It's called DRESSING, y'all!

How many of y'all made dressing for Thanksgiving? Not stuffing, cause down here it's dressing. Or dressin'. Get's pretty personal, doesn't it? I've been to Thanksgiving dinner where we've had up to four different kinds of dressing at the table. Everybody has their own way of doing it and of course, theirs is the right way. I'm here to tell you once and for all that MINE is the right way. Big sister's is pretty good. It would be outstanding, but she puts sausage in hers and that, well, I won't go there. MY recipe is actually my mom's. She's been making it forever. It evolved over the years from suggestions she took here and there from the various fabulous cooks in our family. Our Uncle Bubba (of which there were two), used to toast his white bread. He said it made the dressing a pretty color. He knew what he was talking about. Now, this is a lengthy process over two days, so bear with me, but it really is just a few simple steps. Anyone with an iron skillet (we've discussed this before), a 9 x 13 casserole dish, and a real big mixing bowl can make this. Here goes:

Day 1. First we gotta make the cornbread. This is southern DRESSING after all. I'm gonna give you the recipe and then you're gonna double it. You'll have more than you need for the dressing. At least you'll have some extra to snack on tomorrow while you're in that kitchen stirring the giblet gravy.

Buttermilk Cornbread

2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 cup yellow cornmeal
1 tablespoon flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup buttermilk
1 large egg

Heat oil in 8 inch cast-iron skillet in a 450 degree oven for 5 minutes. Mix the cornmeal and the rest of the dry ingredients in a bowl. Whisk together separately the buttermilk and egg. Add to dry ingredients. Don't stir it too much now, just enough til it's incorporated. We don't do tough cornbread around here. Pour into the hot skillet and bake for 20 minutes or so until toasty golden brown.

*note, when you double this recipe for dressing, you'll obviously need a bigger skillet than the recipe above. Use your 12 inch one and it'll be just fine. In a pinch, you can use a casserole dish, but it won't be quite as crispy.

Now here is the recipe for the rest of the dressing:

Cornbread Dressing

4 to 4 1/2 cups cornbread
3 1/2 cups white bread, toasted
1 stick of melted butter, unsalted, please
about 2-3 green onions, minced
1 cup diced celery
2 teaspoons salt, 1/2 teaspoons fresh ground pepper, 1/2 teaspoon seasoned salt
2 teaspoons sage (you can add more, but not much, we don't like green dressing)
3 eggs, beaten slightly
1/2 cup milk
2 cups (or more) hot chicken broth

While your cornbread is baking, toast up your bread. It'll be faster than the cornbread, so go ahead and start tearing it up by hand in small pieces. You'll need 6-7 slices of hearty white bread. I use Pepperidge Farm Hearty White. Don't use the Wonder bread that sticks to the roof of your mouth. Once your cornbread is cool, start breaking that up into the bowl. You can break it up as fine as you like, but leave a little texture in there to match that of the white bread. Melt your stick of butter and saute in your green onions and celery until tender and translucent. Add your salts, pepper and sage to the cornbread mixture and toss well to combine. Pour the celery, green onions, and butter over the cornbread mixture. Smells like dressing now, doesn't it? Now cover that bowl with plastic wrap and put it in the fridge until tomorrow.

Day 2. About an hour or more before you're ready to bake your dressing, take it out of the fridge so it can come to room temperature. When you're ready, heat up your chicken broth in a sauce pan on the stove. Go ahead and heat a bunch, cause you may need some extra to stretch the aforementioned giblet gravy. Make sure your oven is preheated to 400 degrees. Your turkey should be out and resting by now, so you should be able to safely kick up that heat. Beat your eggs slightly and add your milk. Slowly whisk in about a cup of chicken broth to this mixture to temper the eggs. We don't want scrambled eggs in our dressing. Add the chicken broth egg mixture to your cornbread mixture. Then pour all of that into a 9 x 13 casserole dish that's been greased. Now get some more of that chicken broth and start adding it to the casserole dish. Pat it in there with your hands until it's the consistency of not-quite-there-yet grits. A little on the soupy side, but not too wet. Bake about 20-25 minutes or until golden brown.

So now that you've mastered the dressing, share it at the Christmas gathering with your family. I'm pretty sure yours will be the favorite among the other four dressings at the table. Bon Appetit and Joyeux Noel, y'all!