Thanksgiving: Southern Cornbread Dressing With Oysters and Soy Chorizo

Every Thanksgiving, I try to make a new stuffing.  Last year I did this one.  I have always wanted to make an oyster dressing, and this would be the year!  I LOVE raw oysters, but cooked, I generally only like when deep fried or covered up like in "Oysters Rockefeller"... I wasn't sure what to expect, so this was an experiment...

I based mine on this one, but instead of sausage used soy chorizo from Trader Joe's.  I also used some of it for my "Green Bean Casserole" this year instead of bacon.  To me I can't even tell it's not meat so I thought it would be good in this and make it a bit healthier, though it is high in sodium.  I made a few edits & tweaks and scaled it back to make less.  I bought my oysters at Costco in a jar which was a quart, so I used a lot.  I had my fingers crossed that it would be okay.  If I didn't like the stuffing, my dinner would be ruined, as it is what I like the most.  What I used is:

• 1 recipe Southern-Style Unsweetened Cornbread, cut into 3/4-inch dice
• 1/2 stick unsalted butter 
• 6 ounces soy chorizo removed from casing and fried in avocado oil
• 1 large onion, diced 
• 2 stalks celery, sliced
• 1/2 medium fennel bulb, diced finely
• 2 medium cloves garlic, minced 
• 1 tablespoon minced fresh thyme leaves
• 12 oz Better than Bouillon low-sodium broth
• 2 tablespoons minced fresh tarragon leaves
• 8 sage leaves, finely chopped
• 4 thin slices of stale sourdough bread, cubed
•  A few good shakes of Frank's Red Hot sauce
• 1/4 cup minced flat-leaf parsley leaves
• Raw oysters (I used 32 oz, drained and reserved the liquor), chopped with kitchen shears 
• 1 cup oyster liquor
• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

I made the cornbread the day before in my most prized possession, my cast iron pan.

I flipped it out of the pan onto a plate, wrapped it saran and just let it sit overnight.

I diced it up the next day.  I find cornbread is best eaten fresh, right out of the oven.  It seems to go stale by the next day, at least it has in my experience.  So, I expected this would be perfect for the stuffing.

I got a big fry pan and sauteed the veggies in the butter.  I added in the chorizo which I had cooked yesterday and warmed it up.

I mixed in the the stock and herbs.

I debated to chop the oysters or not, and I ended up using kitchen shears to do this as they were bigger than I wanted in a mouthful even though they were "medium" sized.

I also had 4 slices of stale sourdough bread (and a box of Stovetop cornbread stuffing), that I kept on hand in case the oysters made the stuffing too liquidy and/or there wasn't enough cornbread.  I ended up using the sourdough, but only because I chopped it yesterday.

I added in the oysters next.

The oyster broth went in last and I stirred it up once more until all was combined.

I waited till it cooled and I could pick it up with my hands (about 20 minutes).  I stuffed the bird and then put some foil over the exposed stuffing (I forgot to take a picture).  I covered the turkey with foil and into the oven it went at 325°F for 4 hours.  It was a 12 lb bird.  

I took tastes of the stuffing after a couple of hours when basting.  I thought it was good, and when I got an oyster, I thought it was even better.  I didn't love the oyster broth so much though, just the oysters...the broth just made the stuffing "fishy" tasting, in my opinion.  Had, I left that out, I think it would have been better...

In the end, I was quite happy the final product.  The cornbread played a huge part in the success of it.  I doubt it will be the one and only stuffing I make going forward, but I'm very happy it made its way to our Thanksgiving table this year.

I wish everyone a happy meal wherever your special dinner of "thanks" falls this year!