Cornbread stuffing/dressing recipe?

Does anyone have a killer cornbread stuffing (or dressing) recipe? Looking for something meat free if possible (mainly no sausage) to appease vegetarians, though can handle chicken broth if needed.
Thanks-
Jamie

I'm looking for one too Jamie (although with sausage), and so far I received the below one from a friend (dax's folks). The recipe also obviously requires one skillet of cornbread, which is crumbled/mixed into the rest prior to baking. Not sure of the Pepperidge Farms packet, but I have had this dressing before, and it was very good.

I'm thinking of simply adding some cooked crumbled sausage to the mixture as well -- do you think that would screw up the resulting texture/moisture much ? (I guess it depends on quantity, but I was gonna eyeball it, and add, of course, some of the fat)

Cooking Time: 30-45 min. at 450 degrees

Ingredients:
One small package Peppridge Farm Herbal Mix
Pinch of sage
4-5 whole eggs
one small white onion chopped finely
Pinch of parsley either dried or fresh
Finely cut tops and stems of celery leaf
about a big handful
one can of chicken broth
Black pepper - about one teaspoon
Buttermilk--pour until mix is soupy
l/2 teaspoon of baking soda
l teaspoon of baking powder
2 cups of turkey broth if you bake your
turkey or one more can of chicken broth


Mix Pepperidge Farm mix and finely crumbled corn bread, sage, diced onion, parsley, celery tops, pepper and chicken broth together.

Let stand for about 30 minutes so flavors can mix.

Next add all other ingredients. Add other turkey broth about 2 cups.
Add buttermilk until your mix is creamy.

Pour into a pam-sprayed pan about nine by twelve about half full. Cook
until brown on top.

I actually found a recipe this morning in my Best New Recipe (America's Test Kitchen) cookbook.
It is for a Cornbread Stuffing with Sausage, so I am going to give it a try this eve (we have one Thanksgiving celebration tomorrow).
Don't have it in front of me, but if you want to PM me I can send you the details this eve.
Jamie

I've made that a couple of times, it works very well on the texture level but I find the seasoning bland. (Maybe they assume the sausage will have more. Maybe I just like more seasoning.) Anyway, I'd consider dialing that up.

Thanks for the heads up, Mike!
I found this one yesterday but it just seemed like WAY too much. I was planning on doing some sort of hybrid between the two...

Creole Cornbread Stuffing

Jamie

Oh, the other thing I did recently was cut the recipe in half, and I still had more than my family could eat. Just so you know, it makes a LOT.

I was planning on making cornbread stuffing with oysters from The Joy of Cooking this year (but my sister, the host, decided that she's in charge of stuffing).

Joy of Cooking has a basic cornbread stuffing recipe with a handful of classic variations. A good reliable recipe.

Best,
Michael

My go to cornbread and sausage stuffing mix is from the Silver Palate Cookbook -- it is always a hit and completely yummy. Makes a huge amount so you have tons to stuff in the bird and on the side if you prefer.

It also incorporates apples -- which makes it totally a win in my opinion. You might be able to forgo the sausage and amp up the apples and cornbread and see if that does it for a vegetarian mix.

I don't know if I can copy it here from the Silver Palate -- i'll check the rules and if I can, I'll copy it in here tonight (giving credit of course).

Shannon

Here's a link to a recipe for Cornbread Stuffing with Sausage and Apples that sounds pretty good. It's from a BBQ list that I am on. I have not made this myself, but it sounds good.

Thanks for all the pointers! I am actually just going to go ahead and make it with sausage. Vegetarians be damned! Also plan on adding in some Granny Smith Apple, as that sound like a great combo.
I do know it is going to be difficult to make cornbread and not want to eat some of it!
Jamie

Jamieson22 wrote:I do know it is going to be difficult to make cornbread and not want to eat some of it!

Make two!

That sounds like the one, SteveZ. It sounds right on the money, but would be nice if there were any testimonials out there.

The GrannySmith idea does sound great.

My version of the recipe (not in the book, in the magazine, but I assume nearly the same) makes more cornbread than you end up using, so you'll have some to nosh on...

Couple of other notes. I stuff the bird with some of this but I always find the stuff baked in the pan tastes better. So I mix them together, but it does make me wonder why I even bother with actually stuffing the bird.

Two tips about stuffing you may already know but they're good ones: one, put cheesecloth inside the bird and put the stuffing into that. Then you just pull it out, much easier than scraping it out.

The other is, they suggest microwaving the stuffing up to around 140F before stuffing. That way you don't overcook the bird to get the stuffing cooked. I've done this a few years now, it is a great improvement.

Finally: I know the last thing you want to do on T-day is cook some more but being on a Bones kick when I made a turkey last week I followed her instructions, once the carcass was picked clean, and roasted the bones with a few onion/carrot type veggies, then simmered them for 2 hours (she deglazes the pan with brandy, I didn't manage that). The result was an excellent turkey stock I froze but will use very soon. Well worth the effort (which is not that great, but comes at a time when you're sick of the kitchen).

I have a cornbread and chorizo stuffing from Stephen Pyles that I do almost every year, when I'm not making Paul Prudhomme's Cornbread and Crawfish stuffing. If anyone is interested, I can post these.

Jamieson22 wrote:I actually found a recipe this morning in my Best New Recipe (America's Test Kitchen) cookbook.
It is for a Cornbread Stuffing with Sausage, so I am going to give it a try this eve (we have one Thanksgiving celebration tomorrow).
Don't have it in front of me, but if you want to PM me I can send you the details this eve.
Jamie

I think this is the one I used a few years ago, and depending on the sausage you use, it can be really spicy! I made it with andouille, and it was great.

Every year since I can remember, I have had the "Louisiana cornbread dressing" from River Road Recipes, put out by the Junior League of Baton Rouge.

Here's a link to a recipe that is somewhat similar (and apparently derived from the River Roads Recipe) version, although I use milk (not evaporated) and butter (not margarine) and do not add nuts (although sausage is a good add).

Edited to add a closed parenthesis.

If anyone is interested, I can post these.

Just a reminder, you can't post something verbatim. You can PM it, you can paraphrase, you can post your variation, but not the recipe straight from the book.

Mike G wrote:Finally: I know the last thing you want to do on T-day is cook some more but being on a Bones kick when I made a turkey last week I followed her instructions, once the carcass was picked clean, and roasted the bones with a few onion/carrot type veggies, then simmered them for 2 hours (she deglazes the pan with brandy, I didn't manage that). The result was an excellent turkey stock I froze but will use very soon. Well worth the effort (which is not that great, but comes at a time when you're sick of the kitchen).

Actually, thanks for the heads up. I just got the bones cookbook so this will be a good way to break it in. To be honest, I kinda hate turkey soups, though most I have are pedestrian Turkey Noodle. Not sure why, just something about the flavor profile of the stock, though I am willing to give it another shot. As my turkey will be smoked, I think it will be a nice twist on the stock. Perhaps I'll use it to make gumbo or something along those lines. Any other ideas for turkey stock??

And and RevrendAndy, please do post the recipes if you don't mind.
Jamie

Jamieson22-

When I first started hosting Thanksgiving, I did an apple-dried cranberry-sausage stuffing from Bon Appetit. (I will edit this later after I check out my Bon Appetits at home to verify the correct recipe. You could do a search on their site to view what I think is the correct recipe. ) I don't like to repeat recipes, but my guests begged for this stuffing so I did it for a few years before I ventured into something different. I even adapted it one year when I did Thanksgiving For One (cornish hen instead of turkey) and it was still great. I'm sure it could be done successfully with cornbread.

I've never done a vegetarian version of stuffing. One: my friends and family are carnivores, and two: to my palate, much of the flavor in stuffing comes from the stuffing and the broth.

Good luck!

-The GP[/url]

I lied above. There are TWO cornbread stuffing recipes at cooksillustrated.com and I made the spicy one. It was very good, but very spicy.

This year I am doing the non-spicy one

I used to have vegan friends at my thanksgiving, which I thought would be a real challenge - but turned out to be a good thing, as it really made me think outside the box. I made a dressing with dried fruit, nuts, and used a combo of wine and apple cider for the liquid - there's a similar recipe using cornbread (which isn't vegan, incidentally, as it contains eggs) on epicurious which I plan to modify for this year that could easily have the broth replaced in this manner - just check, you may need to add salt.

So, I ended up making the stuffing from Cook's Illustrated "Best New Recipe".

It is a fairly basic stuffing, calling for 1.5 lbs of sausage, cornbread, buttermilk, chicken stock, onion, celery, thyme and sage. I used the Golden Cornbread recipe that is part of the stuffing recipe.

It turned out quite good. One thing I noticed is that the cornbread broke up quite a bit. After baking the bread, it calls for cooling the bread to room temp, then cubing and drying in oven. I cooled bread by putting it outside so not sure if that had anything to do with it, but I was under a time crunch. I also only used 1 lb of sausage as that is what the logs in the store are. The one used was Jimmy Dean Maple. I think spicy or another flavor would have been better, but I was not the one buying the groceries, so I had to take what I got. I did add a bit of cayenne which gave it a very mild kick.

I also added 3-4 slices of cubed Brownberry Buttermilk bread, thinking it may add a good textural bit, as I assumed the cornbread would get grainy. Not sure if it helped as all incorporated into one big mass.

I would definitely make this again; just maybe modify the few small things mentioned.

It went quite well with the smoked turkey and holds up well without any gravy.

Jamie

The original recipe for my favorite cornbread stuffing came from epicurious.com, but here's my adaptation:

Cornbread, Sausage, Apple and Dried Cranberry Stuffing

1 pound Jimmy Dean pork sausage Original flavor
1/2 stick butter
3 large leeks, chopped
1 lb (about 3) Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored, chopped
2 cups chopped celery with leaves
Dried sage, thyme, and salt to taste
1 package (6 oz) dried cranberrries
2 Jiffy cornbread mixes, baked, cooled, broken into bite-size chunks and slightly dried
1/2 cup chopped parsley
Salt and pepper
3 eggs, beaten
1 1/3 cups chicken broth

Preheat oven to 350. Grease 15x10x2-inch baking dish (I use a foil lasagne pan.). Fry sausage in skillet until no longer pink, breaking up with a wooden spoon. Drain; place sausage in large bowl.

Melt butter in same skillet. Add leeks, apples, celery and seasonings; saute until leeks soften, about 8 min. Stir in cranberries. Add mixture to sausage in bowl; mix in cornbread and parsley. Adjust seasonings to taste. Season with salt and pepper. Mix eggs into stuffing.

Pour broth over stuffing; mix until well moistened. Transfer to prepared dish. Cover with buttered foil; bake until heated thru, about 45 min. Uncover and bake til golden, about 15 min. Makes about 18 cups.

Jamieson22 wrote:So, I ended up making the stuffing from Cook's Illustrated "Best New Recipe".

...snip...

It turned out quite good. One thing I noticed is that the cornbread broke up quite a bit. After baking the bread, it calls for cooling the bread to room temp, then cubing and drying in oven. I cooled bread by putting it outside so not sure if that had anything to do with it, but I was under a time crunch. I also only used 1 lb of sausage as that is what the logs in the store are. The one used was Jimmy Dean Maple.

...snip...

Jamie

With regards to the cornbread cooling outside vs. inside/oven, the idea behind the oven is that it would dry out the cornbread, making it more like a crouton, which would in turn "stand up" better to the wet components of the stuffing. The only other suggestion that I'd offer, knowing that hindsight is 20/20, is to use a toaster or toaster oven to dry 'em out. Well, ok, there's one more suggestion - crumble the cornbread and put it in front of a fan.

I've used this recipe as my go-to for stuffing over the last three or so years, making both the "Golden Cornbread" and the stuffing, with a couple of minor alterations:

1) Coarse polenta for the cornbread recipe adds a nice textural difference.

2) Whole Food$ has a pork sausage with sage. Incorporating this and replacing the fresh sage called for in the recipe backgrounds the flavor a bit; I save and crush the sage into the gravy which is destined for mashed potatoes and the aforementioned stuffing.

3) Cook's Illustrated tends to be a light-handed with their seasonings; I routinely add a couple of dashes of cayenne pepper and a few grinds of black pepper to the saute-ing aromatics for a little extra zing. Yes, those measurements are exact.

4) There's a lot of liquid in the recipe... I use 1/2C less chicken stock. Seems to help the cornbread keep its shape better.

Now, let's all say it together, "Turkey in a bag is BAD."

Regards,
-sherman

Sherman wrote:
With regards to the cornbread cooling outside vs. inside/oven, the idea behind the oven is that it would dry out the cornbread, making it more like a crouton, which would in turn "stand up" better to the wet components of the stuffing. The only other suggestion that I'd offer, knowing that hindsight is 20/20, is to use a toaster or toaster oven to dry 'em out. Well, ok, there's one more suggestion - crumble the cornbread and put it in front of a fan.

I didn't skip the oven dry step. The only shortcut I took was it called for letting the conrbread cool to room temp BEFORE cubing and oven drying. Rather than letting it come to room temp, I put the fresh from oven baked cornbread on back deck to cool down, then cubed and put in oven to dry.
Jamie

Jamieson22 wrote:I didn't skip the oven dry step. The only shortcut I took was it called for letting the conrbread cool to room temp BEFORE cubing and oven drying. Rather than letting it come to room temp, I put the fresh from oven baked cornbread on back deck to cool down, then cubed and put in oven to dry.
Jamie

Aahh... please accept my apologies for misreading the post. Any thoughts on the modifications?


-sherman

I went ahead and tried the recipe that stevez recommended (with a few mods) above and it turned out great. Only thing I'd suggest is using a sausage a little more robust in flavour than the WholeFoods italian sausage with sage. I was reluctant to use anything bold & too spicy since our turkey was already cajuned, but the sausage component ended up being a tad on the side of ordinary.

Just thought I'd follow up with a testimonial (since I had asked for one earlier).

Sherman wrote:
Aahh... please accept my apologies for misreading the post. Any thoughts on the modifications?

-sherman

No need to apologize, my post was confusing!

If I had skipped the oven drying, it would be easy to attribute the crumbling issue to that. I simply started oven drying it with a quick cool down, so wasn't sure if that could affect it at all.

As for your mods, I also added some cayenne which I think does well in it. As for liquid, I made mine the night before and followed their advice for adding additional cream and stock (I believe that was the things that got bumped, can't remember by how much, maybe 1/2 C total). I had also added 4 slices of buttermilk bread and if anything mine was a bit too dry. This could also have been affected by the fact I cooked it at home, then traveled with it to the dinner location where it was warmed again in the oven. I also only used 1 lb of sausage and I can't say it was lacking in sausage distribution, though that could remove some moisture from it as it called for 1.5 lbs.

Jamie

Bumping this thread to see if anyone else has any great cornbread stuffing recipes. I'm thinking about using the one from Sarah Leah Chase's Cold Weather Cookbook which includes a Sambuca corn bread recipe which then gets turned into stuffing. Other ideas?

I actually made Giada's turkey sausage and chestnut stuffing twice in the past and it was absolutely delicious. Here it is:

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/giad ... index.html

Tomorrow, we're making Charlie Palmer's Oyster cornbread stuffing:

http://www.chow.com/recipes/10453-cornb ... r-stuffing