Cornbread Beer Oyster Dressing with Flying Dog’s Dogtoberfest

Oyster dressing is something I had never tasted until moving to Annapolis.

Since coming to Maryland I’ve become a huge fan of Chesapeake oysters, both farm raised and wild. That fandom extends to oyster stouts, oyster roasts, raw oysters, and now oyster dressing.

This recipe uses Flying Dog’s Dogtoberfest. This beer is a Märzen Oktoberfest style. The style is typically clean, malty, and a little sweet. Dogtoberfest is slightly more hoppy than most Oktoberfest beers, but it still holds true to being a richly malty brew.

Ingredients:

• 2 – 2 1/2 pounds of cornbread (I recommend The Beer Spy’s Pale Ale Cornbread )
• 16 Tbsp (two sticks) of unsalted butter
• 2 cups celery, diced
• 1 cup of sweet yellow onion, diced
• 2 Medium shallots, diced
• 1/2 tsp fresh ground black pepper
• 2 garlic cloves, chopped
• 2 tsp celery seed, crushed
• 1 1/2 Tbsp fresh chopped thyme
• 1 Tbsp fresh chopped sage
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley
• 12oz (one bottle/can) of beer
• 3 large eggs, lightly beaten
• 12 oysters, shucked (save their liquid)

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 250F.

2. Break the cornbread into pieces about 1/2 inch square. Place in a baking dish and bake for 20 minutes.

3. Turn off the oven and let the cornbread sit overnight to continue drying.

4. The next day grease an 13 x 9 baking dish, and move the cornbread pieces to a large bowl.

5. Preheat the oven to 350F.

5. Melt 12 tablespoons (1 1/2 sticks) of the butter in a frying pan over medium-high heat.

6. Add celery, onion, and shallot, and cook until soft, about 10-12 minutes.

7. Add thyme, celery seed, garlic, sage, and pepper. Cook until fragrant, about 1 minute or less.

8. Remove the entire mixture from the heat and add to the bowl of cornbread pieces. Fold in the beer, oysters and their juices, and then the eggs. If it seems a little dry then add more beer (you’re probably drinking one right now so just use that one).

9. Cut the remaining butter into small squares and spread evenly across the top of the dressing.

10. Bake until the top is toasted and brown, about 40-45 minutes.

Check out Chesapeake Inspired magazines Thanksgiving beer pairing guide for the perfect beer pairing.