Happy Thanksgiving from Heritage Farm
I love Thanksgiving! It’s my very favorite holiday!
I could go into all the reasons we should all be thankful…which would make a lovely post…but instead, I’m just going to go ahead and tell you one thing for which I am VERY thankful!
Family recipes…and all the amazing women who came before me who passed them down. Those strong, beautiful southern women enjoyed feeding the people they loved…and I am honored to be counted among their people.
Some of these women were gone before I was born, but still, I have their recipes. And I haven’t changed a thing.
I honor them for who they were…some living on 40-acre plots of share-cropper land in NW Louisiana…some coming down from Georgia and South Carolina…some braving trips across the deep blue sea from Ireland…some busying their hands with raising children alone without the help of a man…some dripping with diamonds and others dripping with sweat…women spread out from Louisiana to Arkansas…from the Pacific Northwest to Houston Texas…from the Red River all the way to the state line…but one thing they all had in common: they cooked, and they cooked well.
I love to talk about honor…and if you read this blog on a regular basis, you’ll hear a lot about that. I have come to believe that honor has less to do with what we SAY and more to do with how we treat people. Honor puts weight on the worthy things…and I put weight on my family recipes.
I believe that somehow when we show an interest in the things to which our people have given their lives, we are truly honoring them. It doesn’t matter if anyone else sees the importance of those things…if WE do, it validates the time, the effort, the sacrifices that were made to do something worthwhile. It might be BIG things…or it might be SMALL things…like a recipe written on stained, yellowed paper in messy handwriting.
No matter what the dynamics in YOUR family, there IS a way to honor those who came before you. It might be singing a little song that someone sang to you as a child, or hanging a picture in your home, or visiting someplace that had significance to your people at one time. It might be saying something out loud that you’ve kept locked away in your heart for a long time or telling your children a story about someone who planted a tree for those who would one day come after. It might be forgiving someone who didn’t ask for it, and dang sure didn’t deserve it. Whatever it might be for YOUR family, I promise you’ll be glad you found a way to honor. Somehow, when we do, clear, healing waters will flow a bit more freely across the rocky places of our hearts.
So in honor of Estelle and Ethel, Bobbie, Cortez, Glenda, Mertis, Everlyn and Edna…Norma, Lois and Esther, Christine and Mollie Lolly…and so many others…here’s my favorite cornbread dressing recipe just in time for Thanksgiving!
I’m gonna serve this with gravy and canned cranberry sauce…and I’m gonna serve it with love and with honor for all those who came before me.
(I would love for you to share a favorite recipe or comment below! Edwin and I hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving Holiday with the people you love the most!)
Mama’s Cornbread Dressing
Makes one FULL 9 X 13 cast-iron skillet of buttermilk cornbread plus some.
A lot of this recipe is “to taste.” I always taste the raw dressing. The
spices will enhance when it cooks. Be scarce with salt—the breads are already salty to some extent.
(IF YOU DON’T HAVE A CAST-IRON SKILLET, OR YOU DON’T KNOW HOW TO MAKE BUTTERMILK CORNBREAD, COME SEE ME AS SOON AS POSSIBLE; WE’VE GOT TO FIX THIS!)
FIRST:
Bake 4-6 biscuits-scratch or canned (Don’t tell Mama I said that)
Let breads cool, and crumble in large dishpan to mix.
No large hunks should be left.
Some will dissolve later when adding broth.
(My mama used cornbread ONLY, but I like the creamier texture the biscuits give)
ADD:
One bunch of green onions chopped by hand—use green stems, too.
Six raw eggs
Add enough chicken broth to make the dressing almost drinkable.
Add a lot of broth and keep some aside to add later.
Pepper and Poultry Seasoning to taste.
(I go pretty heavy on the Poultry Seasoning. It has sage in it.)
BAKE:
Put in large foil pan and bake at 350. After one hour, stir the whole
pan, integrating the cooked “edges” into the whole.
Bake another hour. Stir again.
Add more broth if the dressing feels at ALL dry.
Bake until done through the middle.
20 minutes before it’s done, add a whole cubed chicken,
and more broth if needed.
Stir whole pan.
Finish Cooking.
(Dressing can be cooked 2 or 3 days ahead. If you do this, add chicken the day you will serve. Dressing can also be frozen. If you freeze, add chicken the day you will serve.)
GRAVY:
Two cans of cream of chicken soup. Two cans of water.
Stir together and warm on the stovetop. Add some yummy turkey drippings.
If you don’t have turkey drippings, use chicken broth instead of the two
cans of water. When the gravy is warm, add six boiled eggs, chopped.
Serve dressing with gravy and cranberry sauce.