This is my forever Thanksgiving turkey and stuffing recipe. I have made this every Thanksgiving – my favorite holiday – all my adult life. The two ways I stuff it are in the cavity and on top of the breast meat.

Over the years I’ve lightened up the stuffing which was originally called for a pound of cooked pork sausage. Once it went meatless, I substituted oil for butter. One year, I eliminated the troublesome – and completely unnecessary — raw eggs. With each change it became more delicious (I think) as the flavor of the basic bread (I use sour dough), mushrooms (usually white mushrooms and portabellos) and the herbs shone through.

Eliminating eggs is a huge advance because there is nothing in the stuffing to cause the problems associated with cooking turkey. So I stuff the turkey completely the night before, take it out of the refrigerator early in the morning and leave it in a cool place at room temperature for 4 to 6 hours before roasting. Taking the chill off the turkey and stuffing allows the bird to cook thoroughly  in a relatively short time, as turkey goes.

Because I push turkey stuffing into a pocket over the breast meat on each side, the white meat is always super moist. This is a bit of extra work but once you do it I hope you’ll agree it’s worthwhile (chicken can be stuffed the same way).  In addition, I stuff the cavity.

Recipes and directions follow. They are detailed and lengthy but it’s better to have TMI when cooking turkey than not enough!  Also, there is ample time to answer questions or clarify points in the recipe, so please don’t hesitate to post your questions and comments.

Make the stuffing (and get it out of the way – up to 3 days ahead)

Turkey Stuffing [photo above]

Makes 10 cups

Enough for cavity and breast of a 12-pound turkey.  It should be brought to room temperature before stuffing the turkey. The recipe doubles and triples easily and a variety of mushrooms can be used (white mushrooms, portabellos, shiitakes, fresh or dried cèpes).

1-pound day-old sourdough French bread (I use a sourdough boule), cut into 1-inch cubes
2 cups boiling chicken stock
6 tablespoons olive or vegetable oil
3 medium garlic cloves, minced
2 medium onions, minced
4 medium celery ribs, sliced thinly
1-pound fresh mushrooms, wiped clean and sliced thinly
Salt and ground pepper
1 teaspoon dried or fresh thyme leaves
1 teaspoon dried, crumbled sage leaves, or ½ teaspoon chopped fresh sage
½ teaspoon dried summer savory, or 1 teaspoon chopped fresh savory
½ cup minced parsley

Put the bread cubes in a large mixing bowl. Pour over the hot chicken stock and mix thoroughly; set aside to cool.

Heat 3 tbsp. oil in a large skillet. Add garlic and onions. Stir over low heat until softened. Stir in celery and cook over medium-low heat until celery softens; add to bowl with the bread.

Heat 3 more tbsp. oil to the skillet. Stir in the mushrooms and cook over medium-high heat until they darken and all the juices have evaporated. Add mushrooms to the bowl. Add salt, pepper, thyme and savory; mix thoroughly. Adjust seasoning to taste. Can cool, cover and refrigerate up to 3 days.

Remove stuffing from refrigerator 2 to 3 hours in advance. Stir in parsley. It is ready to use.

Fresh sage and summer savory used to flavor the stuffing

Two-Way Stuffed Turkey
Makes 12 servings

1 turkey (12 to 15 pounds),  neck and giblets reserved for gravy; liver reserved for another use or discarded
Turkey Stuffing [recipe above]
6 cups cold water or chicken stock
1 medium onion, peeled, chopped
2 medium carrots, peeled, chopped
2 medium celery ribs, chopped
¼ teaspoon dried thyme leaves, or 2 sprigs fresh thyme
2 tablespoons butter
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
Salt and ground black pepper

To stuff the turkey

Remove everything from the turkey cavity (open the package — reserve the neck and giblets for gravy).

Rinse turkey in ice cold water, drain well and pat it dry inside and out with paper toweling. Be sure to blot out any excess liquid inside the cavity. Pull all the fat out of the neck end and pull away anything clinging to the neck skin, being careful not to cut with a knife or make any holes in the neck skin. Remove all visible fat from the cavity.

Turn the turkey so the neck-end faces you. Lift up the neck skin and, with your fingers, gently find the connecting membrane that attaches the skin to the edge of the breast. Carefully poke your finger through to break the connecting membrane, then wedge your fingers in between the skin and breast meat to make a pocket for stuffing. Work carefully to avoid making holes in the skin.

Move your hand down all the way towards the cavity end but leave 1-inch margin of skin firmly attached along the cavity opening, otherwise stuffing will fall out. Repeat to make a pocket over the other side.

The skin will remain attached along the breast bone. There will be two separate pockets.

Lift up neck skin and push small handfuls of stuffing into one pocket, working it down towards the cavity end. Fill the pocket evenly in a 1-inch thick stuffing layer. Repeat to fill the other side.  Press from outside to equalize stuffing and mold it to the counters of the breast. Neck skin may be stuffed loosely.

Fold the neck skin under the turkey, then secure it by twisting the wing tips back and under so they hold the sides of the skin in place. Wing tips are flexible and will stay put so the neck-end of the turkey rests on them [above].  (It should not be necessary to sew or trust but it’s ok to do so). 

Here’s how the turkey looks with stuffing under the skin and completely covering the breast. Note how wings look when the tips are turned back to hold down the neck skin.

Pat the inside of the turkey dry again with paper toweling. Spoon stuffing into the cavity. Tuck the legs under the apron of skin left on top or tie them together, catching up the tail with string. It is not necessary to sew the turkey closed at the cavity end.

Note the margin of unstuffed skin near the cavity end of the breast. Here, a strip of skin is intact so the legs can be tucked in. Otherwise, tie them together with cotton twine. It’s not necessary to close the cavity — the top of the stuffing will get crisp.

Mix onion, carrots, celery and thyme and spread evenly over the bottom of a turkey roasting pan. Add butter and 1 tablespoon oil.  Pat the turkey dry with paper towels. Mix salt and pepper into the vegetable oil and rub the oil over the turkey.  Put turkey in the roasting pan, on top of the vegetables.  It is ready for roasting.  (It can be tightly covered and refrigerated overnight. Remove it from the refrigerator at least 4 to 6  hours before roasting.)

Prepare for roasting

Several hours before roasting turkey remove it from the refrigerator to a cool place (about 68 degrees or below).

Place giblets and neck in a large saucepan. Add 6 cups cold water or chicken stock.  Cover and bring to a simmer over high heat then, uncover and skim off the foam that rises. Reduce heat to a slow simmer and cover slightly ajar, slowly simmer for 3 hours, reducing liquid to no less than 4 cups. Remove neck and giblets from saucepan; cool. Cut meat into small pieces; discard bones and set meat aside.

Roasting

Adjust oven rack to lowest position. Heat oven to 425 degrees.

Put the turkey uncovered into the oven. Roast 20 minutes.

Carefully remove turkey from oven as quickly as possible and immediately close the oven door. Baste with 1 to 1-1/2 cups of the broth. Return turkey to oven as quickly and carefully as possible to maintain heat.

Roast 5 minutes longer then turn heat down to 325 degrees.

Roast 1 hour.

Remove turkey and close oven door immediately. Stir vegetables around turkey as possible to prevent sticking. Baste turkey with 1 to 1-1/2 cups broth. Return turkey to oven.

Roast 1-1/2 to 2 hours more until skin is golden brown and juices run clear when a skewer is inserted into the thickest part of the thigh (or an instant-read thermometer registers 175 degrees).

Carefully transfer turkey to carving board or platter. Cover with aluminum foil and set aside as long as 45 minutes before serving.

For the sauce

Pour off juices and vegetables from roasting pan into a medium saucepan. Place the roasting pan on the stovetop  and heat until what’s left on the bottom begins to sizzle. Pour in 1 cup of the pan juices and stir well to deglaze the pan. Strain that into the pan juices and vegetables in the saucepan.

Skim off all fat that rises to the top of liquid in the pan. Simmer rapidly until liquid measures between 2-1/2 to 3 cups. Stir in the chopped neck and giblet meat. Adjust seasoning to taste and keep hot until serving time.

To serve turkey and sauce

Remove any trussing string from turkey and discard. When carving, cut around wing joint and remove first to free the breast. Then, on the same side, use a sharp fork to pull thickest part of the leg down and away from the body of the turkey until the joint is exposed. Cut through joint to free leg from the body. Separate drumstick from thigh by cutting down through the V of the joint and pulling drumstick back (use a dry cloth to hold the end).

The breast is then free for carving, as is the second joint. With the tip of the carving knife, cut down the center of the breast and around at the bottom on one side to free the stuffed breast skin. Cut the stuffing crosswise into serving pieces. Slice the breast and second joint. Repeat when needed to carve the other side. Turkey is ready to serve. Serve with additional stuffing from the cavity and moisten with pan juices.

Notes from moi

• Refrigerate the stuffing in a plastic container with tight seal as long as 3 days ahead.

• Vegetables for the bottom of the roasting pan can be chopped, wrapped in plastic and stored in a baggie 2 days ahead.

• The turkey can be completely stuffed and put into the pan with the vegetables, double wrapped in plastic the night before, then refrigerated overnight. Usually I remove it around 5 or 6 a.m. if I plan to start cooking at Noon. However, my laundry room is very cold and I have left it out overnight in there at about 65 degrees, if I planned to cook it before Noon. Do NOT leave the turkey out in a warm kitchen, or near an oven used for long periods, or near any heater or the stove.

• When you open an oven it loses 30 percent of its heat; the larger the oven the more time it takes to return to temperature. That’s why pulling a turkey out to baste is not as good as removing it completely. While you baste, the oven has a chance to recover the heat. This can take longer with very large ovens on pro ranges. Try to bring it close to roasting temperature before putting the turkey back.

• It is cumbersome to lift a hot turkey in and out of the oven. It’s certainly much easier to do with one in the 12-15 pound range used in this recipe. Protect hands and arms with ovenproof mitts. Be sure everything is dry. Do not wear clothing with loose sleeves when working on turkey. Do not remove heavier turkeys from the oven to baste; add time it takes to return oven to temperature to the total cooking time.

• For best results, check doneness with an instant-read thermometer or use the oven’s heat probe. Insert either into the thickest part of the thigh and as deeply as possible without touching the bone.

• Over the years, I found that  jump-starting turkey at 425 for 20 minutes helped it cook more evenly and quickly. If it gets too brown initially, simply put some foil over the top.

• The gravy is equivalent to pan juices. Don’t forget to season it! I sometimes add a bit of Maderia — about 1 teaspoon to up the flavor. If you wish to thicken it slightly, dissolve 1/2 teaspoon arrowroot in 2 tablespoons cold water, stir it in and bring it to a simmer, stirring constantly. That will give it a bit more body but in order to thicken at all it must simmer.

Please leave your comments and any questions. I ♥ to hear from you.

Tags: mushroom herb turkey stuffing, roast turkey, turkey stuffed two ways