Page 150 - Harrington Family Recipes
P. 150
I must warn you, it may ruin your taste for anyone else's dressing -- I've
gotten to where I don't EVER order dressing in a restaurant....it never
comes close, and I'm always disappointed. This is our family's recipe.
This was my Great-Grandmother's. It is legendary. In fact, I can offer
'references' from folks in other recipe boards who have tried it.
Some hints....
1. Don't overcook the cornbread. (Use Jiffy if you want) If the cornbread
is dry before you even begin, you can't expect much from the dressing.
2. Don't overcook the biscuits (see cornbread explaination). ;-)
3. Make sure you have enough broth to add to the dressing. Buy a few cans
of chicken broth and add to the chicken pot, just in case. Add butter to
make the broth richer. But once you have enough broth, keep it hot and add
enough to the dressing to make it really soupy.
4. Stir every 10 or 15 minutes while it cooks so the dressing can
distribute and cook evenly. Keeping it from forming a crust is important.
5. Yes.....5 eggs -- it's part of the secret. AND, please make sure you
break each egg into a cup or bowl first -- rather than breaking it over
the dressing. For one thing, it's hard to fish out a tiny shell piece in a
dressing pan. -But most importantly, if you happen to get a bad egg, you
will not have ruined the entire pan of ingredients.
6. The hen goes in the dressing and the turkey is served on the side (if
you even want turkey). Turkey is traditionally a dry meat, so it is best
to be served beside the dressing - otherwise it will pull moisture out of
the dressing.
**This can be made in stages. Often, my Grandmother would make the
cornbread and biscuits ahead of time, crumble them up and freeze or
refrigerate them in Zip-Loc bags. That cuts down a lot of prep time --
especially if you are doing this for Thanksgiving.
**You can also make up the dressing and bake it halfway through the day
before. Cover with foil and put it in the fridge and finish baking the
next day -- remembering to stir throughout.
Good luck and let us know how it turns out!
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Per Serving (excluding unknown items): 360 Calories; 15g Fat (37.4%
calories from fat); 42g Protein; 13g Carbohydrate; 2g Dietary Fiber; 223mg
Cholesterol; 535mg Sodium. Exchanges: 0 Grain(Starch); 5 1/2 Lean Meat;
1/2 Vegetable; 2 Fat; 1/2 Other Carbohydrates.
NOTES : I made this for Thanksgiving 2002. It didn't all fit in my cooking
dish, so I save it for later. I stirred it every 15 minutes, I thought 10
minutes was too close together, after all I had a lot of company. It turned
out real nice. I questioned the need for all the stirring. So when I baked
the left over, I just put the chicken in and baked it for 1 hour. The left
over was more "packy". What I fixed Thanksgiving was more "bready". It
might
have been even more so if I had stirred it every 10 minutes. I will try
that next time. But either way, it tasted good.
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