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I love country sausage, pine nuts and dried fruit -- cranberries, apricots, or a combination and some times some apples. No real recipe -- just add enough. I cook the meat, then add the fruit and nuts to the bread along with cooked veggies and stock.

I tend not to stuff poultry because it makes it harder to cook the bird. The breast is overdone by the time the stuffing gets hot enough to be safe. But I prefer the flavor of cooking the stuffing in the bird.

SO, when I want a roast chicken with stuffing , I like to pile up the stuffing in the center of the pan and cover it with the butterflied bird. (Just cut out the back bone then flatten the bird.) Then roast it till it's done. Best of all worlds -- the stuffing absorbs the chicken juices, gets nice & crusty on the bottom and the split bird cooks faster and evenly. Never tried that method with a turkey though.

when I used to cook for lots of people I would always make one batch with linguica and chorizo (portugese) and another batch with quahogs(large clams) they didnt get cooked in the bird, because it was just easier to go the caserole route. these day I dont think I would stuff a bird, Alton scared me too, plus if i remember right the stuffing used to get a little gummy tasting in the bird.

I guess I'm the only one who isnt scared off by AB. Then again my family has been making it in the bird for decades prior to Good Eats, or, for that matter FN. We use pepperidge farm, jimmy dean regular suasage, celery, onion, butter, chicken stock and, SHHH.... bells seasoning.
Jerzee yours sounds great I think I'll try it in the future. Will any good quality italian sausage do?

Ours is pretty much like Perky's with the addition of mushrooms (we all like them). It is my dad's favorite part of the meal and if there is any left the next day he gets dibs. And prefers the leftovers cold. Delicious. It has to be the mass quantities of butter, which is hilarious, because in a Jewish home (or at least my Jewish home, hehehe) you don't make things with butter to go with meat that often, even if you don't actually keep kosher. Like I find the British and Canadian practice of buttering cold meat sandwiches completely repulsive. But we do love our buttery stuffing. And mashed potatoes!

HoG - sultanas. ;)

I stuff the turkey between the skin and the breast - makes for a nice moist breast. Then I make stuffing balls to go round the bird. Recipe varies every year, though!. I do like sausagemeat in the balls.

Anyone ever use croissants as their base? A friend of mine raved about it but I can't find a recipe on it. Our normal tradition is a sausage based bread stuffing with shrooms and mirepoix.

Mine consists of: homemade croutons (I use 9-grain bread from Atlantic bread bakery and whole wheat baguette, small cubes), sweet Italian turkey sausage (the last couple of years, I've made my own maple turkey sausage for the stuffing), crumbled and sauteed with chopped Spanish onions, grated carrots, finely diced celery (which I sometimes omit), diced red and green bell peppers, garlic, dill, parsley, smoked paprika, salt and freshly ground black pepper.

Since I always make two large trays (I have to), I make the second one slightly different - I add pine nuts and sage and omit parsley and smoked paprika. Naturally, eggs and chicken stock are added to both versions, tiny pats of butter dropped on top.

brooke, I'm drooling over your descriptions!!

I keep mine very traditional b/c that's how my husband prefers it. Croutons, diced onion, celery, and carrots, garlic, chicken stock, sage, etc. I was thinking of adding some sausage this year. :)

I always do cornbread dressing with butter, diced sweet onions, bell peppers, celery, apple, dried cranberries, chopped walnuts, and a mild sage country sausage cooked and crumbled in, wet it down with chicken stock till it gets to that right consistency then bake it off in the oven to get a crusty browned top to it.

as a vegetarian who loves stuffing, i make it with vegetable stock and outside the bird, so that others like me can enjoy it, and all the omnivores are still pretty happy :) other than that, fairly traditional - mire poix and bread crumbs, parsley and thyme and whatever other herbs seem to look good. no matter how much i intend to follow a recipe, my cooking usually ends up being a sort of grab and add and taste and repeat process.

My mom got a great recipe from a great-aunt on my dad's side that is a zucchini "stuffing". I always seem to make 500 lbs of it. It's super good, but 75% of it seems to end up going down the disposal just because of the sheer volume.

It uses almost equal parts of sauteed zucchini and dry dressing (packaged, but not instant) and some onion that was sauteed w/the zucca. Mix in a bunch of broth and a can of cream of chicken - though I guess cream of mushroom would work really well and some grated carrot. It's probably twice as good as it must sound.

Apple, onion, celery, lots of fresh sage and fresh poultry seasoning. I use half cornbread and half French bread. We always cook the dressing in a separate dish.

@Perky - you absolutely should try sausage, it's delicious! As I mentioned, I usually use sweet Italian turkey sausage (or homemade turkey sausage), since you know, it is a Turkey day:-). Plus, it goes perfectly with my both version - parsley & smoked paprika and sage & pine nuts. But frankly, I think it depends on your personal taste, whichever you like will work if your seasoning compliments it.

I LOVED the stuffing my aunt made last year. It was sausage pumpkin cornbread stuffing, how good does that sound? Here is the recipe:

Ingredients

3/4 lb. sweet Italian sausage, casings removed
2 jalapeños, minced (with seeds)
12 corn muffins or two 8 1/2-oz. corn-bread mixes, prepared and crumbled (10 C.)
1 15-oz. can pumpkin
1 14-oz. can chicken or vegetable broth
1 C. dried cranberries
1/4 C. chopped fresh sage or 1 heaping Tbs. dried sage

Directions

In a large skillet over medium heat, cook the sausage and jalapeños, breaking up the meat and cooking until it is no longer pink. Drain the fat. Add the corn bread. Fold in the pumpkin, broth, cranberries, and sage. Cook for 45 minutes in a 350-degree oven.

This can be made up to 1 day ahead. Cover and refrigerate. For drier stuffing, omit the broth.

Hillary
Chew on That

Oh, and I always use fresh bread, not croutons.

I do the usual crap that you listed in the stuffing but I also add eggs, aand cream. I always make my "private reserve" that includes oysters

Hey Pam, come on ovah, and bring me that dressing!

I just put my turkey in the oven - with potato bread stuffing - onions, celery, poultry seasoning, egg, stock, butter, and a bit of garlic. Can't wait!

I second (third, fourth, ..) the use of sage sausage in dressing. We make two kinds, traditional bread with just the seasonings and sauteed vegetables, and a bread-cornbread stuffing with toasted pecans, sauteed vegetables that include garlic and carrots, plus some chopped cranberries that also are sauteed. I make the bread and cornbread myself because I prefer the way it tastes. Oh, both have eggs and butter.

Yummy!