Grandma's Cornbread Dressing and Giblet Gravy

Grandma's Cornbread Dressing and Giblet Gravy
This old-fashioned cornbread dressing is flavorful, tender and moist.
Not fancy, its ingredients are simple. Grandma didn't hold with the
notion that the more stuff you put in cornbread dressing, the better
it is. The heart of the dressing is the cornbread, and the following
recipe produces a coarse-crumbed, flavorful base for the dressing.

The Cornbread:
3 tablespoons bacon drippings
2 large eggs
1-1/2 cups corn meal
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1-1/4 cups buttermilk
Preheat oven to 450�F.

Put the bacon drippings in a 9x13-inch baking dish and put it in the
oven while it is preheating. The drippings will melt while you're
mixing up the batter.

Beat the eggs in a medium bowl until frothy. Add the corn meal, salt,
baking soda and baking powder, and stir to combine. Add the buttermilk
and stir well. Remove the hot dish from the oven. Swirl the dish to
coat it with melted bacon drippings, pour the bacon drippings into the
batter and stir to combine.

Pour the batter into the pan, and bake 20 to 25 minutes. The cornbread
will begin to pull away from the sides of the pan.

Make the cornbread a day before you intend to make your dressing.
Leave it out, uncovered, overnight.

The Dressing:
1 9x13-inch pan of cornbread, crumbled
10 white or whole wheat bread heels (left out overnight)
poultry seasoning (see below)
rubbed sage (see below)
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
3 large stalks celery, chopped
1 large onion, chopped (2-1/2 to 3 cups)
1 large green pepper, chopped
3/4 cup butter (1-1/2 sticks)
4 cups chicken stock
1 cup turkey pan drippings (from cooked turkey -- you are cooking a
turkey, aren't you?)
3 large eggs, slightly beaten
Preheat oven to 375�F.

Crumble the cornbread and white bread into a very large baking dish or
pan (This is the pan you will cook your dressing in, and you need room
to stir it while it's cooking).

In a large skillet, saut� the celery, onion and green pepper in butter
over medium heat until onion is transparent. Combine the saut�ed
vegetables with the bread crumbs and mix well. Note: The dressing up
to this point can be prepared an hour or so in advance.

When you are ready to bake the dressing, add the beaten eggs, chicken
stock and turkey pan drippings, and stir. (You may need a little more
chicken stock -- better if it's too moist than too dry; the uncooked
dressing should be a little on the slushy side.) Add 2 teaspoons
poultry seasoning, 1/2 teaspoon rubbed sage, black pepper, and mix
thoroughly.

After baking for 15 minutes or so, stir dressing down from the sides
of the pan so that it cooks uniformly (my mother's term was "rake
through it"). Check the seasonings; that is, taste it. If you don't
taste enough sage for your liking, add 1/4 teaspoon or so with a
little chicken stock, stir it in, and taste again. Careful, a little
sage goes a long way.

Total cooking time should be about 30 minutes.

Giblet Gravy:
3 tablespoons butter
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 cup drippings from roasting pan that have been skimmed of fat
1 cup chicken broth
salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste
1 tablespoon dry Sherry (not cooking sherry)
1 to 1-1/2 cups turkey giblets (chopped pieces of cooked liver and
neck)
The Giblets: I use just the liver and pieces off the neck (I give the
gizzard to the cat, and my husband eats the heart.) I always cook the
neck with the turkey -- tuck it down in a corner of the pan. You can
cook the liver the same way: submerge it in the broth in the roasting
pan about 30 minutes before you expect the turkey to be done, or you
can put it in a small saucepan, cover with a cup or so of lightly
salted water and simmer it for 30 minutes. Since burner space is at a
premium when preparing a holiday meal, I usually opt for the cook-it-
with-the-turkey method.

Over medium-low heat, melt the butter in a large saucepan until it is
bubbly, sprinkle in the flour and stir quickly for a minute or so to
cook the flour. Slowly stir in the turkey drippings and chicken stock,
and cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until the gravy is
smooth and thickened. (Note about lumps: Lumps are nothing to be
embarrassed about. They happen. If you've got some lumps and want to
get rid of them, strain the gravy now, because you won't be able to
after you add the giblets.)

Reduce heat to low, and check the seasonings. Add salt and pepper only
if you think it is necessary. Some people (me) like to add a
tablespoon or two of sherry at this point. It makes a wonderful
difference. Add the giblets and simmer for about 10 minutes.

You can make your gravy early, keep it warm, and heat it back up a bit
just before serving, if you like.