Grandma Nita's Cornbread Stuffing With Sausage and Giblet Gravy

Submitted by AdeleProvence

"This is my grandmother's traditional Thanksgiving dressing (cornbread stuffing with sausage) and gravy. The family story goes that her in-laws came for dinner, and her father in-law pulled her husband away and asked if they were really that bad off, since there was no meat in the dressing, and since that day, there has always been meat in the dressing."

 

• Ready In: 3hrs
• Ingredients: 29
• Serves: 10

ingredients

• For cornbread

• 1 1⁄2 cups cornmeal
• 1⁄2 cup flour
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 egg
• 2 cups buttermilk
• 2 -3 tablespoons drippings (bacon)

• For dressing

• 1⁄2 loaf Italian bread (not baguette)
• 1 turkey giblets
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon black pepper
• 1 small bunch celery leaves
• 1 onion, chopped
• 1⁄4 cup carrot, chopped (should be about half of a carrot)
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 tablespoon parsley
• 1 egg
• 1 lb pork sausage
• 3 onions, chopped
• 1⁄2 stalk celery
• 4 cups water
• 1⁄2 teaspoon salt (or to taste)
• 1⁄2 teaspoon black pepper (or to taste)
• 1⁄2 teaspoon sage (or to taste)
• 1 egg (optional)
• 1 (7 ounce) can mushrooms

• For Gravy

• 4 tablespoons cornstarch (heaping)
• 1 cup water
• 1 (7 ounce) can mushrooms, finely diced (optional)

directions

1. Mix cornmeal, flour, salt, soda, 1 egg, buttermilk, drippings.
2. Place in a large cast-iron skillet and bake 25 minutes at 450F or until golden and a toothpick comes out dry.
3. While bread is baking, dry out 1/2 loaf of plain bread by baking it in the same oven for a couple minutes.
4. When both breads are cool enough to handle, crumble the cornbread and and pull the Italian bread apart in small chunks.
5. In a sauce pan, add giblets, salt, pepper, leaves of celery, 1 chopped onion, 1/2 carrot, chopped, bay leaf, and parsley. Place a whole egg in the water as well. Boil for 1/2 hour.
6. In a large frying pan, combine pork sausage, 3 chopped onions, and 1/2 stalk celery. Fry until sausage is done and add to the crumbled bread in a large bowl.
7. Mix the bread and sausage mixture, and one can of mushrooms with juice, adding about a quarter cup to half cup of the broth from the giblets for moisture.
8. Optional: Add an egg to make the stuffing hold together better.
9. Add salt, pepper and sage to taste.
10. For the gravy, finely dice the boiled egg and the gizzard of the turkey. Grate the liver. Combine with juice from boiling giblets. Turn burner on high and bring to a boil.
11. Optional: Add one can of mushrooms.
12. Add salt and pepper to taste.
13. For one quart of of gravy, mix four heaping tablespoons of corn starch into a bowl of 1 cup water and mix.
14. When the sauce has reached the boil, stir in the starch mixture.