Fillers
Almost anything can serve as a stuffing. Many popular
Anglo-American stuffings contain bread or cereals, usually with vegetables, herbs and spices, and eggs. Middle Eastern
vegetable stuffings may be based on seasoned rice, on minced meat, or a
combination. Other stuffings may contain only vegetables and herbs.
Some types of stuffing include sausage meat, while vegetarian stuffings sometimes contain tofu. Roast pork is
often accompanied by sage and onion stuffing in England; roast poultry in a
Christmas dinner may be stuffed with sweet chestnuts. Oysters are used in one traditional
stuffing for Thanksgiving. These may also be combined with mashed
potatoes for heavy stuffing. Fruits and dried fruits can be added to
stuffing, including apples, apricots, dried prunes, and raisins. In England, a
stuffing is sometimes made of minced pork shoulder seasoned with various
ingredients, such as sage, onion, bread, chestnuts, dried apricots, dried cranberries, etc. The stuffing mixture may be cooked separately and served as a side
dish. This may still be called stuffing, or it may be called dressing.
Food Safety
The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA)
states that cooking animals with a body cavity filled with stuffing
can present potential food safety issues. These can occur because when the meat
reaches a safe temperature, the stuffing inside can still harbor bacteria (and
if the meat is cooked until the stuffing reaches a safe temperature, the meat
may be overcooked). For turkeys, the USDA recommends cooking
stuffing/dressing separately from the bird and not buying pre-stuffed birds.
(Stuffing is never recommended for turkeys to be fried, grilled, microwaved, or
smoked). The turkey's temperature must reach a safe minimum internal temperature of 165 °F. Check the temperature in the thigh, the innermost part of the wing, and the thickest part of the breast.Resources
1. Stuffing, From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
2. Thanksgiving Stuffing Recipes, EatingWell