Madeline Roseland's Dirty Rice

Madeline Roseland is my grandmother from Louisiana. She made this every year for Thanksgiving, and like most Cajun recipes, the amounts are general, as well as the prep and cooking times. Cook the rice until it's done. If you use the microwave, it will be finished sooner than the rice steamer. Keep adding spices until it tastes good to you. It should be as spicy as you can handle. If you've ever read a Cajun cookbook, you'll know I'm telling the truth when I say they don't usually use cookbooks or measuring spoons. They just know it and hand it down to the next generation by teaching in the kitchen while actually preparing the recipe. The turkey drippings are what makes this rice so good, and for the very best flavor, use the turkey juice from the bottom of the roasting pan when your turkey is almost done. It just isn't the same without it. I know lots of people don't like the liver, but if you do this recipe correctly, the liver taste does not come through as liver, it just adds a distinctive flavor, but is not overwhelmingly liver. Granny also used Bruce's Ma Cayenne pepper, which has a flavor all its own, but I think the company went out of business years ago, because we haven't been able to find it in forever. Other Cajun brand peppers work better than the traditional red peppers.

• Ready In: 1 hr 40 mins
• Serves: 10-12

Ingredients

• 2  cups white rice
• 4  cups  turkey drippings, juice
• 1  lb ground beef
• 1⁄2 lb  ground chicken liver
• 1  large onion, chopped
• 1  large bell pepper, chopped
• 3 -4  stalks celery, finely chopped
• 4  fresh garlic cloves, minced
• 1⁄2 cup  real unsalted butter
• 1⁄2 teaspoon cayenne pepper, more to taste
• 1⁄2 teaspoon  cajun spices, more to taste (I use Tony Chaceries)
•  salt
•  black pepper

Directions

1. Cook rice in turkey stock in microwave or rice steamer.
2. If using the steamer, reduce turkey stock to 2 cups.
3. Sauté garlic and vegetables in butter until soft.
4. Add ground meat and seasoning to sautéed vegetables.
5. Brown until done.
6. Do not drain liquid--this is not a low fat recipe!
7. Just continue cooking until the liquid is reduced almost completely (leave it a little juicy) back into the meat and vegetable mixture. You don't want the rice runny, just moist.
8. Stir meat mixture into rice and serve.