Another major first at our Thanksgiving table this year was cornbread stuffing (the smoked turkey being the other first). I'm more of a bread stuffing/dressing kind of gal and I thought the idea of cornbread stuffing was great: the sweetness of cornmeal, the briny hit of the olives, porky sausage, etc. etc. Well, yeah, no ...This stuffing had good flavor, but the texture was just off. The cornbread just absorbed the broth I used to moisten the stuffing and it got sorta mushy. The stuffing ended up being more pudding-like than stuffing-like.
Now I will admit that several million Southerners can't be wrong about the wondrousness of cornbread dressin' but my mother, who is quite the accomplished cook herself, made a similar stuffing for this Thanksgiving and had a response that was similar to mine.
Any cornbread stuffing lovers out there? Tell me what I missed, 'cause I have a rather open mind on this topic. At this point, I'm going back to my traditional bread stuffing for next year.
Posts
6 comments:
Ours is indeed not very "stuffing" like. It is smoother, sort of creamier, but has a firmness to it. It should absolutely not be pudding consistency. We cook the cornbread and get it really, really crumbly - more crumbly than yours looks. I add half and half to mine along with the chicken broth to make it creamier.
But, don't despair. I've never been able to get it totally right either. My SIL raved about her dressing and I had it for the 1st time this year. All I can say is I'd take yours just by looks over hers any day. It was truly horrible!
Anyway, I happened upon your blog searching for tips on doing the once a month (or at least once a week cooking thing). Nice blog!
Well I definitely didn't go the traditional route. My stuffing had prosciutto, black olives, celery, onions, garlic, and walnuts in it.
What was in your SIL's to make it so bad? Curious, and hoping to save myself from making similar mistakes. :-)
Did you toast the cornbread cubes? It helps.
Also, maybe not as much liquid. I don't mind the polentaishness, but then I generally use stale artisan breads (this year, sourdough and roasted garlic boule)
Yeah, I toasted ...
Next time I'll just make polenta and fold in the flavorings.
I think I'm just a bread stuffing kinda gal, not a cornbread stuffing one.
I love cornbread stuffing! I make it every year with dried cranberries, carmelized onion and fresh sage. What recipe do you use? One trick I like is to cut the pieces of cornbread into big chunks so that when you stir them into the pan with stuffing they don't get smushed together and mushy.
I would give it another shot - if you like cornbread I'd love to send you my recipe!
Thanks Maris. Can you post your recipe in the comments? I'm sure others would be interested in it too!
Post a Comment