Regional favorites always have local accents. Take chicken and dressing, for instance, a staple of the Mid South. Along the coast, you’ll find dressings using a dried French loaf, but as you move north, cornbread enters the picture. I’ve seen recipes in north Louisiana and central Mississippi using a mix of the two. This is a typical north Mississippi recipe.
Make cornbread the night before, and place in a paper sack to dry out. This allows the crumbs to absorb more liquid. Next day, crumble bread into a large bowl and add enough strong chicken stock to make thick slurry. To two quarts of this mixture, add no more than 4 eggs well-beaten and at least two cups shredded chicken. Sauté a cup (more if you like) each of finely-diced white onion and celery in a half a stick of butter, and add to the mix. Season with salt, pepper, thyme, and sage; use caution with sage, too much will make the dressing bitter. Pour into a greased pan and bake at 350 until browned and firm.
