Holiday Cornbread Dressing Food

MOM'S TRADITIONAL SOUTHERN CORNBREAD DRESSING

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 425. In a 10-inch cast iron (or a 9-inch cake pan if you don't have a cast iron, melt 2 Tb of bacon drippings, or butter if you're substituting, in the preheated oven for 5 minutes until completely melted. Remove from the oven and set aside.
• Combine the first five ingredients in a large mixing bowl and whisk to combine well. Ditch the whisk and switch to a spatula to combine with the liquid to avoid overmixing. Overmixing will give you a tough cornbread. Mix 2 C of buttermilk and 2 eggs, breaking up the eggs in a separate small bowl before adding to the mix. Stir until combined without overmixing.
• Last, add the melted bacon drippings or butter. Pour back into the prepared cast iron and back for 25 minutes or until golden brown.
• Once cooled, break up the cornbread into rough chunks and spread out onto a baking sheet to dry out for a minimum of 8 hours or preferably overnight. The more dry the cornbread, the more flavors it will soak up.
• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
• Melt 1/2 C butter in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the green onions, onion, and celery. Cook until tender or about 5 minutes. Crack the eggs into a small mixing bowl and beat slightly.
• Add the cornbread and sautéed veggies to a large mixing bowl. Mix to combine. Add the eggs, stuffing mix, and chicken broth and mix until combined. The amount of chicken broth will depend on your personal preference. Check out the post content above for more on this topic.
• Pour into a 9" x 13" baking pan. Bake for 50 minutes or until lightly browned.

CORNBREAD DRESSING

Steps:

• Melt butter in a skillet; add the onions and celery and saute until tender.
• Combine toasted bread and cornbread in a large bowl and mix.
• Add onions and celery plus their cooking liquid, the salt, pepper, sage, and poultry seasoning and mix throughly.
• Using a bulb baster, add just enough turkey giblet broth to make a very moist mixture, then stir in the eggs and scrape the dressing into a large greased baking pan or dish.
• Bake in 400 degree F oven until dressing is nicely browned, about 30-40 minutes.

NEELY'S HOLIDAY CORNBREAD STUFFING

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
• Cook bacon in a heavy skillet until crisp. Turn heat down and add onions and celery; saute until tender, about 6 minutes. Add the thyme and sage and saute until fragrant. Stir in pecans.
• In a large bowl, add the cornbread mix, bacon and vegetables, and stir in the chicken broth. Add to a 13 by 9 by 2-inch casserole dish. Add butter slices to the top of the casserole and cover with foil. Bake for 30 minutes then remove foil and cook until top is crisp, about 15 more minutes.

HOLIDAY DRESSING

Steps:

• Prepare corn bread as directed on package. Cool, and crumble.
• Melt butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Cook onions, bell pepper, and celery in butter until tender, but not brown. In another pan, cook sausage over medium-high heat until evenly browned.
• Place corn bread and bread slices in a food processor. Pulse until they turn into a crumbly mixture. Transfer mixture to a large bowl. Season with sage, thyme, poultry seasoning, salt, and pepper. Mix in chopped parsley, cooked vegetables, and sausage with drippings. Stir in eggs and chicken stock. This mixture should be a bit mushy. Transfer to a greased 9x13 inch pan.
• Bake at 325 degrees F (165 degrees C) for 1 hour.

HOME FOR THANKSGIVING FRIED CORNBREAD DRESSING

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 425 for cornbread.
• Place stick of butter in bottom of roasting pan and place in oven to melt it (This will allow the cornbread to"fry" while it's baking).
• Mix up corn bread mix according to package instructions (Usually, this will be the addition of 2/3 cups sweet milk and 1 egg per package of mix.) (Cornbread can be baked ahead, which I usually do the night before).
• When done, use a knife and score through the cornbread to make very small cubes.
• (You should have enough to be able to enjoy a few cubes of this buttered delight while it's still hot).
• Brown sausage in dutch oven.
• Add onions, celery and mushrooms and the other half stick of butter if you need more oil.
• Saute til sausage is done and onion is translucent.
• Add about 3 cups of cornbread and sage.
• Let brown a bit.
• Add rest of cornbread and stir well.
• Turn dressing from dutch oven into the roaster pan.
• Drizzle with chicken broth til nice and moist (This is a personal taste thing).
• Bake at 350 for about an hour or until golden brown.
• This makes enough for 24 to 30 servings depending on appetites.
• Is wonderful left-over.
• Your guests will even want to take some home with them.
• Freezes well.
• (I don't salt during cooking. Just place salt and pepper shakers on the table for those who want more than what's already there).

OVERNIGHT SOUTHERN CORNBREAD DRESSING

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F (220 degrees C).
• Combine cornmeal, flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and sugar in a large bowl. Stir together buttermilk and 2 eggs in a separate bowl; add to dry ingredients and stir until just moistened.
• Heat 2 tablespoons butter in a cast iron skillet over medium heat until hot. Pour cornbread batter into the skillet.
• Place skillet into the oven and bake until cornbread is golden brown, about 25 minutes. Remove from the oven and allow to cool, 20 to 30 minutes. Turn oven off.
• Melt 1/2 cup butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Add green onions and celery; saute until tender, 5 to 7 minutes.
• Crumble cooled cornbread into a large roasting pan. Add onion-celery mixture, 1 can chicken broth, croutons, hard-boiled eggs, pepper, and sage. Cover and place in the refrigerator, 8 hours or overnight.
• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
• Remove dressing from the refrigerator. Stir in remaining 4 eggs and 3 1/2 cans chicken broth.
• Bake in the preheated oven until golden brown, about 1 1/2 hours.