I use both bread and cornbread, in approximately equal amounts, but I do not use oysters or sausage. I like sausage, but my family never put it in, and I think it would be a whole meal if it had sausage in it.

traditionally, bread no cornbread and no sausage no oysters....but I have been known to veer off the beaten track

I am very inconsistent - I typically make my dressing different each time I make it. Some times just bread (always sourdough); sometimes cornbread; sometimes a mix of both. Same with the add-ins.......sometimes sausage (usually with apples or dried cranberries); sometimes oysters; sometimes roasted chestnuts; sometimes with turkey giblets (usually save those for the gravy). But with pretty much the same seasoning for all - onions, celery, sage, thyme, S&P, broth and melted butter.

Matzah.

Two different stuffings, one in either end. Main cavity, bread, onions, celery, butter, eggs, salt, pepper, herbs, sometimes pecans (DH doesn't care for them, I do, so I alternate :-) ). Neck cavity, sausagemeat, onions, herbs, bacon, grated apple, cranberries.

I like to add some chopped apple & cranberries - sauteed in lots of butter along w/ the celery, onion, parsley - & chestnuts, if available.

& I like regular bread & cornbread together.

No cornbread.

I save bread and make flavored cubes using herbs from my garden during the year.

Bread.

I made cornbread stuffing once, it was good, but it wasn't "traditional" and it upset everyone

I use bread, sausage and cranberries in my stuffing, and bread and cranberries in my dressing - SIL is a vegetarian.

At Thanksgiving, only white bread and no additions like sausage or oysters, but at other times, anything goes.

Stuffing is the reason I get up on Thanksgiving!! Rustic cubed stale white bread/baguette, copious amounts of butter, sautéed onions, chopped celery with lots of leaves, sliced fennel bulb and shiitake mushrooms, chicken stock and oysters. Bell's Seasoning (New England poultry seasoning).

Seagrass, I remembered you put oysters in your stuffing. I bought oysters one year to do that and nearly caused a riot, LOL, so I made oyster stew instead.

I do both. My family loves the greasy white bread stuffing inside the bird. My oldest daughter is celiac, so she and my southern husband eat the cornbread stuffing. Amanda likes Italian sausage in the stuffing, Elery would prefer it without but will eat it either way.

Annie

FWIW & re: celiac disease, I've never seen a cornbread recipe that did not include regular wheat flour as well...?

I substitute GF plain flour for the regular flour in cornbread. It tastes the same.

50/50 mixture of the two. Mom tried (in different years) oysters and sausage, and we had a mini-revolt.

We like it with both but will accept it with either/or. I always add sage sausage, onions, celery. I also live for the dressing and as long as I have dressing and gravy I could live without anything else. MMM... I'm getting hungry for Thanksgiving now.

Equal amounts of cornbread / stale bread, butter, onions, celery, poultry seasoning, sage, salt, pepper, evaporated milk, and chicken broth.

- taste & adjust seasoning then add eggs.

Carolb, adding wheat flour makes it more foolproof. The flour acts like glue. It's not necessary, however.

I had never heard of bread dressing growing up. I can't even imagine sausage in it. Here is ours:

Here is my Grandmother Lillian Huffman Fitch's Dressing Grand Bay, Alabama. (As close as I can come).

1 5" pan cornbread

4 slices stale bread

1 cup chopped onion

1 cup chopped celery

giblets from turkey

2-3 eggs

1 container oysters

poultry seasoning to taste (extra sage) (McCormick's)

Simmer giblet in water until tender. Remove and let cool. Add chopped onion and celery to pan and add water if necessary. Cook until onion is clear and celery is tender. Drain oysters, check for shells, and coarsely chop.

Break cornbread and stale bread in large bowl. Add oysters, onion, celery (with cooking water), and eggs. Add poultry seasoning and sage to taste. Add neck, tail meat and gizzard (chopped). Save liver for gravy. Add up to half of turkey drippings. (The rest is for the gravy.) ( You can add the reserved juice from the oysters, just check for shells.) Bake at 350* until firm and lightly brown. We never stuffed the turkey, because she didn't think that was enough dressing. This will make a lasagna pan of dressing.

I keep and freeze the extra dripping from the previous turkey, so I can make ahead. This is very adjustable. I taste and add. Raw eggs have never made me sick in 65 years. If you just can't do that, taste before the eggs and add eggs last.

I have added (gasp) a can of Campbell's mushroom soup when I didn't have enough drippings.

carol, as plllog mentioned, the flour is not necessary, I always make mine without flour now. It's less "cake like" and more dense, but it's still good.

Annie

My favorite growing up - bread, sausage, celery, onion, sage, gizzard, neck meat. (I usually nabbed the heart before mom could use it...)

Both but mostly cornbread. Here's my great grandmother and great aunt's East Texas cornbread dressing recipe. The instructions were for a cousin who was trying to make it one year.

1 pan cornbread (she uses two packages of Corn Kits and makes it in a cast iron skillet, according to package directions)
1 can biscuits, baked (or one sleeve of crackers, crushed, if you don't feel like making biscuits)
2 cups onions chopped
1 cup celery chopped
1 stick of butter
4 boiled eggs (chopped)
2 large boxes of chicken broth
salt and pepper to taste
1 tablespoon sage
2 eggs, beaten
4 to 5 bacon slices

Crumble cornbread and biscuits in a large bowl. Lightly sautee (don't brown) onion and celery together in the stick of butter (she does this in the microwave in a large glass measure). Add the veggies to the crumbs. Add seasoning and boiled eggs. Mix well. Add the broth until it's a very moist mixture, almost soupy. Then add two beaten eggs and mix well. Put in a 9x13 pan. Lay 4 or 5 bacon slices acrosss the top. Bake at 350 for one hour or until brown on top. That makes about 10 to 12 servings. She suggests you make this the night before, refrigerate, and bake the next day.

Some notes from her: She says this is optional, but she also adds chopped green onion sauteed with the other veggies, parsley (dried or fresh), and fresh sage.

When you are making a sausage stuffing, what sausage are you using? What area of the country are you from?