Holiday times are around!

It seems like time keeps flying by at a rapid pace. It feels like it was January 2020 just yesterday.

Time is moving faster and I’m not certain if it’s tied to growing “older” but the rational conclusion is its probably of mixture of that and some other factors.

That said, it wouldn’t be a Thanksgiving or Christmas without homemade dressing. In case you’re on the fringe with how to make it and/or simply don’t know where to start, I have you covered.

Let’s get into my multi-generational family dressing recipe.

How to Make Dressing

Prep

Gather ingredients/materials

  • Cutting board
  • Quality knife
  • Mixing bowl x2 (very large and medium)
  • Non-stick skillet pan
  • Cast iron skillet pan
  • Serving dish (large)
  • Non-stick spray (Pam olive oil preferred)
  • Dough whisk (King Arthur Flour)
  • Bisquick
  • Buttermilk
  • Martha White cornmeal
  • Corn oil
  • 1 large egg
  • Land of Lakes unsalted butter
  • Turkey drippings (or chicken broth/stock combo)
  • 1 medium sized onion
  • Celery (4 stalks sliced finely)
  • Poultry seasoning
  • Oregano
  • Rubbed Sage (optional)
  • Salt & Pepper

Step #1

Make biscuits

  • If you’ve already made these biscuits before, feel free to reuse that process except using buttermilk instead of 2%.
  • If not, follow the guidelines here adhering to replacing 2% milk with buttermilk.

Step #2

Make the cornbread

  • Using a cutting board and sharp knife, chop 4-5 stalks of celery and a medium sized onion finely.
  • Sauté in a deep non-stick skillet pan half of 1/4 cup of land of lakes unsalted butter.
  • Put celery and sautéed onions to the side.

TIP: Add majority of flavor you want for dressing here. I like to use garlic salt, poultry seasoning, and pepper generously while sautéing.

  • Preheat your oven to 425F and place a cast iron skillet with corn oil into oven.
  • In a medium sized mixing bowl, pour 2 cups of Martha White cornmeal.
  • Add a tablespoon or two of corn oil to flour combined with 1 large egg.
  • Proceed to add 1 1/2 cup of green label buttermilk and mix all ingredients until incorporated evenly.
  • Add celery and onion you put to the side earlier to mixture, incorporate evenly.
  • Remove pre-heated cast iron skillet with corn oil from oven, pour incorporated mixture into skillet and cook for 22-27 minutes at 425F.
  • Be sure to spoon mixture out evenly once poured.
Should look like this once finished.

Step #3

Prepare Dressing

  • Preheat oven to 350F.
  • Using a very large mixing bowl, begin to crumble cornbread mixture into it.
  • Beat cornbread mixture with a dough whisk, a proper whisk is linked at the ingredients section above FYI.
  • Once beated, proceed to crumble 8-10 homemade “dusty biscuits”.
  • Repeat process of using dough whisk to incorporate.
  • Add a dash of poultry seasoning and oregano.
  • Incorporate evenly with dough whisk.
  • Once everything has been beaten finely with the dough whisk, proceed to add turkey drippings to mixture.
  • Add enough turkey drippings from your turkey to where the mixture begins to become soupy but not too soupy (think thick New England clam chowder).
  • Stir mixture evenly and incorporate, proceed to pour into a large casserole serving dish.
  • Spoon the top side of dish to where everything is flat and even.
  • Cook at 350F for 30-40 mins.

Step #4

Enjoy!

  • Take dressing out of oven and let cool for at least 15 minutes.
  • Surprise your family when it’s holiday meal time, serving hot.

Notes

I didn’t learn how to make this in one go. Believe me, it’s a trial and error run. But, I’ve laid these directions out as simple as I possibly can in the hopes they’re of use to you.

This is how I make dressing just like great grandma. Try it, experiment, and amend to your own fitting.

P.S. – chicken broth and chicken stock split half and half between each other can substitute turkey drippings but you won’t have the same flavor. You’re mixing cornbread and biscuits together, so all the flavor comes from the drippings, no matter what spice(s) you add to it. Nothing can really substitute turkey drippings in terms of that ultimate dressing flavor.

You can also totally use a turkey already cooked before and dump about 1/2-2/3 of a carton of chicken broth over it and reheat at 30 mins on 350F for a second batch. Add 1/4 stick of butter and sautéed onions to bottom of foil pan as well.