The Thanksgiving turkey will be smaller in most homes this year, but the most important item on a southern dinner table will still be the “Dressing” accompanying the Turkey. Not just any dressing, but good ole Southern cornbread dressing and gravy! Some folks still call this dish “Turkey Stuffing” even though most of us no longer actually cook a stuffed Turkey. The recipe below has been handed down for at least three generations in the Collins family and will keep about twenty people happy at Thanksgiving. This year you may need to adjust the recipe for a smaller gathering thanks to COVID-19.
Prepare two large skillets of cornbread-about 8 cubs. I use Martha White Self-rising Cornmeal Mix. Make in advance, break apart, and let it try dry out for two or three days.
Dry out a few slices of white bread, remove the edges, and tear into small pieces—enough for two cups.
Crumble the cornbread into a large mixing bowl. Add the pieces of white bread.
Sauté 2 large onions (chopped) and an equal amount of celery in butter. When tender, melt an additional stick of butter in the same pan and then mix the onions, celery and the added butter into the cornbread mixture.
To the above mixture, add the following and mix thoroughly:
2 tsp. of poultry seasoning
Four Chopped boiled eggs
Two cups of chicken stock
Two raw eggs
Dust with pepper and salt
The mixture should moist. If it seems too dry, add more melted butter or stock.Transfer to baking pans or casserole dishes. I use disposable aluminum pans and transfer the finished cornbread dressing to serving dishes when ready to serve. Bread is a great insulator, so it will take longer to bake than you expect to thoroughly heat the dressings to a safe temperature of 160 degrees (200 degrees is even better), and that may take an hour or longer depending on the depth of the mixture in the banking dishes. The mixture should not be deeper than one and a half or 2 inches in each banking dish. Bake at 325 degrees. Do the cooking ahead of time, and reheat to warm your dressing when you are ready to serve. The cooked dressing can be refrigerated and even frozen to serve later.
Now for the Gravy that people rave about. The truth is, my closely guarded secret gravy receipt is nothing more than Campbell’s Cream of Chicken Soup thinned slightly with chicken stock and to which small handful of turkey meat bits has been added for a real homemade look. After originally posting, one of my relatives reminded me that a finely chopped boiled egg was traditionally added along with the turkey giblets. Over the years, the egg has become optional.
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For signed copies of books by Tom Collins, go to TomCollinsAuthor.com. Unsigned print and eBook editions are available on Amazon, Google Play, Apple iBooks, Barnes & Noble, Smashwords, and other online bookstores. Audio editions are available on Amazon, iTunes and directly from Audible.com. Be sure to check out the latest Tom Collins Novel, Beyond Visual Range on Amazon.
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