All Photos: Wendy Goodfriend
I’m a traditionalist when it comes to Thanksgiving. I live for the classic dishes: turkey, gravy, cranberry sauce, and stuffing/dressing. Without those 4 dishes, it’s simply not Thanksgiving. I tend to make the same dishes year in and year out, but every so often I like to switch it up. I generally opt for the standard bread-onion-celery-sage stuffing, pimped up with some roasted chestnuts and maybe sautéed leeks. But this year, since I decided to BBQ my turkey, I thought I’d find a more Southern-style, yet classic stuffing.
Sweet and salty, this cornbread stuffing is a colorful addition to your Thanksgiving table. Long ago I stopped stuffing my bird, and I don’t recommend it (mainly because you would have to greatly overcook the bird to get the stuffing to a safe temperature to avoid food poisoning). I prefer to bake my stuffing (in which case it’s really called “dressing” but I still call it stuffing) in a generously buttered baking dish so that the edges and top get browned and crisp, and the interior stays moist and succulent.
The amount of sweetness truly depends on the cornbread you use for this, so if you prefer a more salty-savory stuffing, by all means make (or buy) a less sweet cornbread.

Recipe: Cornbread and Red Pepper Stuffing
Makes 10 to 12 servings