This is a Watson holiday family favorite. My Uncle Frank J. Watson, Jr. created this concoction sometime in the mid 1980’s to solve a problem: he loved Rice dressing, and his father in law (C.M. Jackson (aka. Daddy Jack) loved Cornbread dressing. A solution was to combine the two together. It was a smash hit, and each year thereafter he was begged to make it (along with his sweet potato casserole).
My cousin Todd took over making it, and finally has written it down at the request of his children, sister, and most importantly, his cousin Chef.
What We Need:
2 Cups Cooked Rice
2 Packages of Cooked Cornbread
1 Large White/Yellow Onion (or 2 smaller ones)
6 Long Stalks of Celery
2 Bell Peppers (green, yellow, or red) optionally add a jalapeno or two
1 lb Sage flavored Ground Pork Sausage
1 lb ground Beef Hamburger
2 Cans Campbell’s Cream of Mushroom Soup (1 roasted garlic flavor if possible)
1 Can Campbell’s Cream of Celery Soup
1 Can Campbell’s Cream of Chicken Soup
1-2 cans (~1 Pint) of Chicken Stock
Salt & Pepper, Cayenne, Tony’s, etc. to your liking
What We’re Doing with It:
Cook the Rice and Cornbread ahead of time – should be dried out to best absorb liquids. Recommend crumbling and lightly roasting cornbread on cookie sheet.
Brown and drain the sausage and hamburger.
Med-to-Small Chop and Saute veggies.
Stir by hand together in large mixing bowl: starting with dry ingredients, add meats, then veggies. Fold in the soups. The 2nd can of cream of mushroom is optional depending on consistency. Should still be mostly dry, but pasty. Add seasoning (ideally at beginning, but be cautious to not overseason). Lastly, slowly add stock while mixing to moisten mixture. Should hold/absorb the moisture. Do NOT over-wet the mix!
Spread into a greased glass/pyrex casserole dish and bake until nicely browned on top.
Enjoy a large serving spoon size helping with turkey gravy over the top!
