Cornbread Dressing Recipe

Tasso not sausage

I've been using this recipe for many years & my family loves it. I omit the sandwich bread and only use cornbread. I use dried sage and it intensifies in flavor as it cooks so use the amount called for unless you really love sage. One year I added a little extra and it was over-powering. Poultry seasoning is a must have imo. Some people also add bell peppers in with the onions & celery.

Deep Dish South Chicken Dressing

My mother (RIP) always used fresh ground pork in her cornbread dressing. I'm still looking for that old recipe.

quote:

---

My FIL used to put hard boiled eggs in his dressing. Bizarre!

---

Growing up, I remember hard boiled eggs in cornbread dressing frequently. Those dressings didn't have meat in them. I think the eggs were there for protein and probably to stretch it out. It was pretty common with the grandparents.

Thanks guys. Exactly what I was looking for.

I really like the idea of adding Tasso. Just re-upped on Tasso from Wayne Jacobs too.

Old School

Cornbread Dressing:

- 12 inch pone of Cornbread, I make white corn meal, but you can do yellow if you like, Please, no Jify - too sweet, cooled and broken into 1/8 – 3/4 inch pieces
- 1 cup celery, medium 1/8 inch dice
- 1 cup onion, Medium 1/8 inch dice
- 2 -3 cups rich chicken broth or turkey broth
- 1 Tablespoon garlic salt or 1/2 Tablespoon garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon black pepper
- 1 teaspoon salt
1 Teaspoon Ground sage


Optional (makes it good)

- 1 cup cooked chicken, or turkey, Pulled into shreds (I like boiled chicken thighs for this).
- 1/4 – 1/2 cup melted butter. I hardly ever do this, but you might like it.

Directions Cornbread:

10 - 12 inch pan of cornbread, baked, cooled and crumbled
3/4 cup Self-rising flour
1 cup White Self-rising Corn Meal
1/2 teaspoon salt
Sufficient fresh buttermilk to make a thick batter 1/2 to 3/4 cups +-
A 10 – 12 inch Cast iron skillet with 1-2 Tablespoons oil, preheated in a 400 degree oven

Preheat skillet to 400 degrees f.

Mix ingredients and add buttermilk to make a thick pancake consistency batter.

Add 1 - 2 Tablespoons oil to skillet, then batter. Bake until the top has lightly browned. allow ot col until needed.

Directions:

Sauté the celery and onions in 1 – 2 Tablespoons butter, over medium heat until they are tender.

Mix all ingredients and spices (but not broth) in a large mixing bowl. Try to mix then well, without breaking up the cornbread too much. Taste for seasoning and adjust as desired. Some like a little more Sage, but be careful. You can make your dressing really sage tasting if not careful.

Add broth until you get a damp/slightly wet mixture.

Spray pan, 9X11 cake pan or the skillet you used to cook the cornbread with Pam, or coat inside with oil or butter.

I like to preheat the pan before adding the dressing mix.

Spoon the dressing mixture into the pan and cook at 400 degrees F until it dries out somewhat. Everything you have added is already cooked. Your intent here is to dry it out. When you like the dryness, it is done,

Giblet Gravy

1/2 cup, celery, chopped
1/2 cup onion, chopped
Giblets, (Liver, Gizzard and neck) from your turkey, Or use chicken giblets. I don’t use the heart, but you can if you like.
1 teaspoon garlic, chopped
1 Tablespoon butter
2 cans chicken or turkey broth
1 Tablespoon corn starch
2 hard boiled eggs – sliced or chopped into 1/4 inch slices or cubes

Optional:
1/4 cup Cooked chicken, shredded
Directions:
Sauté celery, onions, and garlic in 1 Tablespoon butter, in the pan you will use to make the giblet gravy.
Prep and cook meat giblets in chicken broth, using the pan you used to sauté the vegetables.
If using the neck, pick all of the meat off the bones when the meat is tender and return it to the pan, Remoove giblets and return them to the pan,
Simmer for 30 minutes, the just before serving, add sliced boiled eggs.

Make a slurry of 1 Tablespoon Corn Starch in a little water. Add this to gravy and continue cooking for 5 minutes to thicken the gravy

*******

Dressing with pork sausage:

Need:

10 - 12 inch pan of cornbread, baked, cooled and crumbled

Ingredients for cornbread:

3/4 cup Self-rising flour
1 cup White Self-rising Corn Meal
1/2 teaspoon salt
Sufficient fresh buttermilk to make a thick batter 1/2 to 3/4 cups +-
A 10 – 12 inch Cast iron skillet with 1-2 Tablespoons oil, preheated in a 400 degree oven

Ingredients For Dressing:

- 10 – 12 inch pone of cornbread, white or yellow – as you like. Jiffy is to sweet., broken into pieces
- 1/2 to 1 pound country sausage – mild or hot as you prefer, I like the ones with sage added, cooked and crumbled
- Celery – 1/2 cup, 1/8 inch dice
- Onion – 1/2 cup 1/8 inch dice
- Optional – 1/4 cup green onion sliced
- Garlic - 1 clove, minced, or 1/2 Tablespoon garlic salt
- Optional -2 Tablespoons butter
- 2 – 3 cups chicken stock
- 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
- 1/8 teaspoon fresh sage – slightly less if dried. Omit if using sausage with sage.
- Salt to taste

Directions:

For Cornbread

Preheat a 10 – 12 inch cast iron skillet in oven at 400 f. when hot and ready, add 1-2 Tablespoons oil, then cornbread batter

The batter goes Into the preheated oiled skillet and baked at 400 F until the top browns. Cool on a plate until the pone is cool enough to break apart. The cornbread may be baked ahead of time (1 day early) if desired.

After baking the cornbread, reduce heat in oven to 375F.

Break the cornbread into 1/4 -3/4 inch pieces. Add the onions, celery, garlic, sausage, black pepper and sage to the cornbread. Mix everything together and add the chicken broth until the mixture is damp enough to stick together.

I like my dressing best if it is only roughly mixed, leaving some pieces of cornbread in the mixture. Taste and season with salt as desired.

Cook at 375 uncovered for 30 - 45 minutes and pull when the dressing is cooked (slightly dried)

I like my sliced boiled eggs in the giblet gravy, which we always make if dressing is made.

quote:

---

My FIL used to put hard boiled eggs in his dressing. Bizarre!

---

I've had cornbread dressing with hard boiled eggs in it. My wife doesn't make it that way, but I liked it. The restaurant that did it that way would take all the leftover hushpuppies and yeast rolls from the night before, mix it all together with broth, chopped up HB eggs, pimentoes and who knows what else. Best cornbread dressing ever.

I like oyster dressing but the last time we made it, I could only find oysters from the Pacific NW. We threw out most of it. Gulf oysters are just better.

quote:

---

Ballard yellow cornbread mix

---

This was all we used growing up and I remember when we could no longer find it, it was tragic! I thought it was a little lighter than yellow, but I may be recalling incorrectly.

Are you sure the Martha White is the same? That would be grand!

ETA: When I search for it, a picture comes up on an HEB site, but it isn't under the products on the Martha White site.