With giant turkey stuffing season upon us, I thought I should remind everyone how easy it is to make cornbread. Or more specifically, cornbread dressing.
Why? Because people will insist on stuffing all manner of bread products into their holiday birds thus drying them out beyond all recognition or worse still, dangerously undercooking the whole affair. To me the term ‘stuffing’ is unfortunate because the only thing you should shove into a cooking bird is a few loose aromatics like a quartered lemon, a stalk of rosemary, or some garlic cloves. The cavity should be far from packed tight so heat and air can circulate to roast the inside of the bird just as nicely as the outside. Don’t forget to salt and pepper in there while you’re at it and if you’re clever you’ll slip some compound rosemary butter under the skin and drape a few rashers of streaky bacon over the top to baste it all automatically. But I digress… this isn’t about how to cook a turkey.
Uninitiated holiday dinner guests will scream “But I love the taste of stuffing. You have to have stuffing!” These are the same people that still enjoy the ‘schlooooop’ sound of jellied cranberry cylinders coming out of the tin that I set right here. This is why you’re going to make ‘dressing’. A much better term and even better technique where bread and other delights are mixed and baked on the side separately. Not only does this ensure even baking but it also frees you from the confines of ingredients that only appeal when doused in turkey drippings. Saved bread ends can bind the whole affair together but everything from chestnuts to cranberries, mushrooms to sausage, and butternut to bacon can be incorporated without worrying if it will all fit inside a bird. The tradition around my house when I was a kid was to collect bread trimmings for a few weeks prior but to then augment that base with a fresh pan of cornbread, add generous piles of sage and peppercorn with a few simple veg, then stir in pan drippings and whipped eggs for a slight souffle effect in the oven.
I prefer heaps of sage in my dressing but you can try a mix with rosemary or other personal favourite herbs. After the basic, you can add any whacky local traditions you wish, e.g. chestnuts, cranberries, browned sausage, fried oysters, alligator snouts, rattlesnake ears, etc. For an insanely good vegetarian option, try dry roasting mushrooms and a halved tomato to make the base of your vegetable stock with some nutritional yeast tossed in for good measure.
Lastly, you must taste the dressing before baking to adjust seasoning. This is the only chance you get and under-seasoned dressing is drab indeed. If you’re worried about raw eggs, live on the edge and risk it or take your sage and salt chances blindly. This was always my one task in the kitchen at holiday as a kid so I’m pretty passionate about it. And haven’t died of food poisoning yet.
While you’re here, you’ll probably need my chai spice cranberry sauce too. Sweet potatoes without boiling OR marshmallows coming soon.
Cornbread Dressing
2/3 of a pan (~ 500 grams) of fresh cornbread, roughly crumbled
roughly equal volume (~ 300 grams) of slightly stale bread, any sort, cut or torn into large cubes
3 large stalks celery, trimmed and diced fine (with leaves if possible)
2 medium onions, any variety, trimmed and diced fine
3 tablespoons minced fresh sage (or substitute 1 tablespoon dried ground, more to taste as you like)
4 teaspoons freshly ground black peppercorn
2 teaspoons fine sea salt (+/- to taste considering your stock or drippings)
3 large eggs from happy chickens
up to 2 litres stock, chicken, beef, or vegetable – or – pan drippings plus water as needed
Yield: 6 – 8 Servings, safely doubled but bake in multiple dishes for maximum souffle effect and more delicious crispy edges.
Preheat oven to 375F.
Mix all but eggs and stock in your largest bowl to combine well making sure the spices are distributed evenly but leave some interestingly large chunks of both cornbread and ordinary bread. Whisk the eggs for two minutes until light in colour and add along with enough stock to make a very moist mixture folding to combine and soaking the breads completely.
Place in a shallow casserole to bake until slightly souffled and set, anywhere from thirty-five minutes to an hour depending on the depth of your baking dish. Fight over the crispy edges and serve with mandatory buckets of fresh gravy. Mushroom gravy perhaps?
