Herbed Cornbread Dressing, Part 2 of 2

Title:
Herbed Cornbread Dressing, Part 2 of 2

Yield:
8 Servings

Categories:
Entrees,
Southwest,
Holiday,
Herbs




Ingredients:





          See Part 1






 : Continued from Part 1


 


 MAKE DRESSING:  30 minutes before you are ready to stuff the turkey, make


 the dressing.


 


 Crumble the stale cornbread in the very largest bowl you can find. Add the


 herbed bread cubes and mix thoroughly by hand. Add the rice and mix


 thoroughly by hand.


 


 Briefly saute the onions and celery in butter just enough to make the


 vegetables translucent.  Saute the mushrooms in butter (or margarine) until


 all the resulting liquid has evaporated. Add the sauteed onions, celery and


 mushrooms, and mix thoroughly. Add the pecans and mix thoroughly. Season


 with salt, pepper, sage and thyme to taste.


 


 Bring the turkey broth to the boil and boil for a minute or two to make


 sure it is sterile. If you are going to stuff the turkey, add just enough


 turkey broth to barely moisten the dressing. Taste for seasoning and adjust


 if necessary.


 


 Very loosely stuff the abdominal cavity and breast cavity with dressing. Do


 not pack it in tightly.  It needs room to expand. You are going to be


 cooking some more dressing in a baking pan beside the turkey, so there will


 be plenty to go around.


 


 Secure neck cavity opening with one or more poultry skewers. The abdominal


 cavity may be left open or (if your butcher cleaned the turkey properly and


 left a flap of skin) secured with poultry skewers.


 


 Add enough boiling broth to the remaining dressing to moisten it uniformly.


 Do not over-moisten.  The baked dressing should be barely moist, not


 gummy-wet.  14 Spoon dressing into uncoated baking pans. Cover with


 foil/plastic wrap and refrigerate until ready to bake.


 


 One half hour before serving dinner, bake dressing, uncovered, at 425


 degrees F. for 30 minutes.


 


 NOTES:


 


 *  Southwestern style herbed cornbread turkey stuffing ~- This is the


 traditional McGarvey family dressing for Thanksgiving and Christmas dinner.


 It originated with my maternal grandmother in southern Virginia and evolved


 through her moves to Texas, Oklahoma and California and further evolved


 through my military family's moves all over the world. The recipe includes


 making 1 batch of cornbread and 1 batch of turkey broth. Directions are


 given for both stuffing the bird and baking the dressing separately.


 


 *  This recipe makes enough dressing to stuff a 15-pound turkey and 2


 9-inch-square baking pans.


 


 *  Never stuff the turkey until you are ready to roast it. Cooking lore is


 rife with horror stories of food poisoning resulting from turkeys stuffed


 too early and let sit while wonderful organisms develop in the stuffing.


 Make sure you bring the turkey broth to a boil before you use it, just to


 make sure that nothing is growing in it. The stuffing inside a turkey does


 not reach a high enough temperature to kill bacteria while the turkey is


 roasting, so you must be extremely careful with what you put there.


 


 *  I like to use Pepperidge Farm brand herbed bread cubes.


 


 *  I use a huge ceramic bowl (large enough for "rising" a 4-loaf recipe of


 bread dough) in which  to mix the dressing. If you don't have one handy,


 you can use your kitchen sink. Clean and rinse the sink thoroughly, then


 put in the stopper and use as a mixing bowl. If you are going to stuff the


 turkey, be sure that you don't overmoisten the dressing. The stuffing will


 absorb a lot of moisture from the bird, and who wants a turkey with


 stuffing soup? Also, be sure to not over-stuff the turkey: the stuffing


 will expand during the roasting and it needs room to expand.


 


 *  About 12 C of turkey broth is at least double the amount of liquid


 necessary to moisten the dressing. If you use all of it, you will not have


 a relatively light, dry dressing. The extra broth should be used in making


 turkey gravy or can be the base stock for making turkey soup with the


 carcass. If you're not up to making turkey broth, you can substitute


 chicken broth, but this is a great way to use the neck and gizzard.


 


 *  No quantities of the herbs are given because you can make this as spicy


 or as mild as you like. We like ours heavy on the sage and thyme.


 


 : Difficulty:  moderate.


 : Time:  several hours, spread over 2 days.


 : Precision:  measure the cornbread ingredients.


 


 : Pamela McGarvey


 : UCLA Comprehensive Epilepsy Program, Los Angeles, Calif., USA


 : {ihnp4!sdcrdcf,ucbvax!ucla-cs,hao}!cepu!pam


 


 : Copyright (C) 1986 USENET Community Trust


 


 From Gemini's MASSIVE MealMaster collection at www.synapse.com/~gemini