The New Thanksgiving Tradition: Brown Rice and Bacon Turkey Stuffing

Image via Flickr by Dani and Rob

Some things are just supposed to taste the way Mom made them.

To me, turkey stuffing should be made from cubes of bread, Italian sausage, celery and whatever seasonings Mom always put in hers.

But our first kid has a wheat allergy, so what's a dad to do? Substitute gluten-free bread? Without a gluten structure, the bread would probably reverse-engineer into some kind of rice pudding goo.

Not in our turkey.

So (sorry Mom) I had to scrap that idea and start from scratch. Why not use a hearty brown rice as a base for stuffing?

And what goes great stuffed in, wrapped around or just plain next to everything? Bacon.

I don't have pictures or video for you right now because I won't be making this until the day before Thanksgiving, but I'll give you the playbook.

1 - In a big sauté pan, add lots of chopped bacon. Of course you cannot make too much. Extra bacon will find its way into the potatoes, vegetables, salad or just into your face. Turn on the heat and render the bacon until crisp.

2 - Remove most of the bacon from the pan and drain off the bacon fat. Leave enough fat in the pan to coat it and leave a cup or so of bacon pieces. Meanwhile, boil some water in an electric kettle.

3 - Add some chopped onion to the hot bacon pan and let that sizzle for a few minutes before adding chopped garlic. Give the garlic a minute or so.

4 - I forget how much rice will fill an average turkey, but again, too much is not a problem. Cooked a second time inside a turkey or not, this stuff is good. Add three or four cups of brown rice to your hot bacon pan. Stir it around to toast and pick up flavor from the pan. Add two cups of boiling water per cup of rice. 

5 - Turn the heat down to low. Add some black pepper and whatever herbs you have, fresh or dried. The bacon may have put enough salt into the environment, so don't add any until you've tasted the finished rice. Let this simmer until almost done. Don't overcook the rice. It's still going to spend some time in a hot turkey, so stop when it still has some bite.

6 - Taste it and add some salt or other seasonings as you like it. Pungent is good here because it will flavor the turkey from the inside. I cook this a day ahead and keep it in the fridge.

7 - When it's turkey time, heat up the stuffing in the microwave if you cooked it ahead of time. It's important to add the stuffing hot. Since you're stuffing it inside a raw turkey, it needs to hit 165ºF to be safe to eat. At the center of the bird, this will take the longest time to hit that temperature. The surrounding poultry will be overcooked by then. So add the stuffing while steaming hot.

Necessity is a mother of an invention. I made this recipe because I had too. Now several Thanksgivings later, this is what turkey stuffing is supposed to taste like around our house.

It's (almost) as good as Mom's.

How to Stuff Pork Right and Wrong

We love pork at Dragon Knuckle. It's cheap, plays well with other flavors and is forgiving to cook. So what's better than pork stuffed with good stuff?

We decided to give it a try. Now, I'm not a butcher so the idea of turning a round piece of meat into a neat rectangle was intimidating. Mess it up and there's no going back. You're making kebabs now.

What cut to use? A loin is best because it's such a uniform tube of meat. A sirloin roast works nice too although it's less regular in shape and will contain more inner fat and connective tissue.

If using a loin, cut it into thirds. The larger, smoother end is the center loin. Use that part and save the rest for other applications.

Get a long knife and make sure it's sharp. Put your pork on a steady cutting board. (I put a damp paper towel underneath and the board won't slide. Guy Fieri learned this trick from someone who learned it from me, maybe.)

Start fat-side down. Make one clean slice not quite all the way through and roll the pork away. Take your time. Keep slicing and rolling. Try to keep the thickness uniform. Before long you'll have turned a cylinder into a rectangle.

Here's a piece of sirloin roast I opened up:

You'll get better with practice. What's the worst thing that can happen? You cut too deep and put a puncture in your neat rectangle. Slice it up and make a stir fry.

What Are We Stuffing It With?

The possibilities are endless. The biggest problem is that once you tie this tight and add heat, your filling may gush out. So consider that.

The same seasoning you'd put on the outside may be plenty. It won't melt and run. You'll get flavor inside and out. Use some fresh herbs too and failure will be harder to achieve.

But you know I tried to get fancy with this. When our garden was going nuts this summer, I made a pesto and halved some cherry tomatoes.

Naturally the tomatoes wanted to squirt out as soon as I applied some twine. Maybe pesto only would have been better.

Next time I blended some cream cheese with dried onion, dried garlic, chives and other seasonings. I grilled it for a while then finished it in the oven.

I'm glad I moved it to a pyrex dish because when the cheese melted, this happened:

Sure, it looks like my pork loin puked, but it tasted good. The cheese picked up some smoke from the fire and turned into a nice spread.

Oh yeah, you'll need some twine. Find a video on how to tie a butcher's knot. Don't squeeze too tight. You only need to keep it shut until you've seared the seem.

How To Cook It? 

I start on the grill or over the fire. Maybe I finish in the oven. I can't tell you how long to cook it. It really depends on the thickness of your roll.

So how to do it right? Use a sharp knife and cut with patience. Stuff it with dry ingredients and tie gently.

How to do it wrong? Think that being a butcher is easy, maul your meat and/or lose a finger. Stuff it with something doomed to melt and ooze into the fire, breaking your heart. Strangle the meat with twine like you were securing a prisoner.

Have fun with it. You'll get better every time. Please share your results. I'm sure you're better at this than me.

Keep it slow and low. - Dragon Knuckle

PS - Ooh, I need to use some dried tomatoes and mushrooms next time.