Rice Dressing: A family recipe from our very own Audrey Atkins

Thanksgiving is a time to give thanks and enjoy family traditions old and new. Last year, Bill Pautler's family recipe for Paper Bag Turkey was so popular, we thought we'd follow this year with another family recipe - only this time from Audrey Atkins, our Director of Marketing. We hope you will enjoy it as well as all the bounty of the harvest season.

She Put What in the Dressing?!

In the mid 1890s, my great grandfather, Andrew Joseph Rowell, Jr., a young man in need of gainful employ, decided he would try his hand working at a logging camp in Chicora, MS. Joby, as he was known to his family, was hired on as an ox driver pulling great pine logs out of the woods and down to the river. It was hard work and dangerous, so when he had made enough money, Joby went home to Citronelle, AL, to build a home and start a life and family with his sweetheart, Ada.

Joby had one stipulation, however. It seems that while he was working at the logging camp, there was little served to eat except for cold collards and cornbread. Joby swore he would never eat either again! What was a young bride to do when Thanksgiving came? No dressing?

Ada thought back to her upbringing on the Mississippi Gulf Coast where rice was plentiful and a staple in the local diet and created the following recipe, which we still savor every year! From my family to yours...Rice Dressing.

2 cups uncooked rice

4 cups water
4 Tbl butter

1 cup finely chopped celery

1/2 cup finely chopped white onion

3 pieces white bread, toasted dry and crumbled

1 Tbl dried sage

Several dashes white pepper

5 eggs, beaten

1/2 - 1 cup chicken broth

Salt to taste

Combine rice, water, and salt to taste in a saucepan and bring to a boil. Cover, reduce heat to low, and cook until all water is absorbed, about 20 minutes. When rice is done, remove from heat, add butter, and let cool to room temperature. Add in all remaining ingredients. You can adjust the amount of broth if dressing appears to be too dry and adjust seasonings to taste.

Put in a greased baking dish and bake at 350 degrees for 40-45 minutes until brown on top and an inserted toothpick comes out clean.

Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours!