I've been making this cornbread for over 15 years and it's amazing. Instead of making a batch of cornbread from scratch, I just use Jiffy mix.

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/cornbread-dressing-recipe.html

You definitely want to have stale bread if you don't want to dry it out in the oven. As a kid we always went to the bakery thrift store and bought the bread that was on the verge of expiring and tore it into pieces and let it dry on sheet pans and put it in paper grocery bags. Getting the day old French or Italian bread at the grocery is ideal, if you tear it up before it gets extremely hard.

I would recommend poultry seasoning, like Bell's, to season the stuffing (or dressing, as we say.)

That is very similar to our recipe except we don't use the egg. Also, we make our own stock by adding the neck stuff to water and then as we chop all the veggies we add the ends and scraps to the stock, plus a bunch of herbs and let that simmer for a good long time. We use that instead of the chicken stock called for in the recipe.

Also, may stores sell plain, cubed day-old bread in the bakery around Thanksgiving.

You need stale bread. Or dry fresh bread in your oven. That way it absorbs the flavor of the stock etc.

Day old bread means stale bread. So don't get your packaged bread loaves... Get one of the bakery breads and let it go stale. The dryness makes it soak up the flavors better and get the right texture (if it was still fresh & moist, the stuffing would be too mushy)

Anonymous wrote:I am trying to make all my Thanksgiving sides from scratch this year and need a recipe for stuffing. We've always used the Pepperidge Farm stuffing mix. So I found this recipe:

http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/-simple-is-best-dressing-51124210

What do you think of it? Any suggestions.. It says to use day old white bread, but I don't know exactly what that means! What kind of bread do you use?

Day old white bread means just that. The day before Thanksgiving (or a few days before), go to your local store/bakery and buy a loaf of just about any regular white bread. Avoid strongly flavored bread (no sourdough, no herbed, etc).

I use cornbread in my dressing. I make it the night before.

I highly recommend using a combo of good white bread AND cornbread!! The texture combo is amazing and you will NOT regret it. Other than that, this recipe looks great- all the classic flavors.

Anonymous wrote:I am trying to make all my Thanksgiving sides from scratch this year and need a recipe for stuffing. We've always used the Pepperidge Farm stuffing mix. So I found this recipe:

http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/-simple-is-best-dressing-51124210

What do you think of it? Any suggestions.. It says to use day old white bread, but I don't know exactly what that means! What kind of bread do you use?

I would use sandwich bread a mix of wheat and white.

Personally I would not use fresh rosemary because it has such a prominent taste.

We use sage only, but growing up my mom used poultry seasoning (Thyme, Sage, Marjoram, Rosemary, Black Pepper, And Nutmeg)

The recipe looks good to me. The seasonings look similar to what I like in my stuffing, I'm like PP and prefer not to have oysters or anything like that.

For the bread, I'd get a loaf of French bread a couple days ahead of time. Cut or tear it into pieces the day before Thanksgiving, and let it sit to get stale. Alternatively, you could use regular white sandwich bread, but you might have to dry the pieces out in a low oven since it won't really get dry/stale/crunchy on its own.

I made something like that and it was really good last year. My parents got made I did not use pepperidge farm and canned cranberry sauce till they tasted it.

Thanks PP. Forgot to add, we like basic stuffing only, nothing crazy like sausage or oysters or chestnuts!!

I always use the Pepperidge Farm but I would definitely try that recipe. Looks good!

I am trying to make all my Thanksgiving sides from scratch this year and need a recipe for stuffing. We've always used the Pepperidge Farm stuffing mix. So I found this recipe:

http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/-simple-is-best-dressing-51124210

What do you think of it? Any suggestions.. It says to use day old white bread, but I don't know exactly what that means! What kind of bread do you use?