East Texas Turkey Dressing Recipes

TEXAS AGGIE MOMS' TURKEY DRESSING RECIPE

Steps:

• Saute onion and celery in small amount of butter.
• Add to cornbread and white bread which have been crumbled together.
• Add seasonings and mix thoroughly.
• Add boiled eggs and turkey broth and stir well.
• Add salt and pepper to taste.
• Bake in 325F oven for one hour or until light brown.

THE BEST TURKEY DRESSING (STUFFING)

Steps:

• Melt 6 tablespoons butter in a large frying pan. Add onions. Cook over medium heat until onions are quite soft and tender, about 15 minutes. Transfer onions and butter to a large mixing bowl. Set aside. Melt another 6 tablespoons butter in the same frying pan. Add apple. Cook over medium heat, until lightly colored but not mushy. Transfer apples and butter to mixing bowl with onions.
• Crumble sausage into frying pan. Cook over medium heat, until lightly browned. With a slotted spoon, transfer sausage to mixing bowl. Reserve fat. Add remaining ingredients, except eggs and stock, to mixing bowl. Mix well. Add eggs. Mix. Add enough stock to bowl to make a moist, but not runny, mixture. Add fat to stuffing if desired. Stuff a 20-lb. turkey. If cooking dressing separately from turkey, pour fat over dressing in casserole. Bake at 325 degrees Fahrenheit for 45 minutes, or until nicely browned and cooked through.

TURKEY AND DRESSING CASSEROLE

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.
• Rub the turkey breast with the butter and sprinkle with salt, pepper, rosemary and thyme. Place the turkey skin-side-up in a large roasting pan and cover with a tight-fitting lid or aluminum foil. Bake until an internal thermometer inserted into the thickest part of the breast registers 165 degrees F, 1 1/2 to 2 hours or about 15 minutes per pound. Let rest for 10 minutes.
• Cut the breast into thick slices and set aside. Pour the pan juices into a measuring cup and skim off the fat (use the fat for gravy). You'll need 2 to 3 cups of liquid for the dressing; supplement with chicken stock as needed.
• In a very large bowl, mix together the crumbled cornbread, torn white bread and the cranberries. Heat the olive oil in a medium saucepan. Add the celery, carrots and onion and cook until tender, about 7 minutes. Add 1/4 cup of the turkey pan juices and continue cooking until the vegetables are translucent, about 6 minutes. Add the cooked vegetables to the bread mixture. Pour in the orange juice and 1 cup of the pan juices and mix well, using a sturdy spoon or your hands. Continue adding pan juices (or chicken stock) until the mixture is very moist, almost soupy. Put the dressing in a 9-by-13-by-2-inch casserole dish. Lay the turkey slices on top of the dressing, using almost all of the meat (reserve the rest for gravy or leftovers). Cover the casserole and refrigerate overnight.
• The next day, preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
• Remove the casserole from the refrigerator and let it stand at room temperature while the oven is heating. Bake until heated through, about 45 minutes. The dressing should be moist. If it appears to have dried out too much overnight, pour another cup of turkey juice over it.

EAST TEXAS TURKEY DRESSING

Steps:

• Prepare cornbread to serve 12. Set aside. Combine bread, cornbread, onion, sage, salt, pepper, eggs, stock, and bacon drippings. Add oysters, if desired. Stir ingredients lightly and stuff into fowl (or bake separately at 350° for 30 minutes). Fun Fact: Native born Texan Howard Hughes was an American aviator, engineer, industrialist, film producer and director, philanthropist, and one of the wealthiest people in the world. Hughes did not get his fortune from his movies or aviator skills, but rather from the inheritance from his father's invention of the Hughes Drill Bit, which revolutionized the oil industry.

EASY TURKEY STUFFING

Steps:

• In 10-inch skillet, melt butter over medium-high heat. Add onion, celery and carrots; cook, stirring occasionally, until tender.
• In large bowl, mix bread cubes, parsley, poultry seasoning, salt and pepper. Add broth and butter-onion mixture, stirring until desired moistness (stuffing will become a little more moist during roasting because it will absorb juices from turkey).
• Use to stuff 1 (14- to 18-lb) turkey. After stuffing turkey, place any remaining stuffing in 1- or 2-quart casserole that has been sprayed with cooking spray; cover and refrigerate. Bake stuffing in casserole with turkey for last 35 to 40 minutes of roasting time or until thoroughly heated.

FRANCIS BUTLER'S TEXAS TAMALE-STUFFED TURKEY

Steps:

• 1. Place an oven rack in the lower-center position and preheat the oven to 350°F. Set a large V-shaped roasting rack inside a shallow roasting pan.
• 2. Pulse the shallots, garlic, chiles, 1 teaspoon salt, and 1/2 teaspoon pepper in a food processor until finely chopped. With the food processor running, add the butter, one piece at time, and process until a paste forms.
• 3. In a large bowl, crumble the tamales and using a fork, stir in the corn. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
• 4. Pat the turkey dry. Using metal skewers or toothpicks, secure the neck skin to the back of the turkey, then tuck the turkey's wings behind its back.
• 5. Stuff the tamale mixture into the turkey's cavity and tie the legs together with butcher's twine. Place the turkey in the prepared rack, breast up, and rub with the butter mixture. Cover the turkey loosely with foil and roast for 1 hour, basting with pan drippings every 20 minutes.
• 6. Uncover and roast for 30 to 45 minutes, until the skin is well browned and an instant-read thermometer registers 175°F in the thighs and drumsticks and 165°F in the breast and stuffing.
• 7. Transfer the turkey to a serving platter or carving board and let rest for 30 minutes to 1 hour before serving.
• 8. Carve the turkey and serve with the tamale stuffing.