Cornbread Dressing and Granny Pearl’s Dumplin’s

This article is a mish-mesh (to use my grandma’s words) of recipes from my old fashioned recipe collection. I have a large collection of old-fashioned recipes and constantly get requests to publish more of them for your reading or dining pleasure. So today’s article is a nod to you readers who enjoy these vintage recipes. There is no rhyme or reason to this article except for some really good old-fashioned recipes, although I guess they would both be considered perfect for chicken or turkey meals.

Included are recipes for Granny Pearl’s Dumplins and an old fashion Southern Cornbread Dressing.

Granny Pearl’s Dumplins

This was a handwritten recipe from my Grandma Sowders who passed away in the 1970s. She was famous among family and friends for her lavish country-style meals. She had written this recipe on a thin piece of cardboard paper, I’m thinking it might have been the cardboard that was placed in a pair of hosiery in the “old days.” I’m sure some of you will remember those and many of you will wonder “what in the world!” When my husband and I were newlyweds and away from home in the US Air Force, grandma would sometimes write me letters and include one or two of her recipes. This one brought back a lot of memories when I came across it recently. One of the many memories of going to my grandma’s house was all the chickens running around. Talk about “range-free.” Grandma’s chickens were most certainly “range-free.” And I will confess a little secret here, I hated those chickens. (I am highly allergic to feathers which probably had something to do with that!) To this day, I do not eat chicken. I simply cannot swallow it; I have tried and I gag every time. When faced with a plate of chicken, my mind immediately goes to the chickens at grandma’s house and my best friend’s family’s commercial chicken farm. Yes, I am adult enough to know that is pure and simple a mental problem. But this old woman doesn’t care, she just doesn’t eat chicken. My family loves chicken and I cook a lot of it, I just choose to eat something else! Anyway, I digress. Grandma would kill a chicken or two and make her chicken and dumplin’s for many family meals.

1/2 stick margarine, pour 1 cup boiling water over margarine and stir until melted. add 1/2 teaspoon salt, then add 2 cups flour put in refrigerator until cool. Roll out thin, cut and drop in hot boiling broth. can be frozen for a week or so, for future use.

Bessie’s Southern Cornbread Dressing

Please don’t send me messages asking about chicken fat. I have no idea what that is. Anyone? I hate chicken so I am not familiar with chicken fat. I thought at first it might be chicken stock but then realized that is not it. I got this recipe from an old homemaker’s magazine my mother had when I was a child many, many moons ago! I have not tried this recipe myself, see my ranting above, but it reads like a very good recipe for the upcoming holiday season or family meal time.

• 1/2 cup chopped onion
• 1 cup chopped celery
• 1/4 cup chicken fat
• 4 cups dry corn bread crumbs
• salt and pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon poultry seasoning
• 1 egg
• 1 cup chicken stock

Cook the onion and celery in fat until soft. Add with seasonings to crumbs. Beat egg and add to chicken stock. Pour over the crumbs. Mix thoroughly. This is enough for 8 to 10 pound turkey or 2 roasting hens.

PS: There is a response to the chicken fat question on my blog.

Enjoy!

The Author:

Grandma Linda is a collector of vintage recipes. She enjoys sharing these old-time recipes with others on her blog at http://grandmasvintagerecipes.blogspot.com