The Dish: TaRhonda Thomas' Louisiana cornbread dressing

PHILADELPHIA (WPVI) -- In this edition of The Dish, we are doing something special for the holidays, and taking you inside the homes of our friends and colleagues here at 6abc.

Alicia Vitarelli joined Action News Race and Culture Reporter TaRhonda Thomas in her kitchen to make a treasured family holiday favorite that's straight from her family's Louisiana recipe vault: cornbread dressing.

"My children are the kind of people who never meet a stranger," says TaRhonda's mother, Patricia Thomas, while on Zoom back home in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

She says TaRhonda was born an old soul with a Southern edge.

"From the time she was very small, you could not bully her into anything," Patricia says. "I'm talking about other kids. They couldn't make her do anything she didn't want to do. She was always self-directed and determined."

Fun fact, on her way to becoming an award-winning broadcast journalist, TaRhonda was a runway model. But at the core, she's a family girl.

The Dish: TaRhonda Thomas' Louisiana cornbread dressing

"This right here, this smell. It puts me right in my grandmother's house," TaRhonda says as she shows us how to make the cornbread dressing.

The recipe started with her grandmother, Ruby.

"This smells like her house on Christmas," TaRhonda said.

The Thomas' are a Gold Star family. The oldest of four children, TaRhonda's brother Army Chief Warrant Officer 2, Terry Thomas, made the ultimate sacrifice serving our country.

The cornbread dressing was his favorite.

"It's simple and that's what I like, things that are simple," TaRhonda says. "I'm really about tradition. I'm sure that there are other ways to do things that are more modern, but I want to do it the way my mom does it, the way her mom did it, because that's important to me."

Patricia stays on the Zoom call to watch us make the recipe.

There's only one teeny problem.

"There's no recipe," Patricia laughs. "There's nothing written down."

So, Vitarelli changed that as she watched and learned.

The recipe starts with the cornbread.

Patricia makes hers from scratch but TaRhondausesd a box mix.

Her mom says a cheat is just fine and recommends you make that ahead of time to save time on the holiday.

Next is the "dressing" part.

Heat up a cast iron skillet and put a whole stick of butter in there.

Add some minced garlic. TaRhonda uses one teaspoon but Patricia uses two.

TaRhonda uses one whole white onion, one green bell pepper, and five or six stalks of celery.

Dice them all.

Then, let that cook down until the veggies get soft.

Next, wash your hands because you're about to crumble up that cornbread.

"You want to ground it up until it's fine, like sand," TaRhonda says.

Now, pay attention because here's where we eyeballed things.

We baked two (11.5 ounces) boxes of Southern cornbread mix in a 9x13 Pyrex dish.

Once you crumble it, take out about a cup of it and set it to the side, because you have to make room in that dish to add the veggie mixture (butter and all).

"Just put it all in and start mixing it in with the crumbled cornbread," TaRhonda says. "This is where the scent starts to hit you!"

Then comes that Baton Rouge kick.

"Sprinkle on some Tony Chachere's Creole seasoning," she says. "Everybody in Louisiana uses this. It's Creole magic."

Next, add warm chicken stock -- again, we eyeballed it.

Then, heat up two 32 oz. boxes of chicken stock and add it slowly. We only ended up using a box and a half.

You are looking to add enough to incorporate it all without the mixture getting soupy.

"It's like a pudding consistency," TaRhonda says. "You kind of smooth it over the top. You want to make sure it's even and well distributed."

Now, we're ready to bake!

It goes in for about an hour and a half at 350 degrees.

Vitarelli asked Patricia if Philly is ready for this delicious cornbread dressing.

She laughed, saying, "I don't think so!"

Alicia's Attempt at Documenting TaRhonda Thomas' Family Cornbread Dressing

INGREDIENTS

• 2 (11.5 oz) boxes of Southern Cornbread and Muffin Mix

• 1 stick of butter

• 2 (32 oz.) boxes of chicken stock

• 1 (or 2) teaspoons of minced garlic (per your taste)

• 1 white onion, diced

• 1 green bell pepper, diced

• 5 or 6 stalks of celery, chopped

• Tony Chachere's Creole seasoning

• Bake the cornbread according to the recipe on the box.

• Crumble it inside a 9x13 ounce Pyrex dish.

• Remove about 1 cup, to make room for the rest of the dressing.

• Heat up one stick of butter in a cast iron pan.

• Add the minced garlic, onion, celery and bell pepper and cook it until the veggies are translucent.

• Pour that entire mixture, butter and all, into the dish and incorporate it with the cornbread.

• Add the warm chicken stock slowly, until you get a pudding-like consistency. It can't be too wet OR too dry.

• Sprinkle Tony Chachere's Creole seasoning across the top of the mixture.

• Bake at 350 degrees for about an hour and a half.

• Enjoy!

Note: you can make this ahead of the holiday and refrigerate it.

Bake the day you serve it.