Cornbread stuffing

I am from the South, and so most of my culinary creations have some sort of southern flair. This stuffing is a staple for us in my family. It's a true southern stuffing, but is sure to please even the Yankees at the table (I should know, all my in-laws are from Utah!). There are some variations you can use for this recipe, so I'll give the basic recipe, and then list the add ons below.

This recipe is for a 12 pound Turkey, and it makes about 9 c. Or if you're like me and don't stuff the turkey, it will make one 9x13 and one 8x8 casserole dish of stuffing.

1 1/2 c chopped onion
3 c chopped celery
2c butter
9 c SOFT bread cubes (do not dry them like you would for traditional stuffing)
9 c cubed corn bread (this is meant to be made with southern style corn bread - NOT sweet corn "cake" like all y'all yankees like to make! :) So reduce the sugar in your cornbread to 2 T (for a recipe originally calling for 1/4 c) to make this more authentic.)
2t salt
3t crushed sage
2t dried thyme
1 t pepper

Cook and stir onions, celery, and butter till opaque. Mix all ingredients until well coated.

If cooking inside the bird, DO NOT PACK the turkey cavity. Place loosely in the bird and use the remainder in a small casserole dish.

If you are cooking this on the side in a casserole dish, you can either wait until the turkey is completely cooked and then dump the juices into the stuffing before cooking, or you can melt some butter and mix it with some chicken broth and drizzle that on the top of your casserole. Either way, you want enough juices mixed in to your stuffing so as not to let it dry out while baking.


*variations*
Sausage stuffing:
cook some breakfast sausage, andouille sausage (for a cajun flair), or smoked sausage with the onions and celery. Reduce the bread by 1c and omit salt.


Giblet stuffing:
Reserve the neck, giblets, and liver from your turkey when you are cleaning out your bird. Boil the neck, liver and giblets for several hours until tender. Shred the meat from the neck and finely chop the giblets and liver. Add to your mixture.
This is probably the most authentically southern, but grosses most people out.