Rocking Thanksgiving with Homemade Chicken and Dressings
Hey Riggsters! I would wager a guess that most of you game-changing grandmas know how to make Chicken and Dressing. Am I right? And yet, Chrys and I are finding that more and more young mamas are also joining this community and I was thinking you younger girls might need a easy breezy tutorial with a couple helpful hacks on what can seem like a complicated dish. So, here you go. I give you my Mama’s Chicken and Dressing, and I’m offering it way ahead of Thanksgiving to give you plenty of time to have a trial run. Or, you can just get your courage up and go for it on the big day? Me? I like to make mine ahead of time and freeze it to help with the Thanksgiving chaos! This recipe is a treasured tradition in our family. (It’s shown here with one of my husband’s other favs—banana pudding.) Try it and see if it doesn’t become golden in yours, too!
Ingredients for the Cornbread:
Two cups self-rising cornmeal
One third cup self-rising flour
Three tablespoons bacon grease or shortening
1 to 2 tablespoons sugar
1 and 3/4 cup of milk
2 eggs
Ingredients for the Dressing:
One good sized hen
One pan of cornbread
One 1 sleeve saltine crackers
Four stalks celery, chopped
1 Bunch of green onion/chopped
One white onion
Five eggs
Salt and pepper to taste
Three or four cups broth
Directions:
Let’s get started! Place a good-sized hen in a big boiler and cover it completely with water. (Hack: Over the last few years, I’ve begun skipping this step and using those wonderful roasted chickens from the grocery store!) Once it comes to a boil, turn it down and let it cook on low until the meat is ready to fall off the bones. Take the hen out and let it cool before de-boning it, but make sure you save the broth. It’s priceless and we’ll use it in just a bit.
Sift together two cups self-rising cornmeal and a third cup of self-rising flour. Cut in three tablespoons of shortening (bacon grease is better if you have it.) Add two eggs, one to two tablespoons of sugar, and one and three fourths cup of milk. Stir well, pour in cast iron skillet and bake in a 350-degree oven for thirty minutes, or until your cornbread is nice and brown. (Hack number 2: Martha White’s cornbread mix is a excellent substitution here if you don’t want to make your cornbread from scratch!)
Crumble cornbread in a large bowl along with a sleeve of crushed saltine crackers, add our chopped onion and celery, five more eggs, and salt and pepper it to taste.
Spoon everything into a buttered casserole dish. You’ll need a large one! (It’s important not to work your dressing too much. You’ll make it dry.) Last step— gradually add your broth until everything is soft and mushy. This isn’t an exact measurement, but you’ll use about three to four cups of broth. Here’s what the dressing looks like before you add the broth and cook it. And seriously, I would eat it like this but for the raw eggs!
We’ll cook it about an hour at 350 or until the dressing begins to firm up and the edges get a nice crust, stirring maybe once. That’s Mama’s Chicken and Dressing. ENJOY!
Happy November Hugs,
Shellie
