Traditional Southern Cornbread Dressing (Stuffing)

I've had my cornbread dressing on the list of things to cook for awhile, but I've gotten a few requests for it lately with Thanksgiving on the way, so I moved it up the list. I have been cooking up a Thanksgiving storm y'all! In case you've missed anything, you can click here to go to my Thanksgiving recipes page and catch it all and then some. Some additional recipe ideas for Christmas can be found here.

I didn't exactly grow up with cornbread dressing because Mama always made the herb bread dressing, using the Pepperidge Farm seasoned bread crumbs. She might have made cornbread dressing once or twice, but if she did, I sure don't remember it!

There are a couple of things to making this dressing a success.

One is to use very dry bread and very dry cornbread. Ideally, the cornbread should be a day old, so that it dries out well.  Any kind of bread can be used, sliced bread, toasted, or leftover biscuits or rolls, toasted in the oven until crisp and dry. Some people also like to add a sleeve of roughly mashed saltine crackers, but if you toast whatever bread you're using, I don't really find that you need the saltines.

Second, is the taste. Add in all of the seasonings and taste the dressing before you add in the raw eggs, because the flavor then is pretty much gonna be the flavor when it's baked. Adjust the seasonings as needed, then add the eggs and add in additional stock if it isn't moist enough. There are some folks who add in boiled eggs to their dressing. I'm not sure why this practice started, but I use raw eggs, which I feel help both with the flavor but also with sort of fluffing up the dressing a bit. It may be that chopped up boiled eggs adds a different kind of texture to the dressing - maybe one day I'll end up giving it a try.

And that leads us to the texture issue. You don't want stuffing that is too dry. At the same time, you certainly don't want it to be really wet and soupy either. Perfect stuffing is somewhere in between there ... on which end depends on the consistency you prefer.

Understand that the stock measurements are simply a guide, especially if you use too fresh bread or cornbread, because it affects the way liquids are absorbed.  I use a bit of canned turkey gravy with this dressing. Toss that in before you begin adding in any stock, and only add as much stock as you need to get it to the consistency you like. So put in a little bit of liquid, toss it and add more only as needed to get it to the texture you want. The dressing pictured at the top was prepared with about 5 cups of stock and baked covered, resulting in a very moist dressing.

Dressing... a perfect receptacle for just a bit of homemade gravy!

If you don't have access to Bell's seasoning and you don't feel like foolin' with making up a copycat batch, just use a couple pinches of some or all of those seasonings, and don't forget. Taste and adjust before you bake!

My cornbread and oyster dressing is right here.

Looking for other traditional southern Thanksgiving dishes? Or click here for additional Christmas recipe ideas.

Traditional Southern Cornbread Dressing
Posted at http://www.deepsouthdish.com/

1 cup of butter
1 medium onion, chopped
3 stalks of celery, chopped
1 tablespoon of chopped green bell pepper
6 cups of cooked, crumbled cornbread*
6 cups of dry, toasted bread, crumbled (toasted
   sliced bread, leftover biscuits, or rolls)
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon Cajun seasoning
4 turns of the pepper grinder
1 teaspoon of Bell's seasoning**
1 teaspoon of poultry seasoning
1 cup of turkey gravy (canned is fine)
4-6 cups of turkey or chicken stock, more or less
4 eggs, beaten

Please also review the notes in the above post.

Toast the bread in a toaster or in the oven. Remove and set aside to cool. Make a pan of cornbread, remove and set aside uncovered to cool completely. You want the breads to be very dry.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Prepare a 9 x 13 inch pan with butter or non-stick spray.

Melt the butter in a skillet over medium heat. Saute the onion, celery and bell pepper. Add the salt, Cajun seasoning, pepper, Bell's seasoning and poultry seasoning. Continue cooking and stirring for 2 minutes. Set aside to cool.

Crumble the cornbread into a large bowl. Add the bread and toss. Add the sauteed veggies, scraping out all of the butter; stir. Add the gravy and enough of the stock to moisten; gently toss. Taste and adjust seasoning.

Add the beaten eggs; gently toss. This is where you fix the consistency. If you want a fluffy stuffing, you'll use less stock. If you prefer a wetter stuffing, add additional stock as needed to reach desired consistency, taking care not to get too soupy! Lightly spoon into the casserole dish, but do not pack!

Transfer to the prepared baking dish and bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes.  For a moister stuffing, baked covered. For a drier stuffing with a crunch top, bake uncovered.

How to fix a too dry or too wet stuffing:  If you find your stuffing is too dry, add additional warmed broth to it, stir well, and return to the oven, checking periodically. If the stuffing is overly wet and too gummy, cook it uncovered for a bit longer, checking periodically.

Serves about 10 to 12

For Sausage Stuffing:  Brown and drain a 1 pound roll of Jimmy Dean pork sausage. Set aside and stir into the dressing just before it goes into the oven.

*Use a 9 x 9 inch pan of homemade cornbread, or use the back of the bag recipe, or two boxes of Jiffy cornbread, made in a 9 x 9 inch glass baking dish. Can also substitute the large (16 ounce) bags of preseasoned Pepperidge Farm Cornbread Stuffing - just be sure to adjust seasonings since those are preseasoned crumbs.

Note:  Amazingly good with chicken! Mix in 2 cups of rough shredded, cooked chicken - works great with a rotisserie chicken from the deli (let them do the work!).

**Bell's Seasoning Copycat
Posted at http://www.deepsouthdish.com/

4-1/2 teaspoon dried rosemary
4 teaspoon dried oregano
3-3/4 teaspoon dried sage
3-1/2 teaspoon ground dried ginger
3 teaspoon dried marjoram
2-3/4 teaspoon dried thyme
3/4 teaspoon ground black pepper

Mix together and grind to fine powder using a coffee or spice grinder.

Bell's seasoning is great as a seasoning for meats and is excellent in meatloaf and burgers also!

Makes about 1/2 cup