Recipe Name (in the post title)
Southern Corn Bread Dressing
Headnote
This has been a constant in my life. It has been on the table at every family Thanksgiving I’ve attended.
Makes or Serves
This recipe will serve 24 people with some leftover.
Takes (how long)
The prep time is about 3 hours spread between two days. Baking time is about an hour.
Serve with
Turkey and gravy.
Special tools
None
Ingredients
6 cans of cheap biscuits. The 10 to a can kind. I prefer the Brookshires Texas style ones.
6 packages of Martha White yellow corn bread mix. Do not get the sweet kind!
6 eggs
4 cups milk, use whole milk.
2 medium yellow onions
2 packages of celery
2 sticks of butter
4 - 32 ounce containers of chicken broth
1 small container of sage or rubbed sage either will work. My container says .4 ounces.
kosher salt
Method
On day one bake the biscuits and corn bread. The eggs and milk are for the cornbread. I like to bake cornbread in a #12 CI skillet that’s been oiled and preheated in the oven. It will take two skillet fulls to do all the cornbread right. Turn the biscuits and cornbread out onto either newspaper or butcher paper and let them cool. When they have cooled break them up by hand into pieces. The pieces need to be in chunks, one biscuit should make about 5 chunks. If you make them too small your dressings consistency will be wrong. Break the corn beard into similar size chunks. Now spread the chunks out and leave them to dry overnight.
On day two dice the onions and celery. Place them in a large sauce pot along with the butter and 1 1/2- 32 ounce containers of chicken broth. Simmer this mixture for at least an hour. The onions need to be translucent and the celery very soft. The smell in your kitchen will be Devine.
Now comes the labor intensive part. In a large bowl (I have a very large Tupperware ware one for this) start combining equal parts corn bread and biscuits in the bowl until it’s about half full. Add enough of the warm onion celery mixture to moisten the breads. Mix with a large spoon. If you use a mixer it will ruin the consistency. Keep adding bread and the onion celery mix, keep gently stirring, until you run out of the onion celery mix. At that point start using chicken broth to get the breads moist. When you get the breads all in you will have used the onion celery mix and at least 1 1/2 more containers of broth. Don’t be afraid to use some more broth if needed at the end. Now take a break and let the breads mixture hydrate for a while. If you skip this step you will end up with dry dressing. When you return you will see that much of your liquid has been absorbed and you need to add more. The consistency you are looking for is best described as when you can dip up a large spoon full and the mixture is very wet but doesn’t run off the spoon. Some may fall off but it shouldn’t be like a batter. If you get it too wet don’t worry just bake it a little longer. Now the taste testing starts. First add kosher salt until you believe just a bit more salt is needed. After baking the moisture loss will make the salt level just fine. Be sure to stir well after every addition. Here’s where a second opinion is nice. Add 1 tablespoon of sage and stir thoroughly, taste the mixture, you are looking for a very mild sage flavor because it too will get a bit stronger as it bakes. Normally I end up adding near 2 tablespoons of sage and there have been years where the sage was so mild that I had to go over 2 to get the flavor right.
Spoon the mixture into 3 Baking dishes in the 9X13 size range and bake at 375 F until lightly browned or form into balls or small patties and deep fry until lightly browned. It freezes beautifully if you want to save some as I do.
Southern Corn Bread Dressing
Headnote
This has been a constant in my life. It has been on the table at every family Thanksgiving I’ve attended.
Makes or Serves
This recipe will serve 24 people with some leftover.
Takes (how long)
The prep time is about 3 hours spread between two days. Baking time is about an hour.
Serve with
Turkey and gravy.
Special tools
None
Ingredients
6 cans of cheap biscuits. The 10 to a can kind. I prefer the Brookshires Texas style ones.
6 packages of Martha White yellow corn bread mix. Do not get the sweet kind!
6 eggs
4 cups milk, use whole milk.
2 medium yellow onions
2 packages of celery
2 sticks of butter
4 - 32 ounce containers of chicken broth
1 small container of sage or rubbed sage either will work. My container says .4 ounces.
kosher salt
Method
On day one bake the biscuits and corn bread. The eggs and milk are for the cornbread. I like to bake cornbread in a #12 CI skillet that’s been oiled and preheated in the oven. It will take two skillet fulls to do all the cornbread right. Turn the biscuits and cornbread out onto either newspaper or butcher paper and let them cool. When they have cooled break them up by hand into pieces. The pieces need to be in chunks, one biscuit should make about 5 chunks. If you make them too small your dressings consistency will be wrong. Break the corn beard into similar size chunks. Now spread the chunks out and leave them to dry overnight.
On day two dice the onions and celery. Place them in a large sauce pot along with the butter and 1 1/2- 32 ounce containers of chicken broth. Simmer this mixture for at least an hour. The onions need to be translucent and the celery very soft. The smell in your kitchen will be Devine.
Now comes the labor intensive part. In a large bowl (I have a very large Tupperware ware one for this) start combining equal parts corn bread and biscuits in the bowl until it’s about half full. Add enough of the warm onion celery mixture to moisten the breads. Mix with a large spoon. If you use a mixer it will ruin the consistency. Keep adding bread and the onion celery mix, keep gently stirring, until you run out of the onion celery mix. At that point start using chicken broth to get the breads moist. When you get the breads all in you will have used the onion celery mix and at least 1 1/2 more containers of broth. Don’t be afraid to use some more broth if needed at the end. Now take a break and let the breads mixture hydrate for a while. If you skip this step you will end up with dry dressing. When you return you will see that much of your liquid has been absorbed and you need to add more. The consistency you are looking for is best described as when you can dip up a large spoon full and the mixture is very wet but doesn’t run off the spoon. Some may fall off but it shouldn’t be like a batter. If you get it too wet don’t worry just bake it a little longer. Now the taste testing starts. First add kosher salt until you believe just a bit more salt is needed. After baking the moisture loss will make the salt level just fine. Be sure to stir well after every addition. Here’s where a second opinion is nice. Add 1 tablespoon of sage and stir thoroughly, taste the mixture, you are looking for a very mild sage flavor because it too will get a bit stronger as it bakes. Normally I end up adding near 2 tablespoons of sage and there have been years where the sage was so mild that I had to go over 2 to get the flavor right.
Spoon the mixture into 3 Baking dishes in the 9X13 size range and bake at 375 F until lightly browned or form into balls or small patties and deep fry until lightly browned. It freezes beautifully if you want to save some as I do.
Comment