 stuffing ingredients; leftover homemade biscuits, russet potatoes, celery, Plugra butter, and Bell's seasoning |  on the left is biscuit/mashed potato stuffing so tasty and fabulous.. the gravy from the turkey baking in a hot cast iron skillet with bacon grease..and our turkey has crisp skin and tender tasty moist meat. |
This summer I was inspired by turkey talk at one of my biscuit classes. Three generations of Canadian women told me about a bread mashed potato stuffing they make every year for Thanksgiving. They're eyes light up telling me about this stuffing! I was excited that maybe my stuffing could finally be what I always wanted it to be -- something on par with my Mother's.
From that moment on, I plotted and planed how to translate this recipe idea to my biscuit world. At first I focused on nothing but the stuffing..then my obsession encompassed the bird as well. I thought and thought on this...
So, this was the year I was going to crack the code. I was going to realize the dream. The Hollywood turkey. The Norman Rockwell Tom. The the prize bird from the butcher window on Bob Cratchit's table at the end of A Christmas Carol.
God bless us, everyone! It was going to happen and here is what I did ...
From that moment on, I plotted and planed how to translate this recipe idea to my biscuit world. At first I focused on nothing but the stuffing..then my obsession encompassed the bird as well. I thought and thought on this...
So, this was the year I was going to crack the code. I was going to realize the dream. The Hollywood turkey. The Norman Rockwell Tom. The the prize bird from the butcher window on Bob Cratchit's table at the end of A Christmas Carol.
God bless us, everyone! It was going to happen and here is what I did ...
The Biscuit Mashed Potato Stuffing.... stale homemade biscuits, russet potatoes, celery, onion, butter & Bell's seasoning....
What you see here is my stuffing line up. A rough rule of thumb is two biscuits to one russet potato..(russets are best for mashed potatoes..the starch is just right). I cut the biscuits in half (left over biscuits from my classes this past month and stored them wrapped in the freezer more on this next blog post).. peppered them on a baking pan and put them in a 250 degree oven to dry them out.
I chopped a medium white onion and two stalks of celery sautéed them in butter/cast iron skillet
I purchased Bell's Turkey seasoning. My mother used this in her stuffing and it is the best. Stores don't carry it in the South..but his year Whole Foods did. Thank you Whole Foods.
 I sautéed the onions and celery in a separate cast iron skillet with butter and added some black pepper. |  the mashed potatoes are in the bottom of the bowl, then crumbled biscuits and butter onion celery mixture on top..add seasonings and mix and taste until perfect |
Next
- Boil the cut potatoes until tender in salted water (kosher salt) drain
- Sauté the onions and celery in Plugra butter.
- Whip the mashed potatoes with buttermilk, Plugra butter, kosher salt and pepper to taste
- Crumble the stale homemade biscuits on top of the whipped potatoes
- Add the butter celery and onions to your mashed potatoes
- Dust Bell's Seasoning to taste and mixed it all together. Taste as you go until it is just right
- Set the stuffing aside and start on the turkey
- Boil the cut potatoes until tender in salted water (kosher salt) drain
- Sauté the onions and celery in Plugra butter.
- Whip the mashed potatoes with buttermilk, Plugra butter, kosher salt and pepper to taste
- Crumble the stale homemade biscuits on top of the whipped potatoes
- Add the butter celery and onions to your mashed potatoes
- Dust Bell's Seasoning to taste and mixed it all together. Taste as you go until it is just right
- Set the stuffing aside and start on the turkey
The Turkey... massaged, blown dry, stuffed, injected with sherry butter, fried in bacon grease ...
I purchased a 12 pound Butterball Turkey. I wanted it to fit in my biggest cast iron skillet.
I fried five pieces of bacon in the cast iron and reserved the bacon for my BLT deviled eggs. The bacon grease was left to fry and then bake the turkey later.
I took the bird out of the fridge to get the temperature down before stuffing and baking. During that time I would massage the turkey (no kidding) while in the wrapper. Why, you ask? To tenderize the meat. I do this for my famous fried hot chicken and it works. After taking the wrapper off and removing , the gizzards and neck I rinsed the bird well and salt ( Kosher) and peppered the turkey inside and out.
- Next, I blew the skin of the turkey dry with my blow dryer. I do this also with my fried chicken.. dry skin is KEY
to CRISP skin! It took about 10 minutes.
- Preheat your oven to 400
- Stuff the turkey with the mashed potato biscuit stuffing tie it off secure
- Melt butter mixed it with dry sherry and inject turkey; in the legs and breast
- Reheat large cast iron skillet with bacon fat to red hot.. Place the turkey breast side up in the sizzling skillet. Use
a pastry brush to brush the top of the bird with the hot bacon grease.
- Place your creation into a hot 400 degree oven. After 20 minutes, turn the temperature down to 325 and bake
for a total to 4 hours uncovered. Use a meat thermometer to double check that the meat is cooked. 165 is done.
I always go a bit higher to 170 or 180.
I did not cover , baste, or do a thing to the turkey once it was in the oven.
I fried five pieces of bacon in the cast iron and reserved the bacon for my BLT deviled eggs. The bacon grease was left to fry and then bake the turkey later.
I took the bird out of the fridge to get the temperature down before stuffing and baking. During that time I would massage the turkey (no kidding) while in the wrapper. Why, you ask? To tenderize the meat. I do this for my famous fried hot chicken and it works. After taking the wrapper off and removing , the gizzards and neck I rinsed the bird well and salt ( Kosher) and peppered the turkey inside and out.
- Next, I blew the skin of the turkey dry with my blow dryer. I do this also with my fried chicken.. dry skin is KEY
to CRISP skin! It took about 10 minutes.
- Preheat your oven to 400
- Stuff the turkey with the mashed potato biscuit stuffing tie it off secure
- Melt butter mixed it with dry sherry and inject turkey; in the legs and breast
- Reheat large cast iron skillet with bacon fat to red hot.. Place the turkey breast side up in the sizzling skillet. Use
a pastry brush to brush the top of the bird with the hot bacon grease.
- Place your creation into a hot 400 degree oven. After 20 minutes, turn the temperature down to 325 and bake
for a total to 4 hours uncovered. Use a meat thermometer to double check that the meat is cooked. 165 is done.
I always go a bit higher to 170 or 180.
I did not cover , baste, or do a thing to the turkey once it was in the oven.
Final Turkey and Biscuit Stuffing thoughts.... and what I'll do different next time
The Turkey I loved how my Turkey and Biscuit Stuffing turned out. . Besides the turkey being beautiful with crisp skin, the meat was moist, tender, and so tasty, it continued to be so the next day for leftovers as well. I was really surprised the left over meat wasn't dry the next day, that's when I knew I was on to something. Also, I enjoyed the ease that once the turkey was in the oven, that was it until time to take it out.
The Biscuit Mashed Potato Stuffing was devoured - and that is the real test. It was almost as good as my mom's..and I'll take that. The only thing I'll change next year, is I'll add about three whole wheat biscuits in addition to what I did this time to add more texture. I'll also add a bit more Bell's seasoning to the mashed potato biscuit mixture to almost "over seasoned." Why? because the stuffing tasted perfect in the bowl, but after baking in the bird it lost a little of its punch. But this is nit picky stuff here, but you have to build on a first time recipe experience like this.
The gravy was a bonus. When I saw those drippings in the cast iron skillet I had to whip up a gravy. Some of the stuffing was stuck to the bottom of the pan with the turkey and bacon drippings. I creamed a tablespoon of butter with flour and thickened the drippings then added whole milk and whisked it until the right thickness. I added black pepper to taste. It was amazing and reheated fine in the microwave for left overs the following days. Just like in my class.. NO GRAVY MIXES..OR GOD FORBID..CANNED GRAVY... ridiculous stuff. We do it homemade. :)
write me my friends with any questions about this recipe or biscuit baking in general.
The Biscuit Mashed Potato Stuffing was devoured - and that is the real test. It was almost as good as my mom's..and I'll take that. The only thing I'll change next year, is I'll add about three whole wheat biscuits in addition to what I did this time to add more texture. I'll also add a bit more Bell's seasoning to the mashed potato biscuit mixture to almost "over seasoned." Why? because the stuffing tasted perfect in the bowl, but after baking in the bird it lost a little of its punch. But this is nit picky stuff here, but you have to build on a first time recipe experience like this.
The gravy was a bonus. When I saw those drippings in the cast iron skillet I had to whip up a gravy. Some of the stuffing was stuck to the bottom of the pan with the turkey and bacon drippings. I creamed a tablespoon of butter with flour and thickened the drippings then added whole milk and whisked it until the right thickness. I added black pepper to taste. It was amazing and reheated fine in the microwave for left overs the following days. Just like in my class.. NO GRAVY MIXES..OR GOD FORBID..CANNED GRAVY... ridiculous stuff. We do it homemade. :)
write me my friends with any questions about this recipe or biscuit baking in general.