Eat Turkey

[koch]

Hi I've been gluten free for nine months, my Nephew invited me for Thanksgiven Dinner it it O.K. to eat a part of the Turkey that has been stuffed with bread?

[Sweetfudge]

not if you want to avoid gluten!!!!!

[lonewolf]

Maybe you could take your own little cornish game hen or your own food and just go for the social aspect. I wouldn't trust anyone to cook for me if they weren't completely experienced with gluten-free cooking.

[tarnalberry]

Nope. You'll need to bring your own turkey, or other dish.

[Lisa]

To make a long story short.........the bread stuffing (gluten) can bleed into the turkey meat and contaminate

the entire bird.

Cook the suffing separately and not in the bird. Bring a side dish you you can eat.

[winki4]

I dissagree! Every one of us knows how sensitive we are to gluten or cross contamination. I'm gluten free for over 10 years now and eat turkey that's been stuffed without one reaction. I ask for the first few top slices off the bird and have never had a problem. The previous posts will scare the pants off of newbies. We should all be careful of course, but anyone can and should navigate holiday dinners quite easily. I have friends cook dull dinners for me and have yet to suffer at all. Education children is the key. Educate your closest friends about gluten free and do not be afraid!

[Lisa]

It has never been a big deal for me to cook the stuffing separate and not to stuff. I always thought it might be an issue as it does not get the interior heat up enough to make it safe.....and by that time, the bird is as dry as a bone. Should I pronounce here and now, that I hate suffing, or save it for a more festive time.

Safety and health, all in one.

[babygirl1234]

this will be my 1st thanksgiving with my family without my mom because she died last wednesday night so my aunts are cooking for me now and they are doing what i tell them because i know what i can and cant have, so im hoping thanksgiving will be as eazy as the rest of the meals i eat lol

[Carriefaith]

I make my own dinner at home and bring leftovers. Can you request that there is no stuffing near or in the turkey so that you can have some?

[Generic]

For the record, I also have eaten turkey that was stuffed. I only eat the top outer layers as well and have NEVER had a problem. It's a personal choice.

Of course I prefer it to not be stuffed, so I can eat as much as I want. I have been gluten free for 19 years now and I am hyper sensitive to gluten. The longer you are gluten free the more sensitive you become as time goes by.

Babygirl, my condolences for the loss of your mother. I lost my grandfather right before thanksgiving last year. It was really weird not having him there, I kept expecting him to walk in the door.

[almostnrn]

I only have one question about the safety of eating a stuffed turkey. Just to clarify, because I know sometimes its hard to read the "tone" into a post I'm not trying to offend or doubt anyone...truely just a question. My mom always used to baste her turkey (of course stuffed). So wouldn't the gluten be mixed in with the juices and therefore transferred to all parts of the turkey? I'm embarrased to say that I'm 36 and have never cooked a Thanksgiving dinner. My mom loved it, she lived for big holidays like that so she could cook away all day and she made the best dinner EVER. So now I'm just starting to learn and come up with my own fabulous feast that my kids will love. Babygirl, I'm so sorry about your mom. I'm in the same boat this year.

[dragonmom]

I really enjoy left overs after Thanksgiving- we always go to relatives houses I feel much better just bringing what I know I can eat. I make stuffing and gravy, bring creamed onions made with corn starch instead of flour. If I'm totally prepared we all enjoy the day much more than when every one is worried about what I'm eating. My daughter makes a great gluten free pumpkin cheesecake.

[angel-jd1]

I dissagree! Every one of us knows how sensitive we are to gluten or cross contamination. I'm gluten free for over 10 years now and eat turkey that's been stuffed without one reaction. I ask for the first few top slices off the bird and have never had a problem. The previous posts will scare the pants off of newbies. We should all be careful of course, but anyone can and should navigate holiday dinners quite easily. I have friends cook dull dinners for me and have yet to suffer at all. Education children is the key. Educate your closest friends about gluten free and do not be afraid!

The previous posts may "scare the pants of of newbies", however they are correct. It is NOT safe to eat a stuffed bird. Contamination is too huge of a risk. You may have eaten a stuffed bird and felt "fine". However, most likely damage was still being done in your intestines due to the contamination.

Like you said, anyone can navigate a holiday dinner. However eating a gluten stuffed turkey isn't the way to go.

-Jessica

[winki4]

Thank goodness for this forum! It is a personal choice whether to eat a gluten stufffed bird, bring our own food or stay home. It is YOUR opinion to never eat a a gluten stuffed turkey. You are NOT a doctor or scientist and until a doctor or scientist posts on this subject (eating a gluten stuffed bird and cross contamination), let's not scare everyone into being deathly afraid of eating anywhere but at home. Too many times I have run into celiacs who read this forum and become frightened into thinking no food is safe to eat unless eaten at home. Please try to be more careful with your posts. We are all different in our tolerance levels. Enjoy the holidays!

[NicoleAJ]

I agree that it's not worth the risk to eat a bird stuffed with gluten. The juices seep throughout the pan and then people baste several times and some others even inject some of the juices back into the bird. You can always bake your own turkey breast while you're there if you are going for the day or at home to bring with you. The skin of a turkey is not enough to keep the glutenous juices out and the interior meat is so close to the ribs that it could also experience cc. Why worry about doing damage to your body on a day when you want to enjoy time with your family?

[angel-jd1]

Thank goodness for this forum! It is a personal choice whether to eat a gluten stufffed bird, bring our own food or stay home. It is YOUR opinion to never eat a a gluten stuffed turkey. You are NOT a doctor or scientist and until a doctor or scientist posts on this subject (eating a gluten stuffed bird and cross contamination), let's not scare everyone into being deathly afraid of eating anywhere but at home. Too many times I have run into celiacs who read this forum and become frightened into thinking no food is safe to eat unless eaten at home. Please try to be more careful with your posts. We are all different in our tolerance levels. Enjoy the holidays!

There is not a tolerance level with gluten. Zero gluten is the level that you should be striving for here. There may be different tolerance levels when it come to actual side effects of eating gluten. However, gluten in your system (side effects or not) is doing damage.

I ask you to take your own advice and "Please try to be more careful with your posts". Advising people to eat gluten containing foods is not only not safe, but it's just plain rediculous!!

-Jessica

[celiac3270]

For what it's worth, I agree wholeheartedly with Jessica, and every nutritionist/doctor I know would agree. Eating a stuffed turkey is tantamount to eating the cheese off of the top of a regular pizza-- it is not safe, not gluten-free.

[daffadilly]

Most turkeys come with a basting packet that is not gluten free. But, yes everyone can make their own decisions as to how careful they want to be. I have a friend that has been "gluten free" for at least 15 years and she knows all the medical stuff and works at a lab with a bunch of doctors. She cheats and has done it for years, she also has major health problems. but she continues to do things like just scrape the pie filling off the wheat crust, so if you wanted you could also do that. She will also eat pizza at the office every now & then. Most of us are adults here & can make their own food decisions, but if they are posting on here, usually they are wanting to know what the posters are doing.

I am eating a gluten-free Thanksgiving dinner like I do every year. It is really no big deal as everything is homemade anyway...

Anyone wanting a honey baked ham from the Honey Baked Ham place you can order one without the glaze which is the part that has the gluten in it. Just call them a day or two ahead.

[celiac3270]

Most turkeys come with a basting packet that is not gluten free. But, yes everyone can make their own decisions as to how careful they want to be. I have a friend that has been "gluten free" for at least 15 years and she knows all the medical stuff and works at a lab with a bunch of doctors. She cheats and has done it for years, she also has major health problems. but she continues to do things like just scrape the pie filling off the wheat crust, so if you wanted you could also do that. She will also eat pizza at the office every now & then. Most of us are adults here & can make their own food decisions, but if they are posting on here, usually they are wanting to know what the posters are doing.

I am eating a gluten-free Thanksgiving dinner like I do every year. It is really no big deal as everything is homemade anyway...

Anyone wanting a honey baked ham from the Honey Baked Ham place you can order one without the glaze which is the part that has the gluten in it. Just call them a day or two ahead.

I think any knowledgeable nutritionist (certainly the ones I know) would tell you that it is a terrible idea to use basting packets you know not to be gluten-free. Sure, you can make your own decisions; but no one here is denying another his/her freedom to choose that--we're just trying to tell people that to do that would be essentially cheating on the diet. Cheating about every two months becomes equivalent to not following the diet at all, insofar as you will not heal. This is medically proven. If you want to cheat, fine, but this board does not support such loose adherence to the diet, which is why Jessica is completely justified in making those comments. Scraping the filling from a pie, the cheese off of a pizza, the frosting off of a cake, are all considered cheating and have been determined unsafe. We don't want to send the wrong message to people on the board, who may not know better, which is why we get so defensive about this.

[happygirl]

Let me add my support to the not-eating stuffed turkey.

The best evidence, besides those who get sick from eating something like that, is the presence of Celiacs who are asymptomatic. Those who have absolutely no symptoms whatsoever. And yet, they can have completely flattened villi and skyrocketed bloodwork.

The lack of symptoms does not mean that something is gluten free.

[Mtndog]

Koch- I would not eat a stuffed turkey either.

I don't know how close your nephew lives, but if close enough maybe you could make gluten-free stuffing the night before and bring it over for him to stuff the bird. I just made some Friday night and it was super easy.

Glutino gluten free corn bread

Bell's seasoning

butter

thyme

oregano

salt and pepper

Mix it all up and add water slowly in a pan as you simmer. I stuffed a chicken with it and it came out great!

Also, you can do a meat stuffing. This is my favorite...my Mom's French-candian meat stuffing.

1 lb ground beef

1 lb ground pork

Bell's seasoning

1 cup gluten-free bread crumbs (I use Gillian's- got them at Shaw's)

1 egg

Cook the beef and pork, drain the fat, mix with the Bell's, bread crumbs and egg and stuff the bird. Plenty left over for extras. It was a staple at our Thanksgiving dinner. Yum!

[tarnalberry]

Besides all of the concern over gluten - and it is a real concern - it's safer from a food poisoning perspective, and quality of turkey perspective to cook the stuffing separately. Then, you need only cook the turkey until it is done, not get the inside of the turkey cavity high enough to kill any bacteria in there from the juices. Doing the later requires cooking the turkey to a higher temperature than the meat requires, rendering it less juicy and less flavorful than it would otherwise be, particularly the breast. It also makes the darn thing take longer to cook.

[daffadilly]

Just to clarify my post, I do not advocate eating a turkey stuffed with gluten or a turkey that is not stuffed, if you do not know what it was basted with.

I also find it amazing that people are still stuffing the turkey, we quit doing that years ago. It really is a food poisoning hazard.

Anyone that has read any of my posts would know that I am ultra conservative in not eating anything you are not sure about because for one thing, I am one of those people that would just be sick from the fumes.

I also caution people that if you are in a kitchen where someone is using wheat flour that you will get sick, so be careful.

For celiac disease people going to family dinners I would advise that you just make your own dinner this weekend at home & freeze some plates to go. My family knows that I am not eating anything remotely suspicious & that I prefer to bring my own food & I do & nobody cares. Well I am a good cook so they would rather I cook it all Even my obstinate son who refuses to change his diet will make sure mine is not contaminated, and they know not to even think about opening the flour canister while I am in the house.

[dragonmom]

I don't think that people should be scared of eating different places-but I also think that we need to be prepared. My husband and I were invited to one of his coworkers house for dinner. My husband said that she understood that I couldn't eat gluten. There was crackers and cheese, chicken terriyaki in wheat soy, with rice pilaf, some bread and cake for dessert. I had some cheese and grapes , oh I forgot, there were some vegetables on a skewer. So, even though she thought it was ok, it wasn't. I kind of eat a little before going out just for that reason. The point of all this is -bring a little something that you know you can eat so you are comfortable and the people around you are comfortable.

[Rebecca47]

I am fixing thanksgiving at my house, i usually do but this year I am not stuffing the turkey. I am fearful of it. It really is ok i reaaly nevet liked it anyway. I just want to be careful.

Rebecca