Southern Creole Sausage and Cornbread Dressing
I stole this picture from the internet.
This sausage and cornbread dressing is one of my favorite recipes of all time, a dish present on every Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Easter table set at my mom’s house. The original recipe lives in a non-descript church cookbook from somewhere in the Middle South in the 1970s, and it’s in danger of being destroyed with time and use. Another iteration lives in an email from 2008, which is terribly inconvenient. I decided to record it here for posterity, with some of my own notes added.
This savory cornbread stuffing hits all the taste centers in your primitive lizard brain, with fats and carbs and meats galore. Sorry/not sorry about the sticks of butter.
For the cornbread, make any recipe you’d like as long as it’s a full unsweetened round. I make mine in a cast-iron skillet. And if you don’t feel like making your own Creole seasoning, get a tin of Tony Chachere’s.
- 1 pound Chicken Gizzards (optional)
- 1/2 pound Ground Lean Pork
- 1/2 pound Ground Beef
- 8 T Butter
- 4 Whole Chopped Onions
- 4 Whole Chopped Celery Ribs
- 2 Whole Garlic minced
- 32 oz Chicken Broth
- 3 T Creole Seasoning
- 4 cup Corn Bread (crumbled, unsweetened)
- 1/2 cup Chopped Green Onion
- 2 tablespoons onion powder
- 2 tablespoons garlic powder
- 2 tablespoons dried oregano
- 2 tablespoons dried basil
- 1 tablespoon dried thyme
- 1 tablespoon black pepper
- 1 tablespoon white pepper
- 1 tablespoon cayenne pepper
- 5 tablespoons paprika
- 3 tablespoons salt
- In a Dutch oven, deep fry meats in butter until browned.
- Add onions, celery, and garlic to the meat and butter mixture and cook until tender.
- Add broth and season with creole seasoning.
- Bring to a boil, simmer for 1 hour.
- Add corn bread and chopped green onions. Stir until cornbread is moist and coated with broth dressing.
- Adjust seasoning to taste.
- If you’re not a gizzards person, leave this out and adjust the beef and pork to 1 lb. each, or sub with andouille sausage.
- For the cornbread, make any recipe you’d like as long as it’s a full unsweetened round. I make mine in a cast-iron skillet.
- The creole seasoning can be stored in an airtight container, but if you don’t feel like making your own, get a tin of Tony Chachere’s from the seasoning section at the grocery store.
