1 5-6 pound Hen for broth
6-8 eggs, boiled
4-5 pans cornbread (made the day before)
3-4 onions, chopped
1 bunch celery, chopped
sage to taste
salt and pepper to taste
To make broth, take hen, including neck and giblets and boil on stove top covered until chicken is tender. This will make the broth you will need to add to the dressing once its assembled. Reserve neck and giblets for gravy.
Chop celery and onions by hand, a food processor chops them too fine. Crumble the cornbread by hand into a large roasting pan. Salt and pepper. Add chopped celery and onions. Add as much sage as desired over the top of the mixture. Using a cup, pour broth over mixture until moist. Stir all together well. Keep adding broth as needed. You want the dressing moist but not wet and soggy. Taste often and add more sage, salt and pepper if needed. Daddy is the official taster in our family!
Cook at 325-350 for about 1 hour.
Giblet Gravy: Take the remaining broth, add canned broth if needed. Heat and add cut up giblets from the hen and chopped boiled eggs. Thicken with cornstarch to consistency you want. Salt and pepper to taste. Add parsley flakes and a few drops of yellow food color to make it rich looking. You can also chop and add some of the hen if desired.
Every Thanksgiving and Christmas since I can remember, the aromas of this dressing cooking in the background at our house has always been apart of our holiday traditions. My mother and daddy would get in the kitchen together and assemble this dressing each year and as I said before, Daddy was the official taster. He knew just when and how much sage, salt and pepper to add. He never missed his mark, it was always perfect. This Christmas they set out to see if they still had their touch, both in their 80s, and there is no doubt that they still do! The dressing this year was perfection! Walking in the house and smelling it cooking brought back wonderful childhood memories!
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