Roast Turkey With Old Fashioned Bread Stuffing

Total Time: 5 hrs Preparation Time: 1 hr Cook Time: 4 hrs

Ingredients

• Servings: 6
• 1 cup chopped celery
• 1 cup sliced fresh mushrooms
• 1/2 cup chopped onion
• 1/3 cup butter
• 1 teaspoon ground sage
• 1/4 teaspoon pepper
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 8 cups dry bread, cubes (i will tell you how to make these at the end of the cooking directions)
• 1/2-3/4 cup chicken broth or 1/2-3/4 cup water
• 10 -12 lbs turkey
• cooking oil

Recipe

• 1 for stuffing, in a medium saucepan cook celery, mushrooms, and onion in butter until tender but not brown, remove from heat.
• 2 stir in sage, pepper, and salt.
• 3 place dry bread cubes in a large mixing bowl, add onion mixture.
• 4 drizzle with enough broth or water to moisten, tossing lightly.
• 5 season body cavity of turkey with salt.
• 6 spoon some stuffing loosely into the neck cavity.
• 7 pull the neck skin to the back, fasten with a skewer.
• 8 lightly spoon more stuffing into the body cavity (place any remaining stuffing into a casserole, cover and chill. dot with butter and bake alongside turkey for 35-45 minutes or until heated through).
• 9 tuck the ends of the drumsticks under the band of skin across the tail.
• 10 if the band of skin is not present, tie the drumsticks securely to the tail.
• 11 twist wing tips under the back.
• 12 place turkey, breast side down, on a rack in a shallow roastng pan.
• 13 brush with oil.
• 14 cover turkey loosely with foil.
• 15 roast turkey in a 325 degree oven for 3 1/4 to 3 1/2 hours, or until a meat thermometer placed into the center of a thigh (but not touching the bone) reads 180 degrees. make sure center of stuffing reads 165 degrees.
• 16 after about 1 1/2 hours, turn the turkey over so that it is breast side up.
• 17 brush breast side with oil.
• 18 after 2 1/2 hours, cut loose drumsticks so that thighs will cook evenly.
• 19 when done, drumsticks should move very easliy in their sockets and their thickest parts should feel soft when pressed.
• 20 uncover the last 30 minutes of roasting.
• 21 to make dry bread cubes: cut bread into 1/2 inch squares.
• 22 (12-14 slices of bread for 8 cups cubes) place in a brown paper bag and close loosely.
• 23 let stand 3-4 days, mixing up by hand each day until thoroughly dry.
• 24 or, spread bread cubes onto a large cookie sheet in a single layer and bake at 300 degrees 10-15 minutes or until dry, stirring twice.
• 25 cool.
• 26 i highly recommend using homemade bread (by hand or bread machine) for the bread cubes.
• 27 you will be amazed at the difference in texture!