A holiday treat for you all, from Gourmet/November 1997

Yield: 16 cups

Ingredients

2 loaves Corn Break (recipe follows)
6 large celery ribs
1 lb onions (about 2 large)
1 pound sliced bacon
1/2 cup mixed fresh herbs (thyme, sage, marjoram)
1 cup chicken broth or turkey stock
1/4 c reserved fat from roast turkey or melted butter

Preparation

Preheat over to 325 and butter a 4-quart baking dish

Cut corn bread into 1/2-inch cubes and dry in 2 large shallow baking pans in over for 20 minutes. Remove from oven.

Coarsely chop celery, onions, and bacon.

Saute bacon in a large, deep skillet until brown. Add celery and onions, and cook, stirring, until vegetables are softened, about 5 minutes. Add herbs and salt and pepper to taste, and cook another couple of minutes.

Toss corn bread and bacon mixture and transfer to baking dish. Drizzle stock or broth over stuffing and bake, covered, 1 hour. Drizzle reserved fat or butter over stuffing and bake uncovered another 30 minutes or so, until top is golden.

Corn Bread

Ingredients

2 c. flour
2 T baking powder
1 t salt
2 c. yellow cornmeal
1/2 c sugar (I use about half this)
2 c milk
2 large eggs
2 sticks (1 cup) unsalted butter, softened

Preparation

Preheat oven to 400 and butter two 9-by-5-by-3 inch loaf pans.

Sift together flour, baking powder, and salt, whisk in cornmeal and sugar until combined. In a separate bowl, whisk together milk and eggs until combined. Add butter to flour mixture, and with an electric mixer beat until mixture resembles coarse meal. Beat in egg mixture until just combined (batter will be thin).

Pour batter into pans and bake in middle of oven until golden brown and a tester comes out clean, about 50 minutes. Cool in pan on racks for 10 minutes, and then turn bread out to cool completely.