Which leads to the other argument...if it doesn't actually go in the turkey, the proper name, I guess, is dressing...but my family has always called it stuffing anyway. The turkey was always "stuffed" with just an onion, some celery, and butter, and the "stuffing" never saw the inside of a turkey!
Everytime I read about stuffing, they are always warning about making sure the interior of the turkey has reached a certain temperature or you should throw the stuffing out. Well if you're going to throw it out, why spend any time on it?
I do a mushy cornbread dressing. My Mama always baked hers so it was stiff and she served giblet gravy with it to soften it. Sir SuziQ's mom cooked hers on top of the stove so it was mushy. I started doing it like my MIL, but cook it in a crock pot to keep it from burning on the bottom, so it is a wonderful flavor and texture; smooth from the mushy cornbread and a little bit crunchy from the onions and celery. A perfect complement to the slightly fruit tinged flavor of the turkey. I made some dressing last week with an oven stuffer roaster. Our oldest was home from college for the weekend, and it is his favorite food!