It did cook much faster than I expected- about 1/2 the time(which was fine by me- it smelled so good my stomach was roaring!!) We almost over-cooked it! Thank goodness for the brine, or else we would have. Even then- our turkey was so moist and tender that as my fiance was carving it, it fell off the bone

I was really skeptical about the cinnamon, cloves & some of the other spices. But I decided to try the spices as listed & the worst that could happen is that I didn't like it. But-they blended beautifully and tasted great. When we had the rub on the turkey in the fridge we kept smelling the rub & holy cow!

I even made gravy from the drippings for the first time, so I'm sure I made it wrong but it was really salty (I'm assuming from the brine in the turkey) I'll adjust my recipe for next year & I know it will be perfect!

My fiance & I greatly appreciate this recipe. I'll DEFINITELY be using THIS recipe again! Thank you!

If ya dont like it dont use it critics!

-Sophia

Glad the stuffed turkey works out well for you. I won't argue that it leads to tasty, tasty stuffing.

I wouldn't call myself a food nazi. And though I'm sure you've never actually witnessed anyone feeling bad a day or two after eating undercooked stuffing, it might just be possible it happened anyway. I'm not worried about sickness on the order of IV fluids here, just tummy grumbles and some time in the bathroom.

Mostly, why bother when you can get better turkey and excellent stuffing using another method?

–Judd

Thanks for your comment, although next time you might want to put some effort into sounding less cocky and preachy. As it happens, I'm a culinary school graduate and I worked as a chef, so let's just keep our conversation on point.

As long as we're talking about myths, a big one is the idea that putting a moist thing in the turkey cavity would add moisture to the meat. Case in point: beer can chicken. That's where you shove a beer can up a chicken's butt and cook it upright. You get a super moist and flavorful chicken that way. But while you get some flavor from the beer, you're not getting much moisture. The moist chicken comes primarily from the upright cooking method – the beer can might as well be empty.

Now back to the issue: to stuff or not to stuff? Well, I think the best answer is that there are pros and cons to each way. Stuffing that comes from the turkey tastes better, that's for sure. But adding mass to the turkey *will* increase the time it takes the turkey to get to safe temp. That's just physics.

The issue is as much food safety as anything else. Since the stuffing is absorbing the raw turkey juices, you need to make sure it reaches 165 degrees. A compromise would be to stuff the turkey, then scoop the stuffing out after a few hours and finish it in a separate dish. Just do it quick – you don't want the turkey temp. to drop too far while you scoop!