Today I’m sharing a family recipe I remember from my childhood all so well. My grandmother always made this absolutely delicious French Canadian turkey dressing for Christmas and Thanksgiving alongside our turkey dinner. Grandma’s French Turkey Dressing (also known as meat stuffing) is an easy and delicious twist to what we all think turkey stuffing should be!
Unfortunately, I did not get the chance to make this with my grandmother but over the years I have been able to replicate her recipe going from my fondest memories growing up. I love it when memory leaves you behind the tastes and smells to bring it to life.
Ingredients
2lb hamburger
10-12 potatoes
1 onion
2 stalks of celery
poultry seasoning
turkey broth
butter
sage
salt
pepper
How to make Grandma’s French Turkey Dressing – Stuffing the easy way
Fry hamburger with seasonings in a frying pan until browned.
Drain any grease from hamburger and return to the stove. Add 1 chopped onion and 2 stalks of chopped celery. Sprinkle poultry seasoning over top and continue to simmer until onions and celery are translucent.
While hamburger is frying, chop the potatoes. I leave the peels from my red potatoes on. Chop into smaller pieces to boil quickly.
Boil potatoes until done and mash with butter.
Add hamburger mix into mashed potatoes and continue to mash. Add poultry seasoning again as well as a bit of salt and pepper.
Add 1 cup of turkey broth to mix. Smooth mixture into a pyrex cooking pan. Make a few small holes and ladle some turkey broth on top. Sprinkle with poultry seasoning.
Grandma’s French Turkey Dressing (also known as Canadian meat stuffing) is an easy and delicious twist to what we all think turkey stuffing should be!
Ingredients
2lb hamburger
10-12 potatoes, cubed with peels on
1 onion, chopped
2 stalks of celery, chopped
poultry seasoning to taste
turkey broth
1 Tbsp butter
sage
salt
pepper
Instructions
Fry hamburger with seasonings in a frying pan until browned.
Drain any grease from hamburger and return to the stove. Add 1 chopped onion and 2 stalks of chopped celery. Sprinkle poultry seasoning over top and continue to simmer until onions and celery are translucent.
Boil potatoes until done and mash with butter.
Add hamburger mix into mashed potatoes and continue to mash. Add poultry seasoning again as well as a bit of salt and pepper.
Cover with aluminum foil.
Bake in the oven for 45 minutes. Remove aluminum foil and continue baking for 15-20 minutes or until a nice golden crust starts to form on top.
Remove from oven and allow to cool for 10 minutes before serving.
Top with gravy and enjoy!
Enjoying Grandma’s French Turkey Dressing
We love this turkey dressing so much that we no longer make mashed potatoes for turkey dinner but rather just extra french dressing. This has become a family tradition and a is recipe I will pass on to my children. It always gets raving reviews even by our sometimes skeptical guests.
I had no idea that this was such an obscure recipe until we started hosting turkey dinner in our home. Now it has become favorites for so many other families too!
Be sure to check out the rest of our holiday recipes, including Thanksgiving and Christmas! Whatever holiday you are celebrating, may it be filled with love, family, friends and great food!
Another great recipe inspired by another grandma is our Nanaimo Bar Recipe! If you need a way to use up your turkey dinner be sure to try our Turkey Pot Pie! Finish off your delicious meal with our nut-free lactose-free Pumpkin Pie!
MEET AMANDA
Amanda is a mom of 4 living a mostly crunchy lifestyle outside of Atlanta, GA with her husband, 2 dogs, and a cat. As a former special education teacher who also has her personal training certification — Amanda really enjoys teaching others how to do things!
When she’s not working, Amanda enjoys DIY projects, exercising, photography, hiking, and long walks through Target.
"Stuffing is cooked in the cavity of the turkey, so the juices soak into the ingredients, making it more flavorful.Dressing gets cooked on its own and needs extra liquid to make it flavorful." So stuffing is cooked inside the bird. Dressing is cooked outside the bird, usually in a casserole dish.
Give stuffing a head start by heating it up before placing inside the turkey. Like the turkey, stuffing needs to reach the 165 degree mark. If the bird is done before the stuffing, remove stuffing from the cavities and continue to cook in a baking dish.
To understand the difference between the two, all you have to do is look at the cooking method. Stuffing is stuffed (literally) inside the cavity of the turkey, while dressing is roasted in a separate casserole dish.
As with many food traditions in the U.S., regional loyalties to stuffing vs dressing abound. Many Southerners are die-hard dressing fans, while Northerners tend to prefer stuffings, but these are not hard and fast rules. Nor is the language used to describe either dish.
"First, use only cooked ingredients in the stuffing. If eggs are needed, use pasteurized eggs," says Baker. "The stuffing should be added immediately before cooking [the turkey]," says Baker. Avoid overstuffing the neck and body cavities and use about 3/4 cup of stuffing per pound of turkey.
No matter where you fall, getting a head start on what can be prepared before the big day is essential. One question that always crops up: Can you make stuffing ahead of time? The short answer to whether you can making stuffing ahead of time is yes.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F or if you have a convection oven 325 degrees F convection roast mode. Spray a large roasting pan with non-stick spray. Evenly place the potatoes on the bottom of the pan.Place the turkey on top of the potatoes.
The bread in the stuffing absorbs moisture, but if it's dry (as it should be, see above), it takes some time for the liquid to settle in. I suggest adding a little at a time, say 1 cup of broth for every 4 cups of dry mix. Give it a good stir, then let it sit for a minute. The stuffing should be moist but not wet.
Speaking of texture, that's what stuffing is all about--you want a mix of crispy and soft pieces. We recommend adding stock a little at a time--1/2 cup to 1 cup, depending on how much stuffing you're making--and waiting for the bread to absorb the liquid before adding more.
Paxo, which makes 385 million stuffing balls a year, says that you should cook your sage and onion side dish on a different tray to your turkey. If you stuff your turkey with stuffing, the bird will take up to 40 minutes longer to cook which could dry it out, it says.
directions. Sauté onion and celery in the butter until tender. Combine onion mixture with bread, pepper, eggs, salt, sage and poultry seasoning in a large mixing bowl. Stir in broth until well moistened.
Stuffing and dressing are commonly used as different names for the same thing—a dish consisting of bits of bread (or other starchy things) and various seasonings. The dish can be made by stuffing it (hence the name) inside a turkey or other bird that will be roasted, or by baking or cooking it separately.
The term dressing, per the History Channel, originated around the 1850s, when the Victorians deemed stuffing too crude for the dish to be named. This happened around the same time that the term “dark meat” began to refer to chicken legs and thighs.
Poultry stuffing often consists of breadcrumbs, onion, celery, spices, and herbs such as sage, combined with the giblets. Additions in the United Kingdom include dried fruits and nuts (such as apricots and flaked almonds), and chestnuts.
We call this dish Stuffing because it is traditionally stuffed into the cavity of a bird such as turkey or chicken and baked along with the bird. According to Origin and meaning of stuffing by Online Etymology Dictionary this usage of the word dates back to the 1530's.
Introduction: My name is Annamae Dooley, I am a witty, quaint, lovely, clever, rich, sparkling, powerful person who loves writing and wants to share my knowledge and understanding with you.
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