Christmas Traditions Bring Joy

Mema's Cornbread Dressing

Alice Bourland (1917-2008)

This was my beautiful mother’s famous recipe for cornbread dressing. We had it for Thanksgiving and for Christmas dinner. The turkey was not the focus of our meal; Mema’s Dressing was everybody’s favorite. We would pour gravy over it and eat it for days. 

CORNBREAD (Make at least one day early so it can dry out a little. If possible, make in on Sunday before Thanksgiving or three days before Christmas and then leave it out on the counter. Also, dry out a loaf of bread and use for breadcrumbs or buy a bag of breadcrumbs or croutons. Just be sure they are not seasoned because that will alter the taste.

After my youngest grandson was diagnosed with Celiac Disease, I began making it with gluten free flour and gluten free corn meal. It is as good as ever! Note the modifications you can make if you wish to make this dish gluten free.

Triple this cornbread recipe for a large amount of dressing to feed several people. (It’s better to mix it up and bake it in three batches.)

1 cup yellow cornmeal  (Use gluten free cornmeal.)

4 tablespoons flour (Use gluten free flour.)

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon melted shortening (or vegetable oil)

1 egg

1 cup buttermilk (Very important. Don't use sweet milk.)

Mix cornmeal, flour, soda, and salt. Beat egg and add to buttermilk. Then pour this mixture into the sifted dry ingredients, add 1 tablespoon melted shortening (or vegetable oil) and stir only until well mixed. Grease an 8X8 pan. (If you have one, bake the cornbread in an iron skillet.) Pour batter into hot, greased pan. Bake at 425 degrees about 30 to 35 minutes, or until brown.

DRESSING

large bunch of celery

1 large yellow onion

poultry seasoning (Very important. Don't use anything else.) (Use gluten free poultry seasoning.)

3 cans chicken broth (Use gluten free chicken broth.)

butter

dry cornbread (crumbled)

dry bread (Add enough to make the mixture stick together well) (Use gluten free bread or gluten free croutons.)

Chop celery and onion and sauté in butter until soft and clear in color. Crumble cornbread and bread in a large bowl. Add celery and onion mixture. Add chicken broth a little at a time until you get the thick consistency of muffin dough. Add poultry seasoning a teaspoon at a time. This will make it salty and give it its unique flavor. Taste until it tastes like Mema's dressing. (For those who did not know and love Mema, just suit your own taste.) Grease one rectangular baking dish with oil. Bake at 350º until dressing is brown and crusty on top. (35-45 minutes.) If you want stuffing inside the turkey, stuff it with raw dressing before you put it in the oven.

I hope you enjoy this delicious recipe. For our family, it simply would not be Christmas without Mema's dressing.


Here's a link to two FREE activities that the whole family could do for fun after dinner. 

I hope you enjoy the holidays with your family and friends. 
This blog post has been updated and reposted. Thanks for reading,