BY SARAH STEPHENS
ELMORE/AUTAUGA NEWS OWNER
Top Photo: My Old Faithful cookbook. Worn and ragged, it is my “Go To” for holiday cooking. I have carried it with me on every move over the past 30 years.
With Thanksgiving less than a week away, I found myself reaching for the cookbooks. I have about 20 in total, but my hands always fall upon my Old Faithful.
It is called “Favorite Foods of First Baptist” Volume 3, 1991 created in Jennings, Louisiana.
In 1991 I was the editor of the Jennings Daily News way down south in Louisiana where the Cajuns live, work and play. Most of all….they cook. Very well. If memory serves, this cookbook was a gift to me. Perhaps a bribe to do a story about it in the newspaper. But I treasure it.
I grew up around Shreveport, Louisiana which is in the northwest corner of the state bordering Texas and Arkansas. When people say, “Oh, you are a Cajun,” I have to school them. While I was born in Louisiana, a true Cajun would be highly offended for me to be called a Cajun. I resided to the north of I-10 and not in any of the parishes that make up traditional Cajun land. I moved to Jennings in 1990 after college. I still consider it one of favorite places I ever lived. Oh, I miss the food. (Thank goodness I married me a Cajun man, who can cook!)
The food in my area of Shreveport was way different from the food in Jennings. But it was down that way that I discovered Rice Dressing and it is one of my absolute favorites to make at holidays even now.
Many of my friends down that way do not eat cornbread stuffing/dressing. It is Rice Dressing. Rice is considered its own food group, I learned with a quickness.
So, in case you want to try something new this year, I am including the recipe from the Old Faithful cookbook I hold dear. The recipe was submitted way back when by a woman named Adea Vidrine. Quite a good Cajun name.
Rice Dressing
1 lb. ground meat (beef or pork)
1 lb ground liver
½ c. each: celery, green pepper and onion.
2 c. raw rice
Salt
Pepper
1 Tbsp. poultry seasoning or sage.
In 5-quart heavy kettle, brown meat and liver in a small amount of oil. When brown, add washed rice, celery, green pepper, onion, salt and pepper and poultry seasoning or sage. Add enough water to cover, about an inch or 1 ½ inches over all. Stir, cover tightly, cook on low fire, stirring several times and loosening the crust on bottom of kettle. More water can be added, if needed, so rice may cook. When dried rice is cooked, dressing is done.
What is YOUR favorite Thanksgiving recipe? Please share. I am always up to try something new, and the holidays are about the only time I have a little time to cook.
Above all, my wish for you is a peaceful, Happy Thanksgiving.
