Get Stuffed!

My wife likes a turkey at Christmas (please, no comments that she has one all year round!).

Coming from a Scottish heritage, I have never really enjoyed oyster or bread stuffing - it has to be oatmeal.

I was wondering if anyone has a favourite recipe for this. My version has maybe 1/2 cup of butter, melted and used to saute a chopped onion, and then the oats (rolled only) are added and mixed. Some end there, others continue to cook until the oats are golden before turning off the heat and stuffing the bird.

What else goes in it? Well tradition calls for lard but I prefer the lighter effect of butter, and while all sorts of spices get chucked in, I usually limit myself to S&P plus some fresh thyme - I'm not a big sage fan in this application, don't know why. The other thing I avoid is the increasing tendencyt to cook the stuffing in a side dish - the juices from the turkey are what keep it from being dry, and although you can certainly compensate with more butter, it doesn't pick up the traditional flavour unless cooked in the bird.

I'd be delighted to hear any riffs on the otmeal dressing, but it would also be fun to hear any favourite recipes people may have. It is interesting that turkey seems to be so tied to holiday use - I'm sure the turkey farmers wish it were otherwise, but I bet that's why so many recipes are handed down from generation to generation too.

[Jenise]

I have never heard of, nor tasted, oatmeal stuffing! I can't even quite imagine the texture. Definitely agree that the stuffing in the bird is best, though I think the bird cooks better unstuffed--it's a choice you have to make. But yes if you do it separately you have to provide a lot more moisture--broth as well as fat.

I've never tasted oatmeal stuffing or even heard of it, so no ideas here. I always cook my dressing in a crock-pot and I use stock that I have made prior to keep it moist. After the bird has cooked, I use a baster to get a healthy dousing of the resulting juices and give the dressing another flavor addition. Works great, and everyone is pleasantly surprised. We cook our bird on a Weber, outside, using Pandora's method. Since I can't open the lid during the three hour process, I make sure I have some good stock for the dressing made up.
I am curious about the oatmeal stuffing, will have to Google that!

I did find this.......
http://www.foodgeeks.com/recipes/scottish-style-roast-chicken-with-oat-stuffing-howtowdie-20855

Bill, you know you don't need a turkey to make haggis, right?

Be glad it's turkey. My brother-in-law, who idolizes A Christmas Carol (the movie) once instigated that we have a goose for Christmas. Since it was his idea, we asked him to provide the goose.

He arrived quite late and so we had to delay dinner, and when we looked at what he had brought to feed about 18 people we knew trouble was ahead. After you remove the fat, there's hardly any meat on a goose/

We ate stuffing.