It’s time for everyone to disclose their Thanksgiving secrets. Mine is meat stuffing.
Here’s a really simple meat stuffing, should fill the main cavity of an 18-pounder:
1 lb ground beef
1 lb breakfast sausage in a plastic tube
(Jimmy Dean, Jamestown, etc. Cheap is great.)
couple stalks of celery, diced
medium onion, diced
half the bird’s liver, cut very fine
pepper to taste
1 Teaspoon of ground sage
1/2 Teaspoon thyme
Mash it all up with your hands, and ram it in. Make crude, suggestive jokes while you’re cramming the bird, but not later at the table. Name your bird (Britney, Rush, an ex-boyfriend, etc.) to personalize the experience. Bake bird for an extra 30-40 minutes when stuffed. If you’re adept you can get the whole cooked stuffing out as a loaf and slice it.
Meat stuffing produces a lot more pan drippings.
By the way, there are two cavities on the bird… the belly, and the neck. You can make bread stuffing in one, and meat in the other.
