My latest book, HALLEY, has just been released by NewSouth Books:\u00a0www.newsouthbooks.com\/halley<\/p>\n
Mama liked cornbread dressing (sometimes called \u201cstuffing\u201d by folks who don\u2019t know better), and she made it often.\u00a0 Where she got her recipe, I\u2019m unsure.\u00a0 The one thing I\u2019m certain of–it called for sage, and plenty of it.\u00a0 That herb was so overpowering in the finished product that you could feel the fumes in your nose.\u00a0 Normally a big eater, I always got light helpings of that dish.<\/p>\n
Mama herself was never fully satisfied, and always seemed surprised when her dressing didn\u2019t measure up.\u00a0 She would taste and sniff and poke.\u00a0 Finally, she would declare, \u201cIt needs more sage.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n I don\u2019t recall anybody complaining.\u00a0 Daddy got an A for cheerfully eating whatever you put before him.\u00a0 And one thing us Junkins kids learned early was to refrain from badmouthing the food on the table.\u00a0 Any griping was sure to be met with the advice, \u201cDon\u2019t eat, if you don\u2019t like it. You might like it better next meal.\u201d\u00a0 This was a pretty good bet since there was no junk food or snack items in our house.\u00a0 Not ever. You\u2019d be amazed what you can eat when you are REALLY hungry.<\/span><\/p>\n So next time Mama made dressing, she would dip more heavily into the sage box.\u00a0 Finally, I think she pretty much poured in the entire box.\u00a0 You could SEE the sage flecks in the mix.\u00a0 It grew so strong that our dog Brownie, who until sixteen or so survived off leftovers supplemented with whatever wildlife he could run down, would turn up his nose at the chunks of dressing. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Fortunately, Mama usually assigned throwing out scraps to one of us kids, so she probably never saw the growing pile of dressing down the hill from the outhouse.\u00a0 She never learned of Brown\u2019s betrayal.<\/span><\/p>\n Years passed.\u00a0 I married a man whose mother was one of the South\u2019s great cooks. You name it–that woman could cook it.\u00a0 Chicken pie, fresh coconut cake, corn pudding, squash casserole.\u00a0 To be fair, she had been able to be a stay-at-home wife, and all her married life she had owned a mixer, measuring cups and spoons, baking pans, casserole dishes and all the other necessities for the kitchen.\u00a0 But, then, dressing didn\u2019t require any of these, and hers was the best I\u2019d ever put in my mouth.\u00a0 I didn\u2019t pass along my opinion to my mother, who would have resented the implied comparison.<\/span><\/p>\n Then one year Mama and Daddy came for Thanksgiving and Mama Gibbons prepared the dressing with giblet gravy.\u00a0 Mama served herself a generous helping of dressing and gravy and then went back for seconds.\u00a0 At last she turned to my mother-n-law and asked, \u201cHow do you make your dressing?\u201d \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Mama Gibbons was happy to oblige, listing the amount of crumbled cornbread, biscuit, and white bread slices she used, the amount of chopped celery, green onions, pimento, eggs, and broth needed, the amount of garlic salt, pepper needed for seasoning. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n It was only after the meal when we were alone in the kitchen that Mama looked at the scant remains in the dressing pan and sniffed.\u00a0 \u00a0 \u201cI think it could use some sage.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" My latest book, HALLEY, has just been released by NewSouth Books:\u00a0www.newsouthbooks.com\/halley Mama liked cornbread dressing (sometimes called \u201cstuffing\u201d by folks who don\u2019t know better), and she made it often.\u00a0 Where she got her recipe, I\u2019m unsure.\u00a0 The one thing I\u2019m … Continue reading