my dad makes skirlie - which is onions fried in melted lard, then mixed with oatmeal (medium, not fine I think), seasoned well, cooked on the hob for a bit (his timings and quantities are a bit approximate...). He only makes it at Christmas as it's not especially heart-friendly . Almost the best part of Christmas imo

Yes it makes the turkey to use proper sauagemeat stuffing. It keeps the turkey moist too. The gravy has a better rich taste. I followed a receipe out of the good food mag last year which used chestnuts too and it was amazing. My mum used to chop and fry the sauasage meat and add half a pack of paxo and that was ok - not exciting but I always remember the house smelling lush on christmas eve.

You could use top quality leek and pork sausages for an extra dimension.

Use cocktail sticks to keep the neck flap tight and do not overfill - best not stuff the cavity as it goes soggy and its not recommended as it lowers the temp of the bird cavity.

Its so easy and you do it the day before so its not anymore work.

eugh! sausagemeat in your stuffing.

[vomit emoticon]

we use dried breadcrumbs (that's bread that been chopped up and put on the radiator all day then whizzed in the blender) (a trayful for the next ingredients)
an egg.
some chopped sage
2 onions

mix it up, whizz and in the oven for half an hour (or till crispy on top)

i use paxo put add to it- fried onion, fresh chopped sage and sausage meat, maybe chopped apple too

We use bacon instead of sausage meat but otherwise broadly the same. If with the bread crumbs, onion, bacon and sage it's a bit dry we pour a little hot water on it - which also seems to give a nice steamish element too.

Mines desd easy.

whizz up stale breadcrumbs in food processor on their own. Then add a couple of raw onions and some sage whizz all together. Hand mix in a beaten egg, put into a dish, dot with lumps of butter and cook. For xmas i add a packet of sausagemeat too.

You could vary as you like really by adding waht you fancy.

If you have veggie visitors:-

Tin Loaf White Bread (made into breadcrumbs)
Sage Fresh or dried
Thyme Fresh or dried
2 onions finely chopped
4 oz Butter
Salt and Pepper

Put breadcrumbs in a bowl
Add Herbs 2 tsps if dried/bunch if fresh
Add onions
Chop Butter up and add to bread mix
Mix together until forms a dough like ball
Place in a greased baking tin and cover with foil, bake in Med oven
Remove foil for last ten minutes of cooking so outside gets crispy

actually i'd be tempted to add a little celery too. has to be fresh sage though (is piece of piss to grow even i can't kill it and is evergreen).

and oil, oops, left out some oil

Love love love homemade stuffing/dressing.

toast, 1 loaf of bread toasted, ripped to chunks, soaked in turkey juices
can/bottle of ground sage
celery - a few stalks of
onion - 1 or 2 to taste
turkey juice / water
pepper

bake alongside the bird/ inside it

voila.