (on other branches). He's 18.
Mariano,
Talking about the language. It is a well elaborated topic, but why are you saying "Wouldn't this all be too much? I mean, brining, marinating and injecting stuff into a dead animal?".
You can't put stuffing into a live animal, can you?
And as for cooking. I'm a newbie to turkey cooking, but the results have been good (or excellent as friends say) so far. Btw - I stuff my turkey just before putting it into the oven.
Take these three simple rules:
- as many hours as kilograms. If the 'animal' weighs 4 kilos, cook it in the oven for 4 hrs. Like Cocodrilo#1 said, in 160 C (upto 170).
- brine many times (can't be too many) so the meat get moisture, and the skin doesn't burn
- when about to be ready cooked, stick a toothpick in the meat in a couple of places. If the meat juice is clear, the turkey is done.
Off topic.
My Spanish is very rudimentary. What did Karin do? The mother looked like she's having heart attack.
Before language nuts correct me, should I rather say in correct English "he is more articulate..."?
NorthAmerican,
I also use toasted bread for stuffing, toasting bread cubes in frying pan, with broth (making sort of croutons). Then I mix it with chicken lever and mashrooms, cooked in frying pan, and add chopped parsley.
This Drovers Dog sounds like a fussy old stuffed turkey. Over cooked.
Maberk, hope you enjoy a new tradition that is to give thanks for your bounty, whatever that may be.
Don't forget the gravy.
You can't put stuffing into a live animal, can you?
Well, the name of this branch suggests you can ;)
Thanks for the compliment by the way hehe
Off topic:
Karina appears to have run away from her house... the show where the hilarious scene takes place is actually an Argie show called "Gente que busca gente" (which is, in my opinion, grammatically incorrect because the expression is "buscar a alguien" and not "buscar alguien"...) where ppl go looking for their missing relatives... Coincidentally that person is in a separate room backstage... How very surprising...
Fieldgate: Yes, "he is more articulate" is correct; "he is better articulated" makes me think that his elbows and knees might function better than yours or mine.
Putting the stuffing in the bird just before you roast it is probably the best way, especially if chicken livers are involved. (Your addition of chopped parsley sounds good.) Reading your description caused me to realize that I had lied, however inadvertently, in my post at #10; I said "stuffed the way my mother would have done it," but in fact I used chicken broth, rather than water, to moisten the stuffing.
Why celebrate something that is not part of your culture? In my mind, Thanksgiving is a lovely celebration intended to express thanks for bounty, friendship, good fortune, assistance from others, etc., something I think we can all share. The fact that the celebration is in honor of a supposed event that occurred geographically in a place that is now the US but that at that time was not has nothing to do with the underlying sentiment, IMHO.
I'll be celebrating tomorrow at a table with US, British, and Costa Rican friends. Nice. Over the years, the gathering has included Peruvians, Nicaraguans, Canadians (who celebrate in October, I had turkey twice that year), Salvadorians, French people, Germans, Brazilians -- we all found something to express thanks for.
Maber, have a great dinner and a great time with your friends.
I always stuff my turkeys, and have been doign so for 22 years with no problems. I make my stuffign ahead of time (I made mine yesterday) and stuff the turkey when it is completely cold. There is nothing like the stuffing INSIDE the bird- collects all the juices, and the pieces that stick outside get all nice and crispy! Don't forget to stuff the neck cavity!
#17- Bravo! For me, it's mostly about preparing an excellent meal for good friends. There will be only 2 Americans tonight, and a Canadian, Peruvian, and a lot of Japanese! :-)
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