Oyster Cornbread Dressing – A Once-a-Year Favorite
The great thing about a traditional annual feast is that you tend to cook the same things every year but never in between. Thanksgiving is a perfect example. I don’t roast a turkey, make dressing or cranberry relish except on Thanksgiving. But once a year I really crave those things, especially the silky oyster cornbread dressing that my wife makes. The recipe dates back to a cookbook from the Monroe, Louisiana, Junior League and is attributed to one Bess Burns, who must have been a fine cook. Having a dressing recipe attributed to you in the South is quite an honorific, believe me. This is an old-fashioned recipe, using things like bouillon cubes and packaged dressing mix that I normally would not consider, but trust me, it works.
What makes it dressing rather than stuffing? The technical answer may be that it is cooked separately rather than inside the bird, but actually, it’s all about geography. Stuffing is unheard of in the South, just as dressing is in the North, and you can just about draw a perfect dividing line at the Mason-Dixon. Southerners will call it dressing no matter how it is cooked.
Dressing with oysters was not part of my childhood. My mother’s (and her mother’s) cornbread dressing, a dish that we did have often during the year, was rich and creamy with duck fat with juicy pieces of duck meat mixed in. It was almost a savory pudding and was absolutely addictive. Now, though, I am a convert to the oyster concept. The briny oysters smooth out the intense poultry flavors that are so predominant throughout the meal. Adding a sausage mixture gives it another rich layer of flavor. The real key here, though, is the cornbread. Making good cornbread isn’t difficult, but practice helps. As Bess mandates here, cooking it in anything other than a cast iron skillet is not even an option! See kwkitchen.com for my favorite cornbread recipe.
Oyster Cornbread Dressing (adapted from Bess Burns’ recipe)
Make your favorite cornbread recipe in a cast iron skillet and set aside to cool.
Chop ½ green bell pepper, 3 celery ribs, 1 bunch green onions, and 1 medium yellow onion. Sauté with 1½ pounds hot Tennessee Pride sausage until the sausage is browned. Add 2 cups chicken stock, 1 cup of butter and 4 chicken bouillon cubes dissolved in 1 cup boiling water. Pour the mixture into a large Dutch oven (ideally enameled cast iron). Add 4 eggs, 1 teaspoon Lawry’s seasoning salt, ¼ teaspoon cayenne, ¼ teaspoon black pepper, a huge dash of salt, 2 pints oysters (along with the liquid they are stored in) and 1 package Pepperidge Farm dressing mix. Gently stir to combine.
Bake uncovered at 450 degrees for about 1-1 ½ hours until the dressing is bubbling and the crust is brown (cover with foil if browning too much). Serve directly from the pot.
Serves: “12 amply” per Bess
Wine: Anything your guests want. It’s Thanksgiving!
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