All of my childhood memories revolve around food. Some of my fondest recollections were meals made by my late Uncle Bolo. He was an amazing cook--the kind of cook that had two stoves. One in the kitchen and one in the garage! I'm not sure if he would have called this his signature dish, but it's definitely the one I remember most. For me, this dish completed Thanksgiving. He stored his recipes in an old, sliding Rolodex address file. What a treasure. I now make his dressing each Thanksgiving, and I hope one of my children, nieces or nephews are willing to carry on the tradition!
Ingredients:
10 cups chicken stock
5 cups long-grain rice
6 turkey necks
½ lb chicken gizzards
½ lb chicken liver
4 Tbl Pecan oil
2 lbs ground pork
2 lbs ground chuck
1 cup diced onions—1/4” dice
1 cup diced celery—1/4” dice
1 cup chopped green onions
1 Tbl Worcestershire sauce
2 tsp Bayou Lafourche Blend
Directions:
Bring chicken stock to a boil. Add rice and return to boil. Reduce heat, cover and simmer for 20 minutes. Spread cooked rice onto a baking sheet to aid cooling process. Refrigerate rice for at least two hours or overnight.
A note: my uncle used a pressure cooker for the turkey necks, livers and gizzards. My guess is that he used this piece of equipment to save time. If you have one, you can place turkey necks, livers and gizzards in it, cover with water and pressure cook for 20 minutes.If you do not have a pressure cooker, simmer the necks, livers and gizzards, covered in water, over medium heat with a lid on. They will need to simmer at least 45 minutes or until the livers and gizzards are very tender and the neck meat is falling off the bone.
Remove proteins from pot and simmer liquid to reduce to 2 cups; hold. Debone necks and shred meat and set aside and hold. Grind (a food processor works well if you don't have a meat grinder) gizzards and livers and set aside and hold.
Heat vegetable oil in a heavy bottomed pot. Saute pork in oil until very well done—about 20 minutes. Deglaze with reduced stock as necessary. Add beef, onions and celery. Saute for 15 minutes. Deglaze with reduced stock as necessary. Add green onions, Worcestershire and Bayou Lafourche Blend. Turn heat to low and simmer for 30 minutes. Add reduced stock if mixture is very dry; however, the mixture should not be “wet” only moist. Fold in cold rice and heat through. Adjust consistency with reduced stock. Taste and adjust seasonings. Best made the day before and refrigerated to allow the flavors to "get married."