Stuffing for poultry

When you roast a chicken or turkey, you can add some great flavour if you fill the cavity with a breadcrumbs-based stuffing (also known as forcemeat).  Thyme and sage are traditional herbs used in stuffing.

Ingredients

3 cups soft breadcrumbs
1 onion
1 tablespoon fresh thyme (or 1 teaspoon dried thyme)
1 tablespoon fresh sage  (or 1 teaspoon dried sage)
50 gms butter or margarine
½ teaspoon salt

Method

1. Finely chop the onion
2. Melt the butter or margarine
3. Put the breadcrumbs into a mixing bowl
4. Add all the other ingredients and mix together.

Note:

1. This amount will fill the cavity of a chicken.
2. For a turkey you will need to multiply the ingredients by 3 (so you’ll have 9 cups breadcrumbs, 3 onions, 3 x the herbs, 150 gms butter or margarine and 1½ teaspoons salt). 

Variations

Apricot stuffing – add ½ cup dried apricots to the basic mixture

Cranberry and rosemary stuffing – add ½ cup dried cranberries and 1 teaspoon fresh rosemary or 1 tablespoon dried rosemary to the basic mixture

You can also use 200 gms sausagemeat to replace 3 cups of breadcrumbs to fill a turkey cavity