Please overlook the photo of my dressing. It tastes much better than it looks! Of course, I forgot to get a picture of it on my plate with the fixings and before cutting into it.....and so there you have it, maybe I can get a better picture of it next time I make it and I'll try to update the photo when I make it again. At the request of my oldest son.... here's the recipe....
First, cook a small chicken or hen in a large pot with a little bit of salt and pepper and covered with water, ( I used a cornish game hen, it was frozen and I thawed it in the refrigerator a couple of days before I needed it). Bring it to a boil and then slightly cover the pot and reduce the heat until it is at a slow boil, cook it for about 40 minutes or so, or until when you poke a fork into the thigh there is no blood, when done, set broth aside for the dressing.
While waiting for the chicken or hen to cook, you can cut up 1/2 cup onion and 1/2 cup celery and cook in about 1 to 2 Tablespoons of butter, until tender, set aside, you will add this to the Dressing. (tip: you can cut up onion and celery a day ahead and keep in the refrigerator.
Next make the Egg Bread, Preheat Oven to 375 degrees
For The Egg Bread You Will Need:
- 4 eggs
- 2 cups Pollard's Fine White Corn Meal ( or Hoover's White Corn Meal)
- 2 cups buttermilk
- sprinkle of salt
Mix above ingredients and bake in a greased iron skillet or baking pan for about 50 minutes or until golden brown. Let cool. Then crumble the egg bread into an extra large bowl, use a biscuit cutter or fork to crumble it up well.
Now You Are Ready To Make The Dressing
For The Dressing:
Add the cooked celery and onion to the bowl of crumbled egg bread, add a little salt and pepper to taste, add in some of the chicken (or hen) broth slowly and a little at the time, until it is a little bit soupy, season more the taste. Tip: If mixture gets too soupy you can add in some crumbled white bread to absorb some of the broth. Next, pour it into a 13x9 inch greased casserole dish or baking pan and bake at 375 degrees for about 45-55 minutes or until golden brown.
Serve with the chicken that you boiled, or turkey or ham and all the fixings!
Enjoy!
This recipe is a 5th generation recipe... it goes back to my Dad's Mama's Mama. I got it from my Grandma C. (dad's mama), in 2013, when she was 86 years old. She is now 93 years old. I am so happy to have this delicious dressing recipe. Grandma didn't have an actual recipe to give me, because she's always just made it the way her mama did... and she'd learned by watching her mama make it.... but she gave me instructions over the phone and I wrote everything down according to her instructions and she'd say, "put in about this much and about that much." She had just done it so many times, I don't think she really measured it. But anyhow, the instructions she gave to me makes it turn out great and it's not hard to make.
My grandma was a simple cook and she taught me how to cook back when I was a teenager, (many years ago). I spent a lot of time with her in her kitchen and I will always cherish the time spent with her way back then. I hold those days very close to my heart. She is a beautiful, sweet and humble lady. She's precious....one of the most soft spoken, and patient people that I know. Below I've included a scanned picture of her when she was a young lady. I'm so glad to have this picture to include with the recipe.
I'm so happy to have this recipe to pass down to the next generation so that they can cook it too!