Cornbread Dressing With Gravy

Every southern cook I know has their own dressing recipe and the recipes are as diverse as the cooks themselves. This recipe took me several years to get right and it's just the way I remember how Gran's dressing tasted. I cook this throughout the year and it goes well with many white meats other than turkey. At Thanksgiving, I don't stuff the turkey, that's just gross and no one in my family would eat it if I did, so the dressing is on the side. This recipe is a definite "season to taste" recipe and it can be as moist or as dry as you like it. I either cook or get every dish ready to be cooked the day or week before Thanksgiving. If you make this ahead of time, be certain to keep it refrigerated until cooking due to the uncooked eggs. I have to be honest, at Thanksgiving I make every thing from scratch, the stock, cornbread, etc..., but I cheat at Christmas. I'll put my "cheat" ingredients in parenthesis and leave the rest up to you.

Bread

Preheat oven to 400◦
Oil medium to large cast iron skillet (any baking pan will do, cast iron is best)
Place skillet in oven while oven preheats

2 cups corn meal
2 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 tsp salt (+ - )
2 eggs
1 Tbsp olive oil
1 cup sweet milk ( + ) if needed to make it slightly soupy, maybe I should start to describe it as sloshy?

Double recipe if needed for more than 4-6 people.

Bake until medium brown on top ( check at 15 minutes +)
Set aside to cool

Chicken Stock
(or high quality, store bought chicken stock - minimum 12 cups, and onions, celery and bell pepper )

1 small hen ( 1 medium chicken if you can't find a small hen, in my opinion, the hen's all look like sumo wrestlers and are huge, which is fine if you are going to use or freeze the meat, but when you've got a turkey cooking, it's just too much, anyhoo....)
1 small to medium onion
6 + celery fronds
1 small to medium bell pepper
Salt to taste
Pepper to taste

Fill large pot with water, salt, pepper and hen and bring to a boil. ( or bring pre-made chicken stock to boil)
Dice onion, celery and bell pepper and lightly stir fry with small amount of olive oil. Do not fry until translucent.
Add onion, celery and bell pepper to boiling water with hen.
Turn heat down to medium and cook until hen is done (approx. 45 minutes+, depending on size of hen and whether the hen was thawed when you put it in the water) ( I recommend thawing)

Let cool and do not drain

Dressing

Preheat oven to 450◦

1 section of saltines ( or store-bought dry stuffing mix)
Bread from recipe above
Stock from recipe above
3 eggs
3 boiled eggs, if desired
1 stick butter (unsalted, or, if you only have salted, do not add salt)
Thyme to taste ( I use about 1+ Tbsp)
Sage to taste ( I use about 1+ Tbsp)
Salt to taste (approx. 1 tsp, taste first, since your bread and stock has salt)
White or Black Pepper to taste

Chop or crumble together (you can use a food processor, I just use my hands) saltines and bread into a large baking pan ( I use the disposable kind)
Add thyme, sage, salt and pepper
Mix 3 raw eggs into mixture and mix well
Melt butter and pour into mixture and mix well.
Add chopped boiled eggs, if desired
Add stock to make it just a little more sloshy than you want your cooked dressing to be. I like the dressing to be moist enough to not need any gravy.
Mix well and bake until medium brown on top and it sets. ( check after 40 minutes, time depends on amount of dressing and how much stock you add, if dressing is thin and dry, check before 40 minutes)

Gravy

Okay, everyone has their own way to make gravy, too. I'm including several different options and you can use what works for you. If you have a better way, please add it.

Strained chicken stock
Giblets and meat from hen, chopped
onions, celery, bell pepper strained from stock

Stir stock while bringing to a boil and then turn down to medium and stir constantly to keep from burning or sticking to the bottom of sauce pan. Once gravy thickens, turn to low or warm.

Flour to stock approx. ratios:

3Tbsp flour to 1 cup stock
1 1/4 cups flour to 8 cups stock
2 1/4 cups flour to 12 cups stock

add more flour for thicker gravy, more stock for thinner gravy



1. My way: Begin to bring strained stock to a boil in an oversized sauce pan, adding flour while stock comes to a low boil, have an electric hand blender, not mixer, ready and very carefully blend the flour and stock. The stock is hot, boiling hot, and you do not want to just stick the blender in and start blending without being cautious. Make certain your sauce pan is deep enough so the stock will not splatter. After you get the gravy to the consistency you like, add small amounts of your strained ingredients and some chopped meat into the gravy, if desired. This is the fastest and easiest way to make this gravy without lumps.

2. Mix cold strained chicken stock with plain flour to gravy consistency, when it's blended well, pour into boiling stock and stir constantly until no longer lumpy. Add small amount of strained ingredients,chopped boiled eggs and chopped meat from hen, if desired ( I don't).

3. Mix hot strained chicken stock with plain flour to gravy consistency, when well blended, pour into boiling stock and stir constantly until no longer lumpy. Add strained ingredients and meat.