This sounds beyond delicious, but I have never heard of Drake's Funny Bones, so I don't know what to compare it to!

@j.kenji -- Please don't cringe, but what meat would you suggest for supper to go with this and the mushroom carpaccio? Something chicken-y?

Cook's Country magazine (from the fine folks at America's Test Kitchen) has covered King Ranch Casserole twice, and as recently as the Oct/Nov 2012 issue. Unfortunately, the website doesn't go into the provenance like the printed edition does. If anyone is really interested, I can go back to my book shelf to see what they said about the history of this dish.

Two comments: It was good! And, I ended up buying fresh mild Italian sausages to make them with at the grocery store last night -- there they were, right next to the brats, as I knew they would be. So, I will save the dry sausage I mentioned in my other post for something else.

Second, the final dish is very ... brown. Needs some color in and right around it, I think, even if I did serve it with a green salad.

Well, I guess I have a third comment/question: 475 degrees seems very hot for the oven. Is that correct or a typo? I cooked mine at 450 degrees, and at 20 minutes, it was more than ready to come out of the oven.

I'm making this tomorrow night, but I have a question about the sausage. I went to my favorite international market, because, among other things, they have more types of sausage than you can shake a stick at.

However, I was having trouble finding Italian sausage, so I inquired, and what I was directed to was an "Italian Dry Sausage" that was shrink-wrapped in individual pieces of about 8 oz. each, and it was in the section with things like salami and soppresetta, etc., beside the deli department.

At the mass-market grocery store, they have fresh mild and hot Italian sausages in packs of four, in the pork section of the meat department, and they have not been cooked or cured. Around here (Chicago) you will find them next to the bratwurst. Hey, this =is= the Midwest!

Anyway, not wanting to spend any more time on my quest, I bought two of the dry sausages, and am wondering if they will work in this recipe? I don't really want to go shopping again; it's several degrees below zero when you factor in wind chill!

Thanks for any advice you can offer!

Could these be shipped as a Christmas gift for the newest doggie in the family? Would we need to put in one of those dry-ice packs, or are they good to go as-is once baked and cooled to hardness? (Just a little concerned about the bacon fat going rancid in transit from Chicago to South Carolina.)

At any rate, I am going to make a batch and taste-test them on the ever-discriminating palate of Dooley, our golden retriever. Oh, wait, I forgot -- a golden will eat anything that comes his way and given the opportunity, will continue to eat until he blows up ... hmm ... maybe I'll try them with my doggie friends around the neighborhood, too.

And LizLemon, I appreciate you posting about your experience -- I will keep a careful eye out for the problem you ran into. My problem is usually having baked goods be underdone at the specified time, so I'm always giving the goodies extra time in minute-by-minute increments.

I would like to calibrate my oven, just keep forgetting to buy one of those gadgets; is your oven calibrated?

My cooking plans changed, so I didn't get to make this until last night. Very tasty, but definitely labor-intensive!

Here are a couple of things I would have found helpful to have been included in the procedures: The yield of the tomato sauce, so I could better judge the two-thirds amount needed when putting the casserole together, and a suggestion on how full to stuff the shells. I wasn't sure if they should be stuffed full, or stuffed lightly.

A couple other thoughts:

When considering the size of the shells and the pastry tips I had, I opted for the sandwich bag method. However, not being a pro at this, I found it to be a difficult process. Also, I had to keep "smushing" the filling to move it to the tip of the bag, and I ended up deciding to use a spoon, instead, because I felt the "smooshing" process was deleterious to the texture of the filling.

I also agree with the comment about being generous with the seasoning. The finished dish is quite mild, so we used crushed red pepper to taste at the table to zip it up.

I made this tonight (well, I guess technically it was last night), and all I can say is -- delicious! I have lived away from my beloved South for so long now that I guess I am "dumpling agnostic," so I had no qualms about using Kenji's recipe.

This sounds really tasty, but I'm not familiar with what mung beans taste like, so I was wondering about the flavor profile?

Have to give a shout-out to a fellow Tar Heel! I wish him all the best; I think he's going places, and not just in his truck!

Now I want to head downtown to check out the offerings ...

Welcome to Yuba! But where is =her= doggie bed??

At an otherwise charming cafe in New Bern, NC, our server actually described a dish as creating a "tongue-gasm" in your mouth. I truly hope that is the one and only time I ever hear that particular word concoction.