A Soulful Creation: The Dressing Project

The task of creating “soulful,” Thanksgiving dishes that are savory, flavorful and aromatic is not a task for the persons lacking creativity, time and patience. Just relax; with a little pre-planning, you can wing it with minimal stress, and serve a Thanksgiving menu of tempting soulful dishes.

Flickr by culturecat

With the Great Migration of African-Americans from the south to the North, “soul food” became a cultural identifier that reminded those who migrated, of their family and life “back home.” Soul food differed regionally, and was modified based on availability of ingredients in a given region of the United States. These foods known as soul food, reflects the rich cultural heritage and resourcefulness of the African-American cook, developing dishes that would have a long- lasting influence on American cuisine.

In my experiences, soul food is anything, which tastes like something that comes from home/family.

The candied yams are “candied,” warm and sweetly simmered with cinnamon and nutmeg. The thick, two-cheese baked macaroni and cheese, warm succulent collard and mustard greens with smoked turkey legs and buttery homemade biscuits brings my family to a state of comfort and contentment. This brings me to my magnificent creation of mouth-watering soulful delight “dressing.” Some might say that the turkey or ham is the focal point of their Thanksgiving table, not in my house; it is all about the dressing.

During Thanksgiving and Christmas, I would look at the numerous cooking show marathons that focus on holiday cooking. I wanted to introduce new dishes on my Thanksgiving table like; sweet potato casserole (mashed sweet potatoes with brown sugar, butter and Pecan topping) and seasoned green beans with sautéed onions, but my family will not stand for non-traditional dishes infiltrating our menu; they quickly demand that I return to our old standard, traditional “soulful” creations.

Several years ago, just learning how to execute a thanksgiving dinner, I wanted to present a dish to my family. Identifying that I was a newbie to holiday cooking, my friend Tonya instructed me on how to make cornbread dressing. Tonya, being a mother of five (deemed in my book, as an expert in the kitchen) prepared me for The Dressing Project. I could only wish that I could find the dedication in the kitchen that Tonya has. She told me,” you must take your time to produce a quality dish, if no one likes it; it will stay in the fridge forever.”

Dressing is a creation that is very similar to stuffing. The typical stuffing calls for breadcrumbs and the holy trinity (green peppers, onions and celery). One addition pre-made cornbread. Making dressing should not be rushed or forgotten. This 2-3 hour process must have full dedication and commitment at all times, it’ s like developing a fine Napa wine or creating a wonderful work of art. Ready for my day of cooking, Tonya instructed me on all the phases of “The dressing project.”

Since The Dressing Project has been executed (now going on five years), family members from all over the city call to find out if dressing is on my Thanksgiving table (I have two family members that come over with containers for a take-home portion). My family is very happy and I am thankful that I could give a masterpiece of my own creation.

Thank-You Tonya .

http://www.flickr.com/photos/elasticsoul/ / CC BY-SA 2.0

The Dressing Project

Because of the size of Tonya’s family, I only make large family size portions of dressing that will surely serve 10-20 people; I would strongly suggest freezing half and using it for Christmas dinner.

Ingredients

1 cup of celery
1 cup of green peppers
1 cup of onions
1 can of cream of mushroom soup
1 can of cream of celery soup
1 can of cream of cream of chicken soup
2 bags of seasoned breadcrumbs (preferable sage)
2 tablespoons of poultry seasoning
4 tablespoons of dry sage
3 large eggs
2 sticks of cold butter or margarine – sliced by the tablespoon
4 – 6 (depending on size) boneless, skinless chicken breast or 2-3 Cornish hens
Pre-made cornbread - 9-inch square baking pan or store bought (follow directions on cornmeal packaging – use self-rising yellow or white cornmeal)
2 17"x12.5", BOTTOM 15"x10.5", VERTICAL DEPTH 2.5 large pan or roaster (one for mixing and one for baking)
3 cups of chicken broth retained from boiling chicken (retain leftovers)
Medium size kitchen towel

Boil chicken and add any leftover celery and onions until tender (45mins-1hr), you can add any typical seasonings that you use in everyday cooking if desired (seasoning salt, onion and garlic powder pepper) to give your chicken additional flavoring.
Dice all vegetables – onions, green peppers and celery very small, larger pieces will affect the dressing cooking evenly, set aside.
Preheat oven to 350°
Place boiled chicken in a bowl, when cooled enough to handle, with two forks, shred chicken or pull chicken meat from bone if using Cornish hens. Chicken breasts work best for this because there are no bones to work around, but Cornish hens are less expensive. (RETAIN THE CHICKEN BROTH)
Using one of the roasting pans, crumble the cornbread into small granular pieces and add breadcrumbs.
Take the chicken broth (caution chicken broth should be hot), and pour over cornbread and stuffing. Cover roasting pan with kitchen towel for 5-7 minutes
Remove kitchen towel and add the following ingredients: vegetables, soups, seasonings, sliced butter or margarine, eggs and shredded chicken. The cold ingredients should cool off the mixture, mix with hands to distribute all ingredients evenly, this will be messy but well worth it.
If mixture looks dry add more broth, mixture should look and feel like paste moist and creamy.
Cover with foil for the first 45 minutes then uncover.
Cook for 1 ½ to 2 hours, looking for crispy, and golden brown top. Dressing should pull away from sides of pan.
If you are freezing a portion, cook it in its own dish and then freeze (placing it in a freezer bag), thaw and warm for about 20mins or until warm throughout.