To think that this is not stuffing

[Snoff]

I picked up a load of Christmassy bits from the reduced section at Co-Op, to join the selection of indulgent leftovers destined for tonight's dinner. Among them was a ready-to-bake foil tray of 'Pork, Cranberry and Chestnut stuffing' from the fancy range (this thing). I thought it looked a bit un-stuffingy when I put it in the oven, but was not prepared for it to come out looking like I'd just baked a block of mince whole. It hissed and oozed fat when cut. I then belatedly read the ingredients and learned it's 65% pork (!) while breadcrumbs do not feature on the ingredients list at all. I thought perhaps it was really meant to be actually used to stuff a turkey, but there are no instructions for doing that - you're supposed to just bake it and eat it. Which no one did in this house because it tasted like a shit sausage.

AIBU?
YABU: this concoction that is 65% pork and 0% breadcrumb that that is not meant to be stuffed into anything is stuffing
YANBU: this is not stuffing, it is just a huge, weird, slab-shaped sausage

...also feel free to post about any festive supermarket food you bought that was weird/nasty/not what you expected.

This is how good stuffing is made

Did any of you buy this product on purpose, eat it and actually like it? I'm astonished. It's the greasiest thing. The gravy must just slide off it.

I agree, but I also can’t be arsed to make my own from scratch. And all the ‘fresh’ stuffing has sausagement. Is there any other easy way to get sage & onion stuffing? (And tbh, the Paxi is still a PITA to make so ‘easy’ is relative’.

Oh, well that's tragic for us both. Me, because I hoped I'd found an ally. You, because you don't like the very best bit of Christmas dinner.

Might sound a bit snobby here, but I'd never buy a pork product that was 65% pork as it's guaranteed to be shit. Sausage stuffing is lovely, but it needs to be made with over 90% pork, and then ideally with some added bits like onion, apple and breadcrumbs mixed in. 😊

Pork products generally have a high fat content, which makes them full of flavour and very tasty. If it’s visibly too greasy, you can rest it on some kitchen towel and dry it off.

Generally your comments have been more so regarding the fact that you believe the qualifying element of stuffing is sawdust like texture, which does raise some concerns over the validity over your commentary on aforementioned product.

Yes, if you make real stuffing into balls, it looks like meatballs.

I make my own & its delicious!

Chop an onion v finely
Soften a large slice of real butter in a deep pot, add the onion & gently cook till slightly softened but not coloured.
Chop fresh herbs v finely, at this time of year its v easy to find pack of fresh christmas herbs in most supermarkets.

Ours had parsley, sage & thyme. I v finely chopped loads of these & added to melteed butter & onion.

You can use dried herbs if no fresh but i prefer the fresh

Stir in fresh breadcrumbs (buy bags in superrmarket or make v eaaily with day + old bread in processor

Stir breadcrumbs into buttery mix till v well coated. Add salt & pepper

Use to stuff the chicken or turkey & put leftover mix in oven dish covered with foil & cook with the roast

Best stuffing ever

I agree with you in the sense that without breadcrumbs it’s just pork with flavourings, and that isn’t real food imo. Sausage meat can be lovely in a homemade stuffing but what you describe just sounds like processed junk. Generally I have veggie stuffing though as I don’t think more than two types of meat on a plate is nice and even then I’m sort of making an exception for the pigs in blankets.

My stuffing is nothing like sawdust

I've never eaten paxo so can't comment

I have not mentioned 'sawdust' at all. That is a term only thrown about on this thread by people insulting both me and decent stuffing.

The qualifying element for stuffing is breadcrumbs. And if you think a breadcrumb-based stuffing has a sawdust-like texture rather than being lovely and moist, then I must also question the validity of your experience.

Looking at the ingredients, they’ve used rice and gram flour instead of breadcrumbs in order to label it gluten free.

From the Coop website: Pork (65%), Water, Cranberries (6%) (Dried Cranberry, Cane Sugar), Rice Flour, Onion, Chestnuts (4%), Gram Flour, Salt, Maize Starch, Thyme, Stabiliser (Diphosphates), Black Pepper, Dextrose, Preservative (Sodium Metabisulphite
(allergen)

90% pork is esentially a sausage, not stuffing. The point of stuffing was that it was a low cost way of introducing flavour and fat into fowl. The breadcrumbs soak up the lovely flavour and fat

I buy lots of different stuffings from different supermarkets at xmas, but the best we had this year was the stuffing already in the chicken joint we bought, sage and onion, I thought it was going to be a bit low key but it was full of large white breadcrumbs, fat, bits of apple etc, and was nice and loose, So flavourful and lovely texture.

So although Im quite happy with a slab as per the OP, that looser type of stuffing really fits the bill too.

This comment pleases me intensely. My favourite part is the 'isn't real food' bit. Thank you for your contribution and I wish you many pleasant roast dinners.

Please do accept my apologies, you are absolutely correct. You were not seeking sawdust, merely…dust.

Surely everyone knows you buy these flavoured sausage meat stuffings & a roll of ready-roll puff pastry and you make sausage rolls to have whenever you’re having the “party food” tea around Christmas/new year?

Dust...that has become moist.

"Quivering"? It's bloody sausage meat stuffing not a haunted Victorian pudding. If your gold standard is Paxo, a product whose main flavour is nostalgia and regret, then yes, I can see why actual meat feels confrontational.

What are you going to do with it now?
My vote is to chop it up into small bits and put it out for the birds tonorrow morning.

You roll it into balls and bake…like you would any other stuffing. It’s delicious! You don’t just slop the whole brick of it in the oven.

I’m with you, OP, it looks gross.

But it kind of looks like it would be mainly mince and gross from looking into the cellophane?

I make my own which consists of sausage meat, sage, onion and breadcrumbs. So basically a flavoured sausage. This, to me, seems much the same

But it’s in a ready to bake foil tray! I assume OP just followed the instructions.

Thank you. Yes, I followed the provided instructions precisely.

I wonder if it’s trying to create meatloaf?