Recipes for Sausage or Oyster-Cornbread Stuffing

[fierydrunk]

I have a fantastic cornbread stuffing recipe of my grandmom's I make every single year, but this year wanna mix things up a bit and add oysters or sausage...I have done a big internet search and it has been difficult to find something that requests very few, if any, spices (boo hiss) or requests those awful herbed croutons which I REFUSE TO EAT!

I will be both stuffing a bird and making some in a pan---can I just add a pint of shucked oysters to a regular cornbread stuffing recipe? Better yet, any recipes y'all wanna share? Links?

[Gifted Gourmet]

recipe number one ...Recipe Goldmine

Southern Cornbread and Oyster Dressing

recipe number two ... Food Network

Oyster Stuffing From Food Network Kitchens

recipe number three ... the Golden Egg

Oyster-Cornbread Stuffing for Turkey

From: Oysters: A Connoisseur's Guide and Cookbook

[Lady Crumpet]

I had never heard of oysters being used in stuffing until I read about it in this week's Dining section of the New York Times. I'm pretty intrigued. Stuffing (or dressing) sounds like it could be a main course (with the turkey, etc. on the side). ;)

Here's the article:

There's Only One Stuffing: Ask Any Cook

[Gifted Gourmet]

Welcome to the Southeast Forum, Lady Crumpet! Thank you for this deliciously appealing article on stuffing!

[woodburner]

My grandmother made a simple but classic oyster pie, using freshly shucked oyster's and crumbled oyster crackers, with some cream. I never saw her recipe, but it most likely was very similar to:

this

woodburner

[bleudauvergne]

Growing up we always had the oyster stuffing pushed into the neck cavity. My mother used to add canned oysters but I use fresh. It's just the regular cornbread stuffing with oysters and their juice added.

I've just been to see the recipe that woodburner posted and it looks simply delicious.

[Mayhaw Man]

This is dressing. It is to be made in a pyrex dish, not stuffed inside of a Turkey. The recipe comes from my mother's cookbook, and this is as real and as good as it gets. Really.

In a way, I hate it when I do this because my mother wrote this book for her children, and she assumed that we all know how to do some stuff, so she fails to describe, in much detail anyway, a number of steps-so after I post the whole thing, quoted from the book, I will try to translate Delta Drawl into Standard English.

Brooksie’s Oyster/Cornbread Dressing

1 Large  Black Iron Skillet Cornbread

1 tsp.  White pepper

1  tsp.  Black pepper

1 tsp.  Garlic Powder

1  tsp.  Sage

1 tsp.  Basil

1 tsp.  Oregano

1 tsp.  Rosemary (finely chopped)

2 tsp.  Table Salt

1 bunch  green onions, chopped

3 each  yellow onions

6 ribs  celery

5 each  large eggs

1 can  Cream of Chicken Soup

6 each  stale biscuits, crumbled (I use the food processor)

3 cups  Homemade chicken stock

1 pint  Oysters (drain and reserve juice for dressing dry during baking)

1        stick          Butter

Make cornbread ahead of time. Melt butter in a large skillet and saute the chopped vegetables. Crumble cornbread and biscuits in food processor. Mix in a large container with cooked vegetables, seasonings, chicken stock. Use several cups until the mixture is moist all the way through. Fold in thoroughly beaten eggs. If it isn’t moist enough add more chicken stock and maybe some oyster liquor. Add the oysters and mix a bit more. Put in a 9X13 Pyrex dish and bake at 350f until golden.

Daddy always said that Mother cheaped out on the oysters for he thought that you couldn’t get enough in it.

Mother and Lucille always tried to top each other on how many eggs that they put in it. They thought the more the better.

You can make the casserole ahead of time and freeze it and you will be ahead of yourself for Thanksgiving and Christmas.

Mother’s favorite meal was turkey and dressing. She would cook it anytime that she had more than 6 people visiting. She would even cook half a turkey just to have the meal and not have much left over.

I really to make dressing, something rewarding in it.....

Ok. Let's break this down.

That would be a twelve inch black iron pan, but of course, all you really need is a bunch of day old cornbread. The cornbread used is real cornbread with real yellow cornmeal. Not something out of a box. Take the time to make it. Why go to all of the trouble just to mess up the whole thing with bad cornbread?

The Cream of Chicken Soup-just go buy the damn stuff and use it. You'll be glad you did. Believe me, this is not a Sandra Lee recipe. THere is some serious skill in getting the moisture content right and this takes some trial and error. Remember, wetter is better than not wet when putting it together, you can always bake a bit longer to dry out.

Use more oysters than it says. Really, you can go crazy. They are cheap and plentiful here in South Louisiana during the winter, but still, if you live in some landlocked place, spend the money and buy the oysters.

This stuff is awesome. Really. I love it. It pretty much is the holidays to me. And I concur with my mother, there is something very satisfying about the process.

[snowangel]

Although my grandmother was born north of the Mason Dixon line, she would have loved your mother.

My SIL (where we will gather for T'day)indicated she's thinking of getting the "dinner" from the local supermarket -- turkey, dressing, 'taters, gravy, sides. Yikes! Think kind thoughts, please!

At least I'm in charge of appetizers. Larb is one of them. Another Yikes!

[fierydrunk]

Brooks--

OK, that recipe looks like THA BOMB, as the kids used to say.

I am excited to try it because it shares many of the same seasonings as my grandmom's recipe but includes stale biscuits and the oysters. I am definitely making it this year and will letcha know. I always make strictly Southern food at Thanksgiving or any potlucks here in Portland...and I consistently blow minds! This should be no exception.

One question...when making the bird, should we just skip stuffing it or put somethng else inside? I am going to listen to Brooks and just make the pan of dressing.

[Mayhaw Man]

I always stuff it full of apples, onions, celery, and whole garlic heads. I love that stuff when it gets scooped out, kind of like confit, sort of, kind of like some kind of hot relish.

Stuffing is not really something that you see much in the South, it's usually some kind of dressing.

Remember, like my mama says, "don't cheap out on the oysters."

[fierydrunk]

Yeah, I am from Memphis but I know my Dad would stuff his birds...but he's from the New York side of the family!

I was always a bigger fan of the food at my maternal grandmom's..born & raised for generations in Memphis, Tennessee. However, Yorkshire Pudding at my dad's mom's house was a total treat at Christmas!!!!!

[Rachel Perlow]

Wait, so is a pint of oysters "cheaping out" or is that the correct amount to use?

[Mayhaw Man]

A pint of oysters is cheaping out. Fact.

Now, it may be different for those of you that are forced to buy those little, tiny sad, non gulf oysters. The problem with only using a pint here is that Gulf Oysters lean towards large and that means that the distribution won't be right. Some people will get more than their fair share, and a chortage may also cause diners to dig through the casserole dish looking for oysters, ruining your presentation and causing family discord.

Mo is mo bettah!

[fierydrunk]

OK, so I live in Oregon and we get huge Yaquina Bay oysters. The mediums are like larges. So, should we get 2 pints of smalls?

[fierydrunk]

Hell, we got 2 pints of smalls!

This dressing will be sooooooo good. I can tell already. I will letcha know how it turns out. I made the cornbread and biscuits tonight and it was tough to keep my mitts off the cornbread!