 The Southern Foodways Alliance has a pretty solid collection of community cookbooks in their office—and many more in their staffers' home libraries. And the holidays seem like the right time to whip them out and share some choice recipes with you, our readers. So fix yourself an eggnog, pull up a seat, and check back often between now and New Year's for their Holiday Throwback Recipes. Today's Cookbook: In 1980, Southern Foodways Alliance founder John Egerton and his wife, Ann, came up with a much better holiday dispatch than the much-mocked Christmas letter: a hand-typed, spiral-bound cookbook of some two dozen recipes from their family and friends. That was the first edition of The Lovin' Spoonfuls, and the Egertons published volumes 2 and 3 in 1982 and 1984, respectively. Twenty-five years later, they bundled the original three Lovin' Spoonfuls with an all-new fourth edition. The NEW Lovin' Spoonfuls boasts some 100 recipes, from civil rights activist Rev. Will Campbell's "All-Purpose Sauce" to the late Hap Townes's famous stewed raisins.
"This may be a good time to tell you about our grander plans for 1986. If all goes well, Alfred A. Knopf of New York will publish that fall or the next our volume of collected wisdom about food in the history and culture of the South. The working title is Southern Food: An Entertainment. We'd love for you to help us. If you know of any rare old cookbooks, magazine articles, recipes, great places to eat, memorable quotes, funny stories, wise people, etc., that we need to be acquainted with, send us word." We think it's safe to say that all went well on that front! Now pass the cornbread dressing, please. Grandmother White's Cornbread Dressing (from the 1980 Lovin' Spoonfuls) There is no telling how far back this prize recipe goes; John has been eating it for over four decades, and it was a venerable specialty in his family long before he took his place at the table. Grandmother white, and after her Rebecca, John's mother, passed the recipe down in a cryptic shorthand that only wise cooks could understand. Here it is, with as much interpretation as we can add for clarity. Mix together: 2 cups white cornmeal Add enough buttermilk to give the mixture the consistency of cornbread batter; pour into a black skillet greased with hot bacon grease; bake in 400 degree oven for about 30 minutes, or until crispy brown—like cornbread (which, in fact, it is). When done, take out and dump on rack to cool. When the bread is cold, crumble it up thoroughly. Then saute a little onion and celery (how much, you may wonder; enough to make their presence felt), add them to the bread, and sprinkle on a little sage to suit your taste. Moisten the mixture with turkey broth, making it sticky enough to shape by hand into patties about the size of large eggs. Lay these onto a cookie sheet and run into a 350 degree oven until they're piping hot, well-browned, and crusty (about 30 min). (If you prefer, you can stuff the dressing into your turkey, but we seem to like it better served in patties alongside the sliced meat and mashed potatoes, where it can be generously doused with gravy.) This recipe should make enough dressing to serve four hungry holiday diners. We routinely double it, and have been known to triple it. Whether fresh or left over, hot or cold, it is superb, and never in memory has a single crumb of it gone begging at any house or in any generation of our clan. We would consider a turkey without this dressing to be indecently exposed. Properly prepared, it is more to be sought and savored than the big bird itself. Grandmother White attained greatness with this one. Okay, now it's YOUR turn. Tell us all about your stuffing and dressing traditions in the comments below and we'll share our favorites in an upcoming post. More from the Southern Foodways Alliance and all our best Thanksgiving advice and recipes |
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I like a stuffing with some substance, chewy and crunchy on the edges. I use whole wheat maza farfel, which is the whole wheat matza broken into i/8 inch pieces. I saute onin, carrots and celery, season with salt, pepper, and chicken stock, and then mix in the matza farfel to soak up the juices. I bake this in a casserole dish, or in hollowed out zucchini boats, and serve along side the turkey. the matza farfel that is wet gets soft, but doesn't melt like soft bread, and the surface bits are nice and crunchy. This is a favourite for Passover and for Thanksgiving.
Mrs. Cubbisons cubed white bread herb stuffing mix, Onions, Celery, Sage, garlic powder, salt, Pepper, butter, applesauce broth from cooking neck and giblets ( toss the giblets after boiling, chicken broth if needed.
We do our dressing very simply. Over the course of the year, we freeze leftover scraps of homemade bread, sourdough, white, wheat, no knead, etc. the key is it has to have some structure, not like soft store bought bread. Tear the bread up, add celery, onion, turkey, salt and pepper and thoroughly mix, then add egg and broth. I don't know amounts on any of it, just what looks good, then bake and eat. (leftovers are awesome put in a toaster oven to put a little crunch on the edges.
AIN'T NO ONE GETTIN' MY CONEBREAD!!!
Please don't forget the thanksgiving b eer.
There's gotta be a recipe that has cornbread and beer in it somewhere.
Why yes, there is! This one looks pretty good, but Google beer cornbread stuffing and there is quite a few.
http://www.hsbeer.com/recipe/loose-cannon-cornbread-stuffing/
Direct Hit! That one is on the mark and will hit our table too. I'll look around a bit but this one has cornbread, beer and nuts – what else could be missing? Thanks
Please don't forget the thanksgiving beer either. (Polish potato vodka is an acceptable substitute). mmmmmm.
It has to be Stove Top, cornbread variety, cooked outside of the bird. Anything else, and it ain't Thanksgiving, and you obviously hate America.
StoveTop chicken or turkey or regular, enhanced with fresh onions, celery, extra sage, extra butter. Stuffed in the bird and some cooked outside. That's the was we roll in my house...
That actually does sound really good...
We just made it Sunday and had the leftovers last night, it was super tasty. I like the added crunch the fresh veggies add, although I saute them in the butter first before adding the chicken broth instead of water. Like I said yesterday, it was a semi-homemade turkey dinner... :)
Exactly how my Pops does his dressing. I like how you roll!
I like pops. Dressing though? Stuffing in my house. :)
I like Stovetop so much that sometimes I will just cook and eat an entire box on my own. I like your extra butter idea. I may have to try that...
Sorry to bust everyone's Thanksgiving but......... That ain't healthy. Grandma has no clue what white flour = no nutritional value. HA, whoops.
Thanksgiving isn't about nutritional value. It's about America and family and giving thanks. It's the one day a year it's ok to eat and eat. GOD Bless America and turkeys and dressing and mashed potatoes and gravy. And sweet potato soufflé and pumpkin pie. mmmmmmm. And beer.
Ha Ha! That's most important, giving thanks! :)
Beer!
HEY! Don't forget chopped jalapenos in the cornbread!
Or green chilis, so darn good.
Gotta go easy on the spicy on Turkey Day. That's the last day you want to get a case of the whistles!
No worries, if you feel a southerly gale a coming you can share the company of the smokers on the back porch.