Country Cornbread Dressing
Begin by baking either a large hen, the bird used in the past, or turkey. Sprinkle salt and garlic
powder into the cavity of the thawed bird and place the bird in a roasting pan with 2–3 inches
of water in the bottom. Baste with melted butter, and dust the outer surface with salt and garlic
powder—but don’t get carried away with the salt and garlic, because you will use the broth left in
the pan for your dressing. Cover the roaster with a lid or sheet of heavy aluminum foil, and bake at
275° for 5–6 hours.
Warning: This is not going to be your traditional, picture perfect, golden-brown turkey of holiday
greeting cards. What you want is a bird so tender that the meat falls off the bone and leaves lots
of rich broth in the roasting pan.
While your hen or turkey is cooking, make country-style cornbread. One pan of cornbread will
provide enough dressing to serve 6–10 people.
Southern Country Cornbread
1 cup flour
2 cups yellow cornmeal
1 teaspoon salt
1 scant teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 large eggs
1½ cups buttermilk
4 tablespoons cooking oil
Preheat oven to 450°. Place cooking oil in the bottom of a heavy baking pan (The traditional pan
is a cast iron skillet.) and place it in the oven to heat for 5 minutes.
Measure dry ingredients into a sifter, and sift into a large bowl. Add eggs and buttermilk and
mix well. Pour into the pan with its heated oil. Bake 20–25 minutes, or until the bread is golden
brown and firm in the middle.
Depending on how the flour and cornmeal were measured,
you may need to adjust the amount of buttermilk or
add extra corn meal. What you want is a batter
that’s the consistency of easily poured cake batter.
Cornbread is a quick bread, which means it
should be placed in the oven immediately
after the liquid has been added.
Jennifer Blake’s Country Cornbread Dressing – Page 2
Southern Cornbread Dressing
1 pan hot cornbread, crumbled
4 tablespoons butter
1 onion, finely chopped
1 bunch scallions, finely chopped
3 ribs celery, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic
2 hard-boiled eggs, grated
1 teaspoon poultry seasoning
Salt and black pepper to taste
6 cups (approx.) chicken or turkey broth
Preheat oven to 350°. Crumble cornbread into a large baking pan such as a granite-ware roaster.
Melt butter in a skillet or heavy saucepan. Chop onion, scallions, celery and garlic in a food
processor and add to hot butter. Sauté over medium heat until onions are clear. Pour sautéed
vegetables over the cornbread and mix well. Add grated boiled eggs. Sprinkle with poultry
seasoning and black pepper and mix thoroughly. Remove turkey from broth and set aside. Add
hot broth to the cornbread mixture, and mix evenly, breaking up any remaining cornbread
lumps. Adjust salt, pepper and poultry seasoning to taste.
Bake for 1 hour, or until the dressing is brown around the edges and firm in the middle.
It may be necessary to add extra broth. You want your cornbread mixture thoroughly
soaked by the broth, with a little extra liquid pooling around the edges. This liquid will be
absorbed during baking.
Hot cornbread, vegetables, boiled eggs and other seasoning may be mixed together up to
24 hours in advance and refrigerated, well covered. The rest period allows greater
mingling of flavors. Reheat the broth, add to the dressing mixture, then bake as directed.
When doubling or tripling this recipe, it will be necessary to use canned or boxed chicken
broth to moisten the extra pans of cornbread. Cooking time must be
extended by approximately 30 minutes per pan of cornbread used.
Since WW II, Southern Cornbread Dressing has been
traditionally served with cranberry sauce and giblet gravy.
The turkey that was set aside should be
deboned and the meat sliced and placed
on a platter to be served with the dressing.
Enjoy!