We always call it dressing. Mom told us it was only called stuffing when put inside the poultry to cook.

I call it both. Hard to call it "dressing" when I'm stuffing my face with it. I most often will call it dressing when I'm popping a casserole filled with it into the oven., as in "Is the dressing done yet?" It most often gets called stuffing when it is on my plate and on it's way into my mouth, as in "this stuffing tastes good!"

No one cares any more any who. So many tiresome posts about what it should be, yada yada. Most just say stuffing/dressing. It is the same mix/recipe when in a side casserole or in the bird. Half in the bird soaks up the bird juices. The rest in a side dish. The bird, if a smaller bird, will not hold much 'stuffing'. The rest goes into a side casserole as the bird does not hold all of it. (we like a bit in the bird)...family request.

A smaller bird will not hold much 'stuffing'. Hence the side dish, casserole. A smaller bird cooks much more evenly without 'stuffing' in the bird.

It is a yawn these days to even discuss the differences. We don't care. Call it what you will. Stuff it or dress it. 😜

I personally find it kind of fun to muse on wordage. I'm a word weenie, so shoot me! :)

I think it's dressing when you put some on your meat to eat together. It's stuffing when it's inside the bird. I'm used to giant birds which hold a lot of stuffing. Which is great if you're cooking it all day and the stuffing is functional. My mother used to suture the bird shut with a darning needle. I never got the hang of that and have various devices, one of which actually works well. Nowadays, I rarely need a bird larger than 20 pounds. Even at 22 lbs., there's not enough room for a lot of stuffing, so I steam-braise the bird with nothing more inside than a lemon or orange and a branch of tarragon. That keeps them moist enough, and I stuff a Corningware dish instead. ;) Moisten with some turkey juice for authenticity. :)

Stuffing in the bird......why it's called stuffing.

Dressing when cooked as a side to dress the bird....why it's called dressing.

But you can call it whatever you want as long as you make it because Turkey without the bread thing is just plain dumb.

Dressing when cooked as a side to dress the bird....why it's called dressing.

I’m not familiar with that usage of the the word dress. I thought dressing the bird would have more to do with pulling its guts out, possibly lobbing off its head and/or feet. What does a moist bread mixture do to “dress” the bird that mashed potatoes, corn, creamed onions, etc. don’t?

To me it’s all stuffing. Unless I feel the need at the moment to be picky about it, then I’ll call dressing dressing.

"No one cares any more any who. So many tiresome posts about what it should be, yada yada. Most just say stuffing/dressing. It is the same mix/recipe when in a side casserole or in the bird. Half in the bird soaks up the bird juices. The rest in a side dish. The bird, if a smaller bird, will not hold much 'stuffing'. The rest goes into a side casserole as the bird does not hold all of it. (we like a bit in the bird)...family request.

A smaller bird will not hold much 'stuffing'. Hence the side dish, casserole. A smaller bird cooks much more evenly without 'stuffing' in the bird.

It is a yawn these days to even discuss the differences. We don't care. Call it what you will. Stuff it or dress it. 😜"

So, you read the topic, opened the thread, posted your diatribe, for what purpose, exactly?

You have some deep seeded issues against the OP? Or just stuffing/dressing in general?

Why read/respond, to be a b**ch about it?

Dressing as in salad dressing, rather than as in field dressing a stag. A standard presentation is plopping the roast bird on a platter and surrounding it with a ring of dressing, to be used as an alternate condiment to cranberry sauce.

I don't know many people who normally say dressing, unless it's fossilized in a phrase like “oyster dressing”. I'm wondering if some of the word choice is regional or generational.

Ja well clearly I forgot about salad dressing. 😳

You weren't expected to remember! It's just that old words have lots of homophones and homonyms and evolved multiple meanings and all that weird stuff. And in English, because it's a mishmash kind of language, with bits and pieces from everywhere, down to the very pronouns, there are very often two or five different words for essentially the same meaning. Like the shrimp argument, which we've also had several times. There are 11 different animals that are called shrimp, but whether you say "shrimp" or "prawns" is mostly a function of whether you're British (inc. colonial) or American, with some grace notes deriving from jocularity around advertising and restaurant menus. Since shrimp is used as a metaphor for something very small, people used to laugh at signs selling "jumbo shrimp" so they changed it to "prawns", so now the people who learned what prawns are from the new signs for jumbo shrimp, are under the impression that "prawns" means "big shrimp", when in fact it just means "shrimp". Then menus try to sound more European and say "prawns" and people are confused again that they're very medium sized. It's all camarones to me. :) English is one of the most fun languages in the world, if sometimes annoying. :)

We always called it dressing. Never had a bird but chicken growing up. if a person calls it stuffing, I know what they mean.

Sue

The word dressing became popular in the 1850s because the Victorians thought the word stuffing was too vulgar. In my family we always call it dressing and it never goes into the bird.

Eat or wear it, seagrass would say.

For us, it is pretty much interchangeable, and I have not paid attention to which word I use. I never put it inside a bird, but if I did, I would call it stuffing. However, that does not prevent me from calling it stuffing when it's never been inside a bird. I do think I tend to call it dressing most of the time.