Alternative Turkey Stuffings?

[Aggie]

Hey kids...  I'm looking to debone a turkey and cook it up for a party on Friday, but I'm not sure what to do with the cavity left by the deboning.  If I was leaving it bone-in, I'd probably not be stuffing the durned thing, but since I am, I need an alternative to the usual bread-based stuffings to fill the cavity.

The emphasis here will be flavouring and moistening the turkey, and not necessarily having an accompanying side dish, as this is a 40th b-day drinkfest (we'll most likely be eating turkey sandwiches out-of-hand).  Just looking for some outside ideas - otherwise I'll probably jam in some onions, garlic and fresh herbs before I sew it shut.

So....  any suggestions?

Bonus points for any good poultry rub ideas for the outside of the bird!

[Sibling Chatty]

Onions, garlic, some mild peppers, some nice sausages that would also make good sammiches.

(Pull out the cooked onions/garlic and run 'em through the food processor or blender and use as a mayo alternative.)

Take a spoon of tabasco, a spoon of soy sauce and a spoon of balsamic vinager. Add crushed garlic or garlic powder, some sage (not a lot, unless you're a big sage fan) and some basil (tiny bit).

Rub inside and outside of bird with it.

45 minutes before the end of cooking, make up the same mixture (or make double and set half aside) then add a spoon of honey, and paint or drizzle over the hot bird, then put it back.

Unless you've got a very good fatty underlayer, a dry rub can ruin the skin on turkey. It gets too dry.

[Bluenose]

I have never tried this on turkey, but it works very well on chicken and I am sure it would be good on turkey.

Cut onions and lemons (enough to fill cavity) into quarters and some smashed garlic cloves and place in the cavity.  Pour some lemon juice over the skin and start cooking.  Repeat the lemon juice treatment over the skin another two times evenly spaced out in the cooking.  It will make the skin very crispy and absolutley delicious.  The lemon, onion & garlic will subtly flavour the bird and make it delicious.  Also the liquid from the lemons seems to help keep the breast meat moist.

As always, don't over cook.

Edit:  Another non-bread stuffing that I know works very well on turkey is made from equal parts pine nuts, halved Macadamia nuts and prunes cut into quarters.  Yum yumm.

[The Meromorph]

I've not tried this myself, but I've heard a chicken is good for stuffing a turkey.

[Aggie]

Heh, a duck first, though....  or how about a half-dozen quail?

Actually, the whole idea behind the deboning is to reduce cooking time, going turken or turducken isn't going to work this time around.  I'm not sure if the deboning will actually be better than just an open-cavity roast, but it'll slice up nicer at the party, and I will get to hang onto a partial carcass for soup.

Chatty & Bluenose - we're definitely on the same wavelength here.  Thanks for the heads up on the dry rub, Chatty....  I dehydrated and/or ground a palette of spices to work with last night, and will put together the seasoning today (with probably some oil and soy or balsamic).  I'm leaning towards anchoring the blend with organic lemon green tea but also have some homemade onion/garlic powder, coriander, chipotle salt, ground bay leaf, and ground zaatar (thyme, sumac, sesame seeds).   Lemons will definitely figure in the stuffing, and I might synthesize two ideas to do a lemon juice/orange blossom honey glaze near the end.

[Bruder Cuzzen]

Hi sibling Agujjim,

I'm sorry to come in so late with this, I've stuffed birds with a rice piliaf which was quite nice, done it with left over fried rice as well with shitake mushrooms and onions as well which also went over well.

The trick however is not to having the rice to moist or you get a congelled lump or to dry else one ends up with crunchie bits,therefore use day old rice only.

I've also placed  potato combinations in birds, either mushed with another root veg. with chopped onions,bacon,mushrooms and favorite spices.

A deboned duck in a deboned chicken in a deboned turkey is fabulous but leaves little or no room for anything else.