The right stuffing

Treat your turkey with our sensational stuffings

Do you believe a Christmas bird is just an excuse for the stuffing, the feathered equivalent of bread in a bulging sandwich? Do you deliberately make so much stuffing that there's too much to fit inside the cavity and you have to put the rest in a separate baking dish to cook on its own?

And when it comes to the main course, do you slap a mound of stuffing on to your plate, taking only the most token shaving of the fowl? If the answer to all these questions is ‘yes’ then you’re a stuffing aficionado, someone who understands that stuffing is not just a padding to make the turkey, capon or goose go further, but a dish in its own right – a kind of succulent hot pâté, sophisticated and smooth, or country-rough.

Get tips on making the perfect stuffing, plus discover 7 brilliant stuffing recipes.

Stuffing is an excuse for mashing together favourite, familiar ingredients. Top of the British list is sage and onion. Think of the comfort of Paxo, the king of packet sage and onion stuffings, that storecupboard standby which tastes so good with grilled sausages and helps us out when we can’t be bothered to do the real thing. Well, it is the real thing.

In Normandy, where apples are abundant, apple and sausage stuffing moistened with a slug of Calvados is a classic. The Périgord French in the goose-fattening centre of the country go for all-out luxury with a wonderful prune and foie gras stuffing for the honking bird. The Russian Czars used to stuff goose simply, with just a little thyme and 3 or 4 large tart apples, peeled, cored and chopped.

An Italian recipe uses equal amounts of unsmoked bacon, cooked ham, mushrooms and a dozen juniper berries, all chopped together with the liver of the turkey. Americans make a stuffing of cornbread - a sweet, crumbly bread - with onions, green peppers and celery. In the Southern states, where peanuts are grown, there’s even a stuffing of double-roasted peanuts mixed with onions, cornbread, melted butter and a splash of wine.

The point seems to be that stuffing is made from whatever you have to hand, wherever you live. As long as there is something that will hold the ingredients together – like bread, a cereal, a mashed pulse, sausagemeat or liver, you can include pretty well anything, from apricots to shredded spinach.

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.

Recipes

Pork, Sage and Onion Stuffing
(for turkey)

1 large onion, finely chopped
1 heaped dsp dried sage
4 heaped tbsp white breadcrumbs
2-3 tbsp boiling water
900g sausagemeat
salt and freshly ground black pepper

Mix the onion, sage and breadcrumbs in a large bowl then add the boiling water and stir. Work the sausagemeat into it and season.

Prune and Foie Gras Stuffing
(for goose)

40-50 prunes, stoned and soft
300ml white wine or 150ml dry white vermouth
425ml beef stock
1 goose liver, finely chopped
2 tbsp finely chopped shallots
10g butter
150ml port
110g foie gras, chopped
2-3 tbsp breadcrumbs
pinch of allspice
pinch of thyme
salt and pepper to taste

  1. Simmer the prunes with the wine and stock in a covered pan for about 10 minutes, until tender. Drain them, reserving the cooking liquid.
  2. Sauté the goose liver and shallots in butter in a small frying pan for 2 minutes. Scrape into a mixing bowl.
  3. Boil the port in the frying pan until reduced to 2 tbsp. Add to the mixing bowl.
  4. Add the foie gras and seasonings to the bowl and mix well until everything is incorporated. If the mixture is too wet for easy stuffing, beat in the breadcrumbs.
  5. Season to taste with the allspice, thyme, salt and pepper. Fill each prune with 1 tsp stuffing, then stuff them into the cavity, and skewer or tie closed.

French Chestnut and Apple Stuffing
(for turkey)

450g eating apples, peeled and cored
900g tinned, whole unsweetened chestnuts, roughly mashed
175g salted or fresh belly of pork, cut into small dice
2 shallots, finely chopped
handful parsley, finely chopped
1 egg

Gently stew the apples, covered, in 1 tbsp water until reduced to a pulp. Add to the roughly mashed chestnuts, pork, shallots and parsley and bind with the egg. Fill the cavity.

American Apricot Stuffing
(for turkey and chicken)

150-175g dried apricots, diced
350ml Grand Marnier
turkey liver and heart
225g unsalted butter
200g coarsely chopped celery
1 large onion, chopped
450g pork sausagemeat
450g herb stuffing mix, eg: Paxo
115g slivered almonds
450ml chicken stock
½ tsp dried thyme
salt and freshly ground black pepper

  1. Bring the apricots to the boil with 225ml of the Grand Marnier and remove from the heat.
  2. Simmer the turkey liver and heart in water to cover for 5 minutes, then cool.
  3. Melt half the butter in a large frying pan over medium heat. Add the celery and onion and fry, stirring for 10 minutes. Put into a large mixing bowl.
  4. In the same pan, fry the sausagemeat until opaque. Add to the mixing bowl, along with the stuffing mix, almonds, apricots and their liquid and stir.
  5. Heat the remaining butter and the stock in a small pan until the butter melts, then pour over the stuffing mixture with the remaining Grand Marnier. Stir well to incorporate, and season with the thyme, salt and pepper.

Cornbread stuffing (1)
(for turkey and chicken)

175g butter
225g onion, finely chopped
115g green pepper, finely chopped
150g heart of celery, finely chopped
200g corn bread, finely crumbled
350g crumbled toast
2 hard-boiled eggs, coarsely chopped
110ml chicken stock
3 eggs
salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste

  1. Melt 60g butter in a pan and fry the onion, pepper and celery, stirring, until they are just turning tender. Set aside.
  2. Put the crumbled corn bread and toast in a mixing bowl. Add the hard-boiled eggs, celery mixture and all the remaining ingredients. Stir well to blend.

Cornbread stuffing with apples
(for turkey and chicken)

175g butter
300g onions, finely chopped
2 Bramley apples, cored and cut into chunks, but not peeled
450g sausagemeat
350g cornbread, coarsely crumbled
350g wholewheat bread, coarsely crumbled
350g white bread, coarsely crumbled
2 tsp dried thyme
1 tsp dried sage
20g chopped flat-leaf parsley
175g pecan halves
salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste

  1. Melt half the butter in a pan. Add the onions and cook over a low heat until tender and turning gold – about 25 minutes. Pour into a large mixing bowl.
  2. Melt the remaining butter in the same pan. Add the apple and cook until lightly gold but not mushy. Scrape into the mixing bowl.
  3. Crumble the sausagemeat into the pan and cook over medium heat, stirring, until lightly browned. Transfer with a slotted spoon to the mixing bowl, reserving the fat for basting the bird later.
  4. Add the remaining ingredients to the ingredients in the mixing bowl and combine gently. Cool completely before stuffing the bird.

Greek Stuffing
(for turkey)
100g uncooked rice
350ml water
110g butter
225g onion, finely chopped
150g raisins
350g tinned, peeled, unsweetened chestnuts, coarsely chopped
2 generous handfuls pine nuts
700g best minced beef
1 tsp ground cloves
2 tsp ground cinnamon
salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

  1. Pour the rice into a saucepan and add the water and a pinch of salt. Bring to the boil, simmer for no more than 6 minutes and drain.
  2. Melt the butter in a large pan and fry the onion, stirring, until soft. Add the rice, raisins, chestnuts, nuts and mince. Stir frequently, to break up lumps in the meat, cooking over a medium high heat until the mince turns opaque, about 8-10 minutes. Add the spices and seasoning and leave to cool.