Here’s my favorite Thanksgiving recipe, my grannie’s cornbread dressing.
I grew up in north Florida, and in the south, “dressing” is very different than “stuffing”. This is a side dish, cooked separate from the bird, that is the consistency of lumpy mashed potatoes, rather than crumbly bread cubes.
Depending on where you are in the south, you may see sausage or seafood in your cornbread dressing. The recipe below is what I ate growing up. If you’re looking for a vegetarian side dish you could easily make this using vegetable stock in lieu of turkey drippings or chicken stock, and leave out the milk. Please don’t try to leave out the butter. This is Thanksgiving, the high holiday of fat, baby!
My Mom’s mom Mattie was born in South Georgia and raised in Florida. She used curry powder (not sage) and moistened the dish with drippings from the turkey. My Dad’s Mom Mary Del grew up in Louisiana and she would put oysters in her dressing.
Below is Mattie’s recipe with an option to add oysters for Louisiana style.
Cornbread Dressing Recipe
Cornbread Ingredients:
- 1 8.5 oz box jiffy cornbread mix
- 1 egg
- 1/3 cup of milk
Dressing Ingredients:
- 8 tablespoons butter (reserve one tbsp. to grease the pan)
- 4-5 ribs of celery, chopped
- 1 small green pepper, chopped
- 1 small yellow onion, chopped
- 5 slices white bread, dried in warm oven, and crumbled
- 2 eggs, beaten
- 2-3 cups chicken stock (or pan drippings from the turkey)
- 3/4 cup whole milk
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
- 2 teaspoons curry powder
- Optional: 1 pint fresh oysters, drained
Directions:
- Make cornbread according to package directions. Cool and crumble (best to do this a day or two ahead.).
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter a 9×13 inch baking dish.
- In a large skillet over medium heat, melt the butter and sauté the celery, green pepper, and onion until soft (5-10 minutes).
- In a large bowl, place the celery, pepper, and onion. Add the cornbread, white bread, eggs, chicken stock, milk, salt, pepper, and curry powder and mix well (add the oysters now if you are using them).
- Pour into prepared dish and bake at 350 for 30 – 45 minutes, or until lightly browned on top. (to test for doneness, carefully and gently jiggle the pan, and if the center of the dressing moves cook it a little longer, til it’s set).