For National Stuffing Day: Two versions of homemade cornbread Dressing

 These are from the PC Cooks! Cookbook published in 2018 from Tampa, FL by the GF Writer

Johnson/Lee Cornbread Dressing

(I find Cornbread dressing tends to be dry, so the version that is topped with turkey broth is the one I use most often)

Mrs. Johnson’s Northern version of Cornbread Dressing

Use 1 cup self-rising corn meal

1 cup self-rising flour

1 stick butter

1 egg

3 tbsp of white Karo Corn syrup or

3 tbsp of sugar (Gan-gan did NOT use sugar...said it was “Yankee” cornbread when sugar was added)

1 cup milk

Mix at least 2 minutes. Pour in pan & bake at 350 degrees for 25 minutes.

 

Gan-Gan’s Southern Cornbread Dressing

 

4 cups corn meal

4 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon soda

2 eggs

3 cups buttermilk

2 teaspoons salt

 

Make egg bread of above ingredients.  Bake in quick oven until light brown.  When cool, crumble thoroughly and add to it:

1 1/2 cups minced celery

1/2 cup minced onion

2 cups bread crumbs

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon pepper

Bind together with turkey broth made by boiling the neck and giblets in salted water.  Oysters can be added to dressing if desired.

If cooked in a flat pan, grease. and bake in a 350 degree oven for about 35 minutes or until 'set.'

 

On the Allure of Homemade Bread

 

There is usually no greater allure to any type of forbidden object or item than to tell someone they cannot use a certain thing or eat a specific food. That is the foundation of my belief; that it's a sure thing when it comes to the hypnotic effect of smelling homemade bread.

Most people love the scent of freshly baked bread.  That smell can attract people and animals for miles as it wafts through the air. In my city, there was a bread factory that was known from miles away as you drove by on the highway and suddenly got a deep sniff of the fresh homemade bread.

And for those who are on a celiac and gluten-free diet, there is even greater attraction to the forbidden scent of homemade bread. And it’s why there is a never-forgotten memory I will retain forever surrounding that lovely smell

It happened when I was on a cruise some years ago. The table was set and we were ready to give our orders, when the waiter appeared with a clean cloth over a small, homemade loaf of freshly baked, “Gluten-Free” bread! I remember carefully wrapping it and taking it to the depths of my small room in the ship, where I would lovingly savor some portion of the bread each morning thereafter.

And when I have been at home, there has been no greater treasure during the holidays than the one where I could actually make a loaf of homemade bread. Of course, I cheated. I used a bread maker! But the gluten free bread still held the smell that tantalizes and tempts all who were near.

There is nothing quite like the smell of homemade bread. But when the bread is something that is often so rare that it becomes a treat only a few times a year, then the homemade bread event takes on a legendary appeal.