Remember that science class where you learned about bacteria? Turns out, that little lesson is super important in the kitchen. The “danger zone” for food is between 40°F and 140°F, where germs throw a wild party.
Your turkey and its stuffing need to blast through that danger zone as fast as possible. When you pack cold, raw stuffing into a cold bird, the center takes forever to get hot. It’s like waiting for your car’s heater to work on a freezing morning—it just takes too long.
That slow warm-up is a welcome mat for bad bugs like salmonella. Trust me, a side of food poisoning is not the memory you want from your holiday dinner. It’s the uninvited guest no one talks about.