Hosting first thanksgiving?

Question

I am hosting my first thanksgiving and have a few questions.
1) What are some good shortcuts to stuffing. I have seen people add things like onion and celery to stove top to make it like home made, but what do I add and how much?

2) How many people will a 14 lb turkey feed and is it supposed to cook 1hour for every 4lbs?

Thanks for your help and any other suggestions would be welcome!

Answer 1

1--use 1/4 cup onion and 1 stalk of celer and saute in 2 tbsp butter over medium heat (about 4 minutes). You can also add a few cloves of garlic (after the first two minutes). I use chicken stock in place of water to really step up flavor.

2--go with 12-16 oz for every person ...and cook based on 18 minutes per pound--UNSTUFFED. For baking a stuffed turkey, bake for an additional hour to 1.5 hours. You can read more on this site: http://www.urbanext.uiuc.edu/turkey/techniques.html

Happy Thanksgiving!

Answer 2

The important thing with using the boxed stuffing shortcut is put the dry mix into a colander and shake out some of the spices that the stove top, or whoever makes it, puts in. If you do this it will taste more homemade, and they put too much sage in there anyway. I am taking the boxed route this year as well, and am adding croutons, and cooked sage sausage, onion, celery and a touch of garlic (minced) before I stuff it into the turkey. I did it once before, and got so many compliments..."This is such good stuffing, is it homemade???" Yep I would reply I prepared it in my kitchen just this morning.....

And a 14lb turkey? I think it should handily feed about 8 people. You won't have a ton of leftovers, but really how much turkey can a person stand to eat after Thanksgiving anyway?

Good Luck! Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours!

Answer 3

OK first I am hosting my first thanksgiving this year too. good luck to you. next when you get the turkey and you are ready to cook it take the giblets out and boil them then cut them up and add them to your stuffing, I might also add some onion. it will taste more home made.

you really want about 1lbs to 1 1/2lbs of turkey per person with all the other sides you will not need more than that. my husband doesn't seem to think so he bought a 21.5 lbs turkey for 1 people we will be eating left overs for 3 weeks. bring on the turkey.

Answer 4

Okay, so, when cooking the turkey, it is about 20minutes per pund, so you were very close, but remember that when the juices run clear when it is pierced, it is done.

As for stuffing, I never, EVER put the stuffing in the turkey unless it is for flavoring and I plan to toss it right after the turkey is cooked to perfection. 'Cause chances are if the turkey's done, the stuffing isn't. And if you cook it till the stuffing's done, you get a dry, unappealing bird. Icky-icky watang.

My mom always put a LOT of onion in the stuffing, whick works perfectly for me since I'm an onion freak. She puts in sage and poultry seasoning, and about a billion other seasonings I dont even know! I'm so sorry that I can't give you a recipe, but I hope that my suggestions helped.

Answer 5

I have two recipes for a quick stuffing fix
1) 1 lb of sausage
1 1/2 c. hot water
2 pkgs of Stove top Stuffing (6oz each)

Cook sausage and add hot water and stuffing. remove from heat, cover and let stand 5 mins

2) 3c. Apple Juice
1/4c Margarine
2 small apples chopped
1c. dried cranberries
2 pkgs Stove Top Stuffing
1/2c. toasted pecans

Boil juice and margarine after it boils add apples and cranberries and stuffing mix take off heat and cover, let stand 5 mins, stir in pecans.

And for a 14lb turkey you should cook it about 4 hours and unstuff about 3-3 3/4 hours or until a thermometer reaches 180 degrees F.
Good Luck and Enjoy Cooking this Holiday.

Answer 6

Here you go:

STOVE TOP STUFFING Mix In Ideas
http://www.kraftfoods.com/stovetop/

EASY COOKING GUIDE
http://www.butterball.com/en/main_canvas.jsp?includePage=easy_cooking_guide.jsp&t=Easy%20Cooking%20Guide&s0=plan_n_prep&s1=guide

Holiday Menu Guide
http://www.butterball.com/en/main_canvas.jsp?includePage=holidayGuide_2006.jsp&t=Butterball%20Holiday%20Guide&s0=holidayGuide&s1=home

Answer 7

turkey 20 min per pound
just eye how much you put in the stuffing you can also add nuts and rasins or apples

Answer 8

I don't know about the cooking time but for the stuffing you can add mushrooms, steamed rice, sausage and bread crumb.

Answer 9

You will find some excellent tips here:

http://www.gourmet-food-revolution.com/thanksgiving-dinner-menu.html

Happy Holidays

Answer 10

buy pepperridge dressing and follow direction on package
1hour for every 6 pounds