For the cornbread, preheat the oven to 230°C (450°F/gas mark 8). Pour the oil into a 23cm (9 inch) ovenproof cast iron frying pan or similar heavy-based pan. Once the oven has heated up, put the pan in the oven to get piping hot.

Combine all the ingredients for the cornbread in a bowl and stir until well mixed. Pour the hot oil from the pan into the batter, then immediately pour the batter into the hot pan. Return to the oven and bake until brown on top and set – about 20 minutes. Remove from the oven and leave to cool.

When you are ready to make the stuffing, preheat the oven to 190°C (375°F/gas mark 5). Saute the celery and onion with the butter, until tender and translucent.

Coarsely crumble the cornbread into a large bowl. Roughly tear the hot dog buns and mix with the cornbread. Add the sauteed vegetables to the breads. Stir in the eggs and sage, and season with salt and pepper. Stir in a small amount of warm turkey or chicken stock. My mom’s instructions were to use enough stock to make it ‘kind of soupy’ – this doesn’t mean like soup, but just so that the stuffing is wet enough that you can see a bit of stock come to the surface when it stands – in combination with the eggs, it will bind in the oven.

Pour the mix into a well-buttered pan or other baking dish. Dot the top with butter. Bake in the oven until very brown, set and puffy, about 1 hour. I like it to have very brown edges.