Cornbread dressing has been a staple on Jeannette and Don Erter’s Thanksgiving table for many years.
Jeannette isn’t sure how far back the recipe dates, but she’s pretty sure it can be traced at least to Don’s great-grandmother, Leitha “Leithy” Darby. It was Leithy’s daughter, Grace, born in 1896, who taught Jeannette to make the dish. Grace was Don’s grandmother (his mom’s mom), and they called her Granny Cotten.
"Granny was one of those people that everybody loved," said Jeannette. "I mean, you just loved Granny. She was a domino player, and you'd be playing and she'd say, 'watch her go!' if somebody did something really good."
Don said his grandmother reminded him of Granny on The Beverly Hillbillies.
Leithy and Grace both worked at a Harvey House for a time in Cleburne, Texas. The restaurants were located across the country next to railroad stations and offered a place for train passengers to grab a bite to eat and relax.
Jeannette has been making cornbread dressing for her husband, Don, for around 48 years.
"We were at North Texas State going to college, and he kept talking about his grandmother's recipe, cornbread dressing, and so I said, 'well, let's have her up for dinner,'" said Jeannette.
It was at that dinner that Granny Cotten taught her future daughter-in-law to make cornbread dressing.
"She came up, and she just started throwing things together. I tried to write the recipe down, and that's not possible when you've got an old timer," she said, "because that was in '71. Well, she was born in 1896 and so by that time, you know, she had been making making this recipe for many, many years."
Granny told Jeannette what to have ready when she arrived, including already prepared biscuits and a pan of cornbread. But there wasn’t a recipe she could write down with specific amounts of what to add.
Jeannette started making cornbread dressing on her own two to three years later after she graduated with a master’s degree in education.
"I had written the ingredients down, and each time it was a little different and then I finally, it kind of gelled. It kind of clicked, you know, what would be good here and how much," she said.
She’s perfected the dish over the years, and now Don tells her it’s really close to what his grandmother made.
Jeannette makes the cornbread using two boxes of Jiffy Mix a couple of days before she makes the dressing. The biscuits are made the day before using a recipe that was Don’s mother, Louise’s. Once they’re baked, they get crumbled up together, but Jeanette said there should be more cornbread than biscuits.
As she shows me how to make cornbread dressing she’s wearing an apron her daughter made for her in the late 1970s that says “The Cook” on it.
She chops up onion and celery into small pieces and adds them into the bread crumbles. You can add as little or as much as you’d like. Jeannette said Granny Cotten loved her celery. And if you have a turkey, you can add cooked giblets.
At least two eggs are added in to bind everything together. And broth adds moisture. You can use broth from a turkey if you’ve cooked one or canned broth is fine. Jeannette likes to use chicken.
Finally, Jeannette seasons the dish with sage and black pepper to taste.
You don’t want the mixture to be too thick, she said, because it will end up too dry, but you don’t want it really runny either. She used one can of broth and part of another.
Once it’s all mixed, you turn the mixture into a 9X13” pan.
The cornbread dressing gets baked in a 350 degree oven for about 30 minutes. Once the edges start to get hard the dish is done.
Jeannette planned to serve this dish with baked chicken for dinner minus a piece I got to try. It’s served with gravy. Jeannette prefers chicken gravy, but turkey will do as well.
Cornbread dressing was just one dish that Granny Cotten could make. Jeannette said she was a good cook. A favorite of her family’s was apricot fried pies made from scratch.
"She made the best apricot fried pies." said Jeannette. "When Don was little--younger--the boys would be there, him and his friends and his brothers, Granny would be making pies, and they were waiting and waiting and she says, 'no, no. Not 'til they cool, because they wanted to start eating them as soon as they got out of the skillet."
Jeannette said Granny, who lived into her early 90s, could even make liver taste good.
Cooking runs in the family. Jeannette enjoys cooking, and her granddaughter, River Stark, who’s living with the Erters while she attends college, is showing lots of talent in the kitchen as well.
Jeannette enjoys making the cornbread dressing, and her daughter, Dani Stark, has learned how to make it, too. She said it keeps Granny Cotten close.
"Everytime that we make this we think of Granny, and Granny was an integral part of the family, and so it means heritage...it's just the remembrance of Granny who's been gone for several years," said Jeannette.
Cornbread dressing will continue to be part of the Erter family’s Thanksgiving for years to come. There’d probably be a riot if someone didn’t make it, Jeannette said.
Granny's Cornbread Dressing
Prepare one pan each of cornbread and homemade biscuits the day before you make the dressing, and crumble them together.
The day you make the dressing, add chopped celery and onion to taste.
Add two or more eggs depending on the amount of bread.
Add sage and pepper to taste.
Stir in about a can and a half of chicken broth
Spread in a greased 9X13 pan and bake at 350 degrees for about 30 minutes.
Serve with gravy.
Don's Mother's Biscuits
1 1/2 C flour
2 level tsp. baking powder
1/4 level tsp. baking soda
1 T cooking oil
Add enough buttermilk to make a thick dough.
Roll and cut out and bake at 425 degrees for 10 to 12 minutes.
