It’s a Family Tradition Susan K. Earl

Thanksgiving brings many things to mind each year. In fact, it is my all-time favorite holiday. I love the warmth of spending time with family and friends. Everyone offering their thanks for the blessings received during the past year, as well as offering thanks for the day and future days to come. It is a time when generations gather together to bond once more. Thanksgiving is a day when our family can come together without the pressures of gifts, enjoy delicious food, family, and football. Everyone in my family is a big Cowboys fan. And no matter what, even if our Thanksgiving dinner is running late, the game will still be on, it’s tradition!! Although, my husband is not allowed to touch the remote control - or any electronics for that matter because he gets a little too excited when they don’t make the right plays, which puts the remote in grave danger! However, there is one Thanksgiving traditions that stands above the rest for me.

My most favorite Thanksgiving tradition in our family is my mom’s cornbread dressing. Her recipe was kept a strictly guarded secret for years. Finally, several years ago, when she was no longer able to handle Thanksgiving on her own, she decided to pass the recipe down to her own children. My sister, Vickie, and I were ecstatic to finally discover her secret recipe. We even competed for several years to see who could make dressing most like Mom’s. Thanksgiving would not be Thanksgiving without Mom’s cornbread dressing. Now the tradition continues because it has become a treasured task my daughter and I do together; it brings us closer together and evokes a warm memory for us of my mom. It is a very special bonding moment.

Mom’s cornbread dressing has also created a traditional debate. My daughter, Amber, is a great debater, and one of her favorite debates is to tease me with the question, “Is it dressing or stuffing?” Every Thanksgiving as we make dressing to go with our turkey, my daughter loves to debate that we shouldn’t call it dressing because the proper name is stuffing! It’s become a part of our tradition because in my southern family we’ve always made dressing. Some of her friends who originated from the northern states make stuffing; therefore, she had to adapt to what was popular with her friends. This mild debate goes on every year, yet it abated somewhat the year we “stuffed” the turkey with white bread stuffing instead of our traditional dressing. That totally changed her mind and her desire to fervently debate the difference between dressing and stuffing. The definition we finally agreed upon to determine the difference between dressing and stuffing was that dressing is baked separately from the turkey in its own pan, and then it is set out to “dress up” the turkey, while stuffing is baked inside the turkey and dug out of the bird before served.

Now everyone has their own idea of the perfect Thanksgiving accompaniments for their turkey, but in our home the dressing has always been more desired than all else, including the prized turkey. Not to be disrespectful to those who prefer stuffing, but we’ve been very disappointed when “subjected” to this northern bread stuffing. While this is fine for those folks that grew up with the white bread and sage variety, for us, there is nothing to compare to my mom’s recipe for southern cornbread dressing. Moist, herb flavored, slightly sweet; this dressing is the perfect accompaniment to turkey, cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes, and gravy. Other side dishes beware because they will be shunned in favor of the dressing, gravy, and turkey.

To make Mom’s dressing, you really need to start a couple of days prior to Thanksgiving. It’s important that the cornbread, as well as the slices of white bread, are slightly dry. To make sure, you need to bake your pan of cornbread at least two days before you prepare the dressing. Then it can rest comfortably in its pan, covered in foil, until you are ready to make the dressing. If you follow the recipe, you cannot go wrong.

Mom’s Cornbread Dressing Recipe (not stuffing!) Preheat oven to 400⁰ 1 large skillet or pan of cornbread (cooked at least 1 day before making dressing) 8 slices of white bread (2 to 3 days old) ¾ c. diced celery 1 small or ½ large onion diced 1 small apple diced 2 eggs (uncooked) 1 tsp. salt (or to taste) ½ tsp. pepper (or to taste) 5 tsp. sage (or to taste) 5 c. turkey broth or more until mixture is really moistened. Crumble cornbread and tear white bread into small pieces. Place in large mixing bowl and combine with all other ingredients. Mix well, then pour into casserole dish and bake until top is brown and crunchy. Inside of dressing should still be very moist.

This is a family tradition that I will always cherish. It holds a special place in my heart because of the warm memories it creates of growing up with my brothers and sisters, my dad, my grandparents, and especially of mom and her special, carefully guarded secret cornbread dressing recipe. It is a tradition that I am proud to pass down to my own children and grandchildren, and I cherish the memories this tradition continues to bring to my family.