The right stuffing

There are five absolutely critical rules:

• Never stuff the bird the night before cooking. Air needs to circulate inside the cavity. Even in the fridge, stuffing inside a bird may never get fully cold, so bacteria could begin to develop.
• Allow both the bird and the stuffing to reach room temperature before you cook them. Your cooking times will be incorrect if a very cold bird with very cold stuffing goes into the oven. But it is safer to make the stuffing just before you use it. To save time, the wet and the dry ingredients can be prepared ahead separately and chilled, then mixed together before stuffing the bird.
• Stuffing should be packed loosely. Too tight, and it may not get cooked through. A thermometer reading of 74C/165F at the centre of the stuffing means it is cooked.
• Stuffing should never be left inside the turkey once the meal is over. It should be taken out and refrigerated separately or bacteria could develop. Leftovers should be eaten within 4 days.
• Stuffings without a binding of eggs or egg yolks will be crumbly. If you are making enough to fill a separate baking dish and want the stuffing to slice, just add beaten eggs to any eggless recipe.