Cornbread Stuffing Research Paper

Growing up I ate cornbread stuffing every Christmas and Thanksgiving. Cornbread stuffing became a special treat for everyone in the family and is almost always everyone’s favorite dish at the table. For many years I thought that the way my Southern Grandmother made stuffing was the only way it could be made, Cornbread, celery, onions, pepper and chicken broth baked in the oven then scooped out and placed in the chicken. However, it’s come to my attention that there is another recipe for stuffing and it is the “original” recipe. This recipe calls for stale bread, herbs, and many other ingredients that are completely unnecessary. I decided to finally try “regular” stuffing and, to say the least, I am disgusted. I am so apologetic that so many people have

subjected themselves to such an inferior food. Cornbread stuffing surpasses regular stale bread stuffing by miles and I think it is time that I share my family's very simple, delicious cornbread stuffing. I will warn you now if you like extremely savory stuffing you may not like this recipe. Although it pairs well with savory foods such as turkey, collard greens and ham this cornbread stuffing has quite a sweet taste to it and is far from a traditional stuffing recipe. It’s especially delicious wrapped in thick turkey slices, with gravy and cranberry sauce.

Anyhow, let’s get to the recipes before I start drooling. Most of the ingredients you will need can be found in your cabinet or at the very least easily found in your local supermarket. The ingredients are listed below;

You want to start this recipe by getting a large glass bowl out. I like using a glass bowl because it is easier to see the batter which will help you find lumps or places where the batter isn’t mixed very well. But of course, you can use a darker bowl instead. Now you’ll want to pour in all of your dry ingredients. The order does not matter because all of it will be getting mixed together anyway. However, if you want a really smooth mixture feel free to put all of the dry ingredients through a sifter.

Next you should make a well in the dry ingredients for all of your wet ingredients to go. Why? I am not sure, but I’ve watched my fair share of cooking shows and Chefs always make a well in their dry ingredients. Now, if you’re a great egg cracker like myself you can just crack both of the eggs in the well of dry ingredients. But, if you are new to egg cracking or you’re just bad at it crack your eggs in a separate bowl. That way, if you accidently get a shell in there it is easier to get out.

Once the eggs are inside of your bowl, pour your milk and vegetable oil in the well as well. Grab a whisk and go to town. Whisk until you see no lumps. Whisk until you see no more dry ingredients. Whisk until your arm hurts. Then stop, we do not want you to over mix. Once the dry and wet ingredients are well incorporated you should stop mixing.

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit because you are going to start on the cornbread batter!

Grab a large 8x 12 baking pan. Whether it’s clear or dark doesn’t matter, but remember dark dishes bake faster. However, I would advise you to go for a non-stick clear baking pan because not only if the possibility of sticking almost non-existent the possibility of your cornbread burning is less significant.

Take out your stick of unsalted butter.

Cut about 2 tablespoons of the butter from the stick and put it into the microwave until it’s soft but not completely melted. How long this will take depends on your microwave and the temperature of the refrigerator. Once the butter is soft take your pastry brush, dip it into the butter and run the pastry brush all over the 8x12 baking pan. All. Over. It. Do not miss one spot. Butter is your best friend when it comes to cornbread and will add a beautiful richness to the whole dish. Of course, you don’t want the cornbread to be dripped with butter, but don’t be afraid to really coat the pan well. Make sure you don’t put the pastry brush in the sink, you will be using it again.

Once the pan is well buttered take your silicone cooking scraper which can be found very easily at Target, pick up your bowl of well mixed cornbread batter and pour it into the baking pan using the scraper to help you get all of the batter out. I am warning you, cornbread batter does not taste very good so try your best to get all of the cornbread batter out of the bowl or you will just end up wasting a lot of potential food. Grab the baking pan full of batter and place it into your preheated

oven.

Now you should use a timer, if you have a smartphone, there will be one on your phone, and set it to 15 minutes. Usually, the cornbread batter takes about 15 to 20 minutes to bake, so at the 15-minute mark it might not be done. Just make sure to keep an eye on it after the 15-minute mark because this batter can go from perfectly golden brown to blacker than coal very quickly.

While your cornbread is baking take your onion, the stock of celery, paring knife and cutting board.

Cut your onion into finely diced pieces. You don't want huge pieces of onion throughout the cornbread stuffing, but you don’t want the flavor to be nonexistent either. If you use a large onion to instead make sure you only use half of the large onion. While cutting the onion, you might want to chew gum. I have found that chewing gum and/or wearing glasses really helps my eyes not burn.

Take the seeds out of your red bell pepper and finely dice that as well.

Then take out your stock of celery. Some stocks are bigger than the other, but, in general, you’ll need about 1 cup of finely diced celery.

The cornbread should be done by now so take it out of the oven out of the oven and place it on a cooling rack.

Cut another tablespoon of unsalted butter off of the stick and place it in the microwave. This time, you want to melt it completely.

While the butter is melting take your fork and stab the cornbread all over.

Use your pastry brush to rub the melted butter onto the cornbread. The butter will melt on top of the cornbread, but it will also sink into the whole making the cornbread taste even more like heaven. Allow the cornbread to finish cooling down. Once again don’t put the pastry brush in your sink you will be using it again.

Turn your stove up to medium heat and put olive oil in the pan. I prefer a non-stick pan, but either is fine. Allow the pan to heat up for about 1 minute before pouring your celery, red pepper and onion in the pan with the olive oil.

While the pan is heating up, rinse off your silicone cooking scraper, you will be using it again.

When the pan is warm put the celery, onion and pepper into the pan. Allow the vegetable to saute for five minutes using the cooking scraper to move the vegetable around. Saute the vegetables until they cooked through and slightly brown, but make sure you do not cook them so much that they become soggy. You want the celery and onions to hold their shape. This process usually takes about 5 minutes. Once the vegetables are done take them off of the burner and allow them to cool down for about 10 minutes.

Take your cornbread off of the cooling rack. You want to take your large spoon and start breaking up the cornbread into small, medium, large sized pieces. You want a variety of sizes. There is no need to spend a large amount of time doing this. As long as the cornbread is broken up the cornbread stuffing will turn out delicious. Next you should scoop the pieces of cornbread into your second large glass bowl.

Take your cooled vegetables and pour them into the bowl filled with cornbread pieces. Begin to mix the cornbread and vegetables together. You will notice that some pieces of the cornbread have become moist due to the vegetable juices from the pan, but other parts are dry.

Pour in ½ cup of you chickens stock. You can use vegetable stock or water to replace the chicken stock, but chicken stock adds better flavor. I would also advise you not to buy the unsalted chicken stock. Why? Because we have barely added salt to this dish and we want this stuffing to taste good so salt is needed. My favorite chicken broth to use is the Swansons 100% Natural Chicken Broth. It has a rich chicken flavor and is just salty enough to make up for the lack of salt elsewhere in this dish. However, any well-seasoned chicken broth should work. I want you to start with ½ cup of Chicken broth instead of the whole cup because you want this mix to be sticky and moist but not runny. Sometimes when I make this dish I use the whole cup of chicken broth other times I use less. Stir this mixture and add chicken broth as needed. It is up to you to make sure that this cornbread is moist all throughout by not dripping wet.

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit While the oven is preheating take out another 8x12 dish, a bowl, your pastry brush and cut a ½ tablespoon of your unsalted butter off the stick.

Melt the butter completely in your microwave and use the pastry brush to apply a light amount of butter around the edges of you 8x12 baking pan. You don’t want to coat to the pan too heavily, you just want to make sure the cornbread does not stick to the pan.

Use your large spoon to scoop all of the moist unbaked cornbread stuffing into your lightly buttered pan. Place your wet cornbread mixture in a single layer, making sure it is all the same height so that some parts don’t burn while the rest is still too wet.

Place the dish into the oven for 25 to 30 minutes. Watching carefully to make sure the cornbread stuffing does not burn. The stuffing should still be moist but not sticky with a lightly browned top.

Allow the cornbread stuffing to cool slightly and pair it with anything your heart desires. I have officially taken you from your dark cave and showed you the light. You no longer have to eat that awful stale bread stuffing. You’re welcome!