You want good stuffing? Smell your way!

I love Thanksgiving turkey. For many years, when I have leftovers, one of my favorites is the after-Thanksgiving turkey sandwich:

2 pieces of multi-grain bread, toasted.
mayonnaise to suit.
slices of turkey-white, dark, does not matter
slices of dressing
slices of cranberry sauce
sliced piminto olives
lettuce

All told, should be about 1 inch thick. Great on an empty stomach. Even greater in a lay between still-high Johnson grass on a quail hunt. Hot coffee optional. Air should be cold.

BUT this year, I made the best dressing I've made in years. It's purely my Dad's recipe, which relies on smell. If you can't smell, don't try it. I mean it. I have a lazy eye. Can't hit a ball. Don't try baseball anymore. If you don't smell smells, a great many don't. Other recipes will suit.
You probably can do many things I can't, and I envy you.

I happen to have a nose, as did my father, and it is critical to this. It is not rocket science. just organic. You must notice your sense of smell.

I guess this is a commercial. I've tried several cornmeals. my favorite is Aunt Jemima, and that is the recipe I use, sans sugar.

Several days ahead, buy a loaf of white bread, let it lie around.

reheat oven 425 degrees

In sifter(check internet if term is unfamiliar)
Add 1 Cup cornmeal
1 Cup flour
4 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
Sift into bowl
Add:
1 egg
1 Cup milk
1/4 Cup vegetable oil

Stir

Add to 8X8 pan, buttered or whatever, greased

Bake 20-23 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean. Let sit briefly, THEN

Cool briefly, then plop int LARGE mixing bowl

Fresh cornbread. Break up.

Take 4-5 slices stale white bread and toast. Don't burn it, but really toast it.

Slice bread into bite size pieces. Toss with crumbled cornbread.

On slicer board,
Slice 3/4 large onion in itty-bitty pieces

Slice three ribs celery in 1/4 inch pieces, approx.

One tart apple, peeled, quartered, and diced

Melt 1 stick margarine in skillet, add onions, celery and apple, on low medium till smells good. Shuffle with spatula
Add black pepper to taste
Add one can chicken broth,while warm
3 Tablespoons fresh poultry seasoning,
2 Tablespoons sage
Stir. Add to cornbread/toast in big bowl
Stir.

Smell. It's up to you whether to add second can of broth now or when you dump the first and heat up the second. You WILL use 2. How does it smell? How moist is the mixture? Stir.

Add 2cd can broth to cornbread/toast mixture. Refrigerate at least 4 hours,

Let it sit, and smell. Smell. My father said when it smells right, it is right, and this year, it smelled perfect. And it was the best I've made in years.

This recipe will serve a family of six, 4 large men or 8 regular adults who don't work out much.
Or half of it will feed two adult sons and their mother, when said sons have been deprived of their mother's efforts in the kitchen for a few years. Let it sit in the refrigerator a few hours, then bake at 350 for one hour.

You may like gravy. you won' t need it with this. It should be moist when done.

Personally, I find gravy really overrated. I am in an extreme minority,That's okay. My sons tell me the gravy was good over this.

To me, what I have said is easy, but I know so many assemble rather than cook. Don't use a mix--scratch makes higher, tastier, cornbread. Glad to anwer questions.