Taste Like Crazy

The picture to the left is 1/2 of the recipe since Tucker’s taking it for a pot-luck tomorrow.

Crazy Dressing

4 cups crumbled cornbread [recipe at the end]
2 cups 1-inch cubes toasted bread
2 cups bird stock [recipe at the end]
2 pieces of thick cut bacon
3 celery stalks, diced
1 medium onion, diced
2 large eggs, beaten
1/2 stick butter
1/2 cup fresh sage
Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Combine your crumbled cornbread and bread cubes in a large mixing bowl. [Pepperidge Farm Country Cube Stuffing works great so that you don’t have to cut up bread.]

Cut your 1/2 stick of butter into cubes and sprinkle into bread mixture.

Finely chop your sage and add that to the bread and butter mix.

Cut your bacon into 1/4-1/2 inch pieces and fry in a pot until the fat is rendered [great word] and the bacon is golden. Add the bacon to the bread and butter and now sage mixture and set your pot back on the stove.

Add your celery and onions to the bacon grease and stir until coated. Once you start to smell the onions and celery, add the 2 cups of chicken stock. Bring that up to a boil and then reduce the heat to low and cook for about 10 minutes to soften your vegetables.

Let your onions, celery and stock cool for about 10 minutes. Once the mixture isn’t flesh burning hot, add it to the bread mixture.

Stir in your beaten eggs. If the eggs instantly become scrambled eggs, then you didn’t let your onion/celery mix cool enough and you should start over.

Pour the sloppy [and it should be sloppy] mix into a buttered 8 inch baking dish. Place the dish in the fridge and let it set for about 4 hours. [In the fridge! Overnight is fine too]

When you’re ready to bake it, preheat your oven to 350 degrees and bake for about 45 minutes. When you can start to smell the dressing, it’s probably time to check it.

Cornbread Recipe

2 cups yellow cornmeal
1 1/2 cups flour
2 teaspoons salt
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
3 eggs, beaten
2 cups milk
1/4 cup bacon grease

Preheat your oven to 425.

Put your bacon grease in a 10 inch round cast iron skillet and put it in the oven while it heats up.

Beat your eggs and milk together. Add your salt.

In another bowl, combine the rest of your dry stuff. Add your wet ingredients to the dry and stir to combine.

Once you’re done mixing everything together, grab your skillet out of the oven [careful, it’s freakin’ hot!] and pour the bacon grease into your mixture.

Stir until the whole thing is well mixed. Don’t worry about the initial sizzle; it’s supposed to do that.

Pour your batter into the skillet and bake for about 20 minutes or until the edges and top are brown and you can smell it.

Bird Stock

*Note* This is a very complicated recipe so please pay attention and read carefully. 

1 Chicken or Turkey or Duck or Pheasant or [insert fowl here]
1 large onion
3 carrots
3 ribs of celery
5 cloves of garlic
2 bay leaves
a clump of thyme
2 Tb pepper corns
kosher salt to taste

Cut your carrots and celery in half. Quarter your onion. Toss them into the pot.

Smoosh your garlic. Toss in with the celery, carrots and onion.

Put your bird in a big ole pot. [The pot should be about twice as tall as the tallest part of your bird.]

Toss in all of your other stuff.

Cover everything with water.

Set the pot on the stove and turn the burner to low. The stuff should not boil. If you can see steam rising off of the pot then it’s up too high.

The stock is done when you can break a bone with your hands.

Use a slotted spoon to remove everything but the stock. Check the bones for missed meat.

Use your stock in your dressing or in anything else that calls for chicken stock.

If you don’t use it all, freeze it in ice cube trays and then store in freezer bags.

I am very proud of you if you made it this far.

Quick tip on the dressing. If the mixture is too dry, add some more stock. The consistency before you put it in the fridge should be like cream of wheat. When you let the stuff set-up in the fridge, the bread will absorb some of the moisture.

Happy Thanksgiving!