Southern Style Cornbread Dressing Earlier this week a girl from church contacted me. "How do I make dressing for Thanksgiving?" I was happy to share my recipe, such as it is. First, let me explain that the term 'dressing' is confusing to many. Even my Kay who grew up in the South, often referred to this dish as "bread salad" throughout her early childhood, because dressing was something we put on our salads not next to our turkey! Chance calls it "Stuffing" based on his own South Florida (semi-Yankee) upbringing, although I was married to him three years before he could convince me to actually stuff the turkey. I admit I harbored great fears of stuffing a turkey. I'd read all sorts of awful things happening, from exploding birds that were overstuffed, to undercooked birds and salmonella ridden stuffing. I will share that once I figured out the whole stuffing business I was sold. I'd make both a pan of traditional dressing and stuff the turkey. In my mind, there just wasn't too much of a good thing,lol. I also will share that I've had some pretty sorry recipes of cornbread dressing in my lifetime. I may offend some who read this (although I'm willing to bet that those who already have a recipe for dressing/stuffing will skim the title for this post and move on to the next) but it's my personal opinion that dressing is best when made from cornbread. I've had a white bread stuffing (apparently not made from dry bread but from fresh) that just plain sickened me. It was bland, mushy soft and cold. UGH! I've had cornbread dressing with the addition of cranberries (will turn your dressing green), bell peppers (not for me!), dark with powdered sage (equally hard to swallow), with toasted pecans, pureed chestnuts (another weird colored dish) and sausage. I admit it. I am a traditionalist for the most part. I use the same recipe my Mama taught me, which is the same dish Granny taught her to make and the same dish Big Mama taught Granny to make and was handed to Big Mama by her Mama, etc. I swerve from tradition only in the fact that I make both stuffed turkey and dressing. There's preparation required to make this dish. We started days before when I was growing up, because of the amount of breads needed to feed our large family gathering. Nowadays I find it's easy enough to save up the odd piece of cornbread or muffin (storing in the freezer) and when I have about a gallon sized bag, I know I have enough for our smaller family gathering. As I shared with Miss Chris (my church friend), what you put in dressing can make all the difference in the world in the flavor. Miss C isn't fond of celery , so we made a substitute for the soup in my recipe. And then I suggested she try using celery leaves which has a milder flavor and yet imparts the right touch to the dish, rather than celery stalk, which can be much stronger in flavor and unpleasant in texture. For stuffing, I make it up with less broth so that it is only slightly moist. I often use this version when I'm making crockpot turkey and dressing as well, because the liquids from the baking turkey will moisten it enough to make a good dressing. For dressing, add more wet ingredients so that you end up with an almost brownie batter thickness, which results in a dense and moist side dish for your Turkey dinner. Do not limit this dish to just turkey however. Mama and Granny often baked whole hens and served dressing alongside (there's a rumor that some members of my family dislike turkey, but I discovered it was a case of overcooking and drying the big birds). I've also had dressing as a side dish with a fresh pork roast. I make this a few times a year and will freeze unbaked in meal sized servings so I need only to remove from the freezer and bake alongside the chicken or pork roast. My recipe calls for both cornbread and biscuit bread. I prefer cast iron baked breads. I used to have a large 12 inch skillet in which I made my cornbread, and still have the smaller 7 inch skillet in which I made the biscuit bread. I will share both recipes in the stuffing recipe, though as I said, you may well save leftovers and use them in place of freshly baked breads. And if you do bake these breads, fresh, do so at least two days before you plan to make and serve the dressing, because the drier breads are really what you want to use, though freshly made never turned out too badly. Southern Style Cornbread Dressing Cornbread: Heat oven to 425F. Pour 1/4 cup oil into skillet and heat in oven. Mix: 2 cups cornmeal mix (1 1/2 cups fine ground cornmeal and 1/2 cup flour) 1/2 tsp salt, 1 tsp baking powder (if you are not using self-rising mix) 1 egg 1 1/4 cups milk Mix well. Remove hot pan from oven, pour the hot oil into the cornmeal mixture and stir rapidly to blend. Then pour batter into hot pan and place in oven to bake for 25-30minutes until golden brown and skewer inserted comes out clean. Biscuit Bread: 2 cups flour 1 cup milk 1/4 cup cooking oil Mix all ingredients until like pancake batter, just slightly lumpy. Pour into well greased pan and bake at 425F for 202-25 minutes until golden brown and skewer inserted in center comes out clean. Dressing: 1 pan cornbread, crumbled into fine crumbs 1/2 pan biscuit bread, broken into crumbs 1 can condensed cream of celery/chicken/or mushroom soup 1 large onion, chopped fine 1/2 cup finely chopped celery leaves and tops 2 eggs salt and pepper to taste 5 sage leaves minced fine, or 1/2 tsp dried rubbed sage 4 cups chicken broth, added gradually* Mix all ingredients adding just enough broth until batter is thick and moist like brownie batter. Pour into greased 13 x 9 pan and bake in a 350F oven for 45-60 minutes, until golden brown and firm to touch. * When I make stuffing, I usually leave out the soup and cut the broth to two cups or less. I prefer a dryer mixture to use as stuffing (or crockpot dressing if I'm putting turkey or chicken on top to cook as well). I sometimes stuff my bird (be sure to leave room to expand, so pack bird lightly) and then put the remaining mixture in the pan around the bird (where it will absorb the juices of the cooking bird making the whole pan super moist and rich). | 
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