Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1892-03-13
HOW A CREOLE COOKS RICE
A Variety of Dishes, and One Especially
Suited to the Lenten Period.

A Variety of Dishes, and One Especially
Suited to the Lenten Period.
As winter vegetable rice cannot be too
soul of FRANCHISE, its cheapness is large
recommendation. 1t is an inevitable dinner
dish with the creoles; all the dusky danes
| de cuisine know how to cook the pearly
grains so that each stands separate from the
other, yet is tender to the heart.
To serve simply boiled rice nodded at.
tractively is task daily accomplished to
perfection by any creole anywhere. The
usual serving shows sodden, pasty mass,
more like illy-made starch than anything
else, and about as nutritious and palatable.
The creole knows that to properly boil rice
it should not be covered while cooking;
that it must be thoroughly picked over,
washed in three waters, and every imperfect
and discolored grain cast aside. She puts
it to boil in plenty of boiling water,
allows enough for the grains to play
about freely, and adds salt in the proper
tion of a teaspoonful to a cup of raw rice.
She lets it boil 20 minutes; tests several
grains to see if they are tender through.
Then she removes it from the fire, puts it
into colander to drain. shakes we'll until
nearly dry, puts it into fated mold,
without packing too tightly, sets ii
where it will keep hot without scorch-
ing, and when ready to serve she turns it
upon hot dish. She knows that rice
should never be stirred, but that it may
he tossed lightly with a fork. Cooked
thus, FRANCHISE serves it with her gumbo
soup, her fricassees and grilliades, as we'll
wit INIT nd fOr ho mid n
meal of les petites.
A very important factor is rice in the
soups maigres with which the fervent Gre
ole keeps her numerous fast days. During
the Lenton season she abjures meat and
serves as chief among many potages her riz
au maigre.
For this she washes four heaping table,
spoons of rice through three waters; puts it
on to boil in one pint of cold water; as it
swells adds pint of boiling water, and when
the grains are tender third pint, also boil
ing. She peppers and salts to taste-uses
always the red pepper pods if pos
eggs smooth with three tablespoonfuls of
sweet milk, and stirs in this, very carefully,
! cup of the rice water, then she stirs the
mixture into the rice, briskly; adds a table
spoonful of butter, draws the saucepan
aside and stirs two or three minutes; she
takes good care that the soup does not boil
after the eggs are added.
If this delicate soup maigre is we'll made
it will be found very palatable, very nour-
ishing.
When economical Francoise has cold
boiled rice left over she mixes griddle
cakes, OF waffles, or a pudding, to each and
all of which she adds her own quaint touch
that reveals undreamed of possibilities in
these plain concoctions. She will serve the
pudding baked in forms, its creamy top
delicately Drowned and accompanied by q
rich sauce thick with cinnamon; the waffles
she makes with a cup of rice to one-half cup
Of flour, two eggs and a cup of milk, she
uses bit of butter the size of walnut and
salt to taste, and but one teaspoonfui of
baking powder 1t is in their baking and
serving her exceeding excellence shows;
they are Drowned to perfection, piled lightly,
buttered generously, served verv hot, with
powdered cinnamon and sugar sifted over
Here again does the safe, steady heat of
charcoal answer, the waffle iron never gets
too hot or too cool, but stays as it should
FRANCHISE knows how to manage that.
EMMA !. MCLAGAN.