My Grandmother's old recipe:
Southern Style Chicken & Dressing
My Family Recipe
Part 1: Cornbread
2 cups (self-rising) yellow corn meal
1 Large egg
Pinch of salt
¼ cup vegetable oil (bacon grease may be substituted if you like to live dangerously)
¾ cup of whole milk (more or less to thin or thicken consistency)
Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees
Combine egg, oil, and salt into a bowl and mix lightly.
Add corn meal and begin mixing.
Add milk until mixture is pourable, but not runny or soupy.
Pour into a well-greased 10” cast iron skillet and place on middle level rack for around 30 minutes, or until golden brown on top.
When done, remove and let cool until you can crumble it into small chunks for use in the dressing.
**Note: If using a really large pan for the dressing, another cooking of cornbread may be needed to have extra bread for the mix.
Part 2: The Chicken
1 4 to 5 pound chicken
1 ½ TSP salt
1 TSP black pepper
½ TSP ground sage
Place chicken in a boiler or pot, cover with water, add seasonings and boil until done.
When done, let cool until it can be handled and then remove the meat from the bones and shred lightly.
Part 3: Making The Dressing
2 Large (or 3 medium) onions diced
8 Large eggs hard boiled and then diced
½ TSP ground sage
1 TSP salt (or more to taste)
½ TSP black pepper (or more to taste)
1 can (15-16 oz) cream of chicken soup
2 to 3 cans of chicken broth (or stock from the boiled chicken either will work)
Crumbled cornbread
Shredded chicken
In a large roasting pan (we usually just use the big 11x14 aluminum toss-away pans for easy clean up), combine the diced onion, diced eggs, cornbread chunks, and shredded chicken and toss until well mixed (works best if you just go on and use your bare hands).
Level the mixture in the pan and sprinkle the top with the salt, pepper, and sage (may want to sample for taste, to add salt and pepper).
Mix 2 cans of chicken broth with the 1 can of cream of chicken soup in a saucepan and stir until mixed well. Pour this mixture over the top of the ingredients in the roasting pan.
**Note: If you like giblet gravy (to top the dressing with), reserve a few dipping spoons of the final mixture in a small pot and add 1 can of chicken broth and another can of cream of chicken soup and heat on low heat, stirring occasionally. When serving the dressing, spoon this mixture over the top like gravy.
Toss or stir the mixture one last time after adding the liquid and level it in the pan.
Place in a pre-heated 300 degree oven for 45 minutes to an hour or until the top is golden brown, but not crusty.
Serve topped with the giblet gravy above.