A plate of rice and meat with toast.

Dirty Rice

03/04/2020|, ,
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Justin Wilson’s famous dirty rice with a cowboy twist, come on folks let’s take a trip down to the Bayou!
Folks, one of my all time favorite cooks to watch growing up was Justin Wilson. Not only was he a great cajun cook, but I sure enjoyed the stories and loved listening to his accent. So, we decided to take his truly cajun classic dirty rice, but put a little twist in it and make it more cowboy style. Now this is a really easy dish it is. You just put it together and it kinda cooks itself, and it’s a one pot wonder.

“It ain’t really dirty, that’s just a good name for it.” -Justin Wilson

Start with great meat

For this we will start with ground hamburger meat, a good 80/20 is what I like to use, and a good ground pork sausage. Now traditionally Cajuns down South on the Bayou, swear it has to have chicken gizzards, livers and hearts, and giblets. Today we are putting our cowboy touch on it and using a good spicy chorizo. I’m starting this in a 12 inch cast iron Dutch oven but you can cook it in the house in just about any pot you can find. Start out by browning all of your meat over a medium heat.

Holy Trinity

That’s right folks no self-respecting Cajun will cook without this and we are going to follow along. Now this is celery, bell peppers and onions and it is going to be good! I have also added some chopped parsley, green onions and garlic also. At this point, add in a stick of butter to the meat/trinity combo along with about 3-4 tablespoons of Worcestershire sauce. A little course black pepper, a little salt, and of course Red River Ranch Original. Go ahead and cover it at this time, let it come to a real good simmer and we will add some bay leaves to it.

Simmer, Simmer, Simmer

Ok folks, after it comes to a good simmer and you added in the bay leaves you want to recover and let it simmer for about 2 hours, letting all these flavors meld together, stirring occasionally. After the first two hours you can go ahead and remove those bay leaves, ’cause nobody wants to be chewing on those! Cover it back and let it simmer for about another hour.

Rice Tricks-Fluffy Rice

While this is cooking we can go ahead and make up some good rice, and I’m talking a good fluffy white.

The best way to get this rice nice and fluffy is to rinse it, good and well, get rid of all those starches.

Also, instead of cooking this in water like it says on the directions on the package, we are going to use chicken broth. Today I used about 2 cups of rinsed long grain white rice to 4 cups of chicken broth. This will cook over a low/medium heat until most of the broth is gone and then you want to cover and let it steam for about 30 minutes after that.

Mix it all together

Now at this point, after the rice is done, we will go ahead and add in a can of mushroom soup to our meat mixture and give that a good stir. Now you can go ahead and add in the rice. Once it’s all mixed in, cover again and let simmer for another 30 minutes.

A tip here I’ve got for you is make this the day before and then you can just warm it up the next day.

I want to thank Justin Wilson for inspiring us on this dish. And if you want to see me and Justin cook together, be sure you check out the video below. Even though we didn’t do this completely traditional by leaving out the chicken parts, this still has a great Southern flavor that we hope y’all enjoy!

A person holding a plate with food on it.
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Cajun Dirty Rice - Cowboy Kent Rollins

Prep Time 20 minutes
Total Time 4 hours 50 minutes
Servings 6 to 8 servings

Ingredients

  • 1 ½ lbs. ground beef
  • 1 ½ lbs. ground pork sausage
  • ½ lb. ground chorizo
  • 1 large yellow onion chopped
  • ½ cup diced green onion
  • 1 cup diced green bell pepper
  • 1 cup diced celery
  • ¼ cup parsley chopped
  • 4 garlic cloves minced
  • 2 teaspoons coarse ground black pepper
  • 4 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
  • 1 stick unsalted butter
  • 2 tablespoons Red River Ranch Original seasoning or your favorite seasoning blend
  • 2 bay leaves
  • 2 cups uncooked long grain white rice
  • 4 cups chicken broth
  • 1 10.5 oz can mushroom soup

Instructions

  • In a large stock pot or Dutch oven, add the ground beef, sausage, chorizo, onion, green onion, bell pepper, celery, parsley, garlic cloves, black pepper, Worcestershire sauce, butter and Red RIver Ranch Seasoning (or seasoning of your choice). Stir to combine.
  • Cover and bring to a simmer over medium heat. Stir in the bay leaves and replace the lid.
  • Cook for 2 hours, stirring occasionally. Remove the bay leaves and discard. Cook and additional 2 hours, covered, stirring occasionally.
  • Meanwhile, rinse the rice well. Cook according to the directions on the package, using the chicken broth instead of water. Cook until you don’t see any water bubbling through the rice, about 15 minutes. Turn the heat to low, cover, and let set 30 minutes.
  • Stir the mushroom soup into the meat and vegetable mixture. Stir in the rice and let simmer for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally. Serve warm.

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