The Hazlehurst signal., 1884-04-17
The Art OF Cooking Rice.

SIR: With your permission. ! will
answer the question addressed 10 az"
about cooking iice. As ~ rice planter,
am greatly Interested in cycrybody's
knowing how to cook rice. Wheat and
rice are the only two grains consumed
exclusively by man. or nearly so. Of
corn. oats. barley. rye. etc., the great
bulk (cvcn of that turned into liquor. u
sarcastic temperance advocate might
saw is consumed by beasts. The coun-
try produces nearly ten bushels. or
three hundred quarts, of wheat per
capita, and scarcely one quart Of rice;
vet. in spite Of n considerable taril on
rice, the prices per bllshcl Of wheat and
rough rice are not far apart usually.
In n rics-growing country everybody
eat, rice. and prefers il to bread. II a
stranger comes among us (not too old
in u twelvcmonth 1t Is likely he will
show this preference. and children in
yariably acquire il. Yet ont of a rice
country nobody can eat ii. except in
puddings. and the better hc loves II the
less the born and bred ricc-cator will
have To do with IL there. a "So'th
Car'linian" from Georgetown or Beau.
fort, who eats rice always once, and
sometimes twice and thrice day at
home, will hardly call for il II second
time at the hest hotels Of New York or
Long Branch. This is strange. but IL
i still stranger that. even in the in
terror Of South Carolina and Georgia.
rice is not eaten largely. while In the
upper portions of those States. except
by low.county families, II Is no more a
regular article Of de, than II is in Ohio
or Illinois. Why is this?
The explanation is to be found In the
cooking. and In that alone. i il then
80 hard to cook? BY no means. On
the contrary. the cooking is of the very
simplest and easiest, so much 40 that
every negro girl of twelve or upward in
the rice country can cook IL TO perfcc-
ton. though possibly she can cook
nothing else. In fact. the plantation
rice hands cook II very much better than
YOU will lind il cooked at the best hotels
In Charleston or Savannah. Now, j
will tell you how to cook il. so there
can be, | think. no mistake. am fond
of camp hunting in the winter fro.
quently staying out on the river for a
week or ten days, and ! always carry
rice because II Is SD easy to keep and
difficult to injurc, under the ordinary
conditions of camp life. when n sudden
shOwcro or leaky boat may ruin your
flour at short notice. Also, I always
carry Ned. black man. who knows
how to cook rice. Many and many n
time have | watched him ut II by the
camp lire; but last winter. there having
been some discussion Of IL In the papers.
l took occasion one day to observe Ned
with his rice. very closely, watch In
hand. Here is just what he did. how
hc did II, and the actual time. except
Of the last operation, which Is not inn
portant, so you give time enough-not
less than half an hour, and better. an
hour.
First. he poured pint Of rice into n
tin pan and picked IL over carefully.
throwing out any foreign substances.
Then he poured into the pan some cold
water, washed the rice, poured the
water OF, and picked the rice again.
a second time IL was washed and the
water poured of Then Ned put the
rice into an ordinary two-luart sauce.
pan, covered It to the depth Of u half
inch with cold water, stirred In the salt.
fitted on the top carefully, and put the
saucepan on a quick fire OF Goals, and
went to his other work. In just twenty
minutes Ned returned to his rice and
removed the lid. II was done. but not
yet ready for tho table. There was a
little water left, which was carefully
poured of; the rico was thoroughly
stirred from the bottom, not the top,
but n tin plate was laid lightly on tho
saucepan. and the saucepan set one side
In the hot ashes, where 1t remained
rery siopiy sfedmi,,q one hour. or may
hap two, when the rice was so dry that
you might cat It with your fingers. and
at the same time thoroughly done. and
soft through and through. Nobody
can like raw rice, neither can any one
like II sogged with water by an hours
boiling and no steaming.-M T. Erer-
ing Post.