Rice

Description.—Rice is one of the most abundantly used and most digestible of all the cereals.

It grows wild in India, and it is probable that this is its native home.

It is, however, now cultivated in most tropical and sub-tropical climates, and is said to supply the principal food for nearly one third of the human race.

It is mentioned in history several hundred years before Christ. According to Soyer, an old writer on foods, the Greeks and Romans held rice in high esteem, believing it to be a panacea for chest and lung diseases.

The grain is so largely grown and used by the Chinese that "fan," their word for rice, has come to enter into many compound words. A beggar is called a "tou-fan-tee," that is, "the rice-seeking one." The ordinary salutation, "Che-fan," which answers to our "How do you do?" means, "Have you eaten your rice?"

Rice requires a wet soil, and the fields in which the grain is raised, sometimes called "paddy" fields, are periodically irrigated. Before ripening, the water is drained off, and the crop is then cut with a sickle, made into shocks, stacked, threshed, and cleaned, much like wheat. The rice kernel is inclosed within two coverings, a course outer husk, which is easily removed, and an inner, reddish, siliceous coating.

"Paddy" is the name given in India to the rice grain when inclosed in its husk. The same is termed "rough rice" in this country. The outer husk of the rice is usually removed in the process of threshing, but the inner red skin, or hull, adheres very closely, and is removed by rubbing and pounding. The rough rice is first ground between large stones, and then conveyed into mortars, and pounded with iron-shod pestles. Thence, by fanning and screening, the husk is fully removed, and the grain divided into three different grades, whole, middlings, and small whole grains, and polished ready for market. The middlings consist of the larger broken pieces of the grain; the small rice, of the small fragments mixed with the chit of the grain. The broken rice, well dried, is sometimes ground into flour of different degrees of fineness. The small rice is much sweeter and somewhat superior in point of nutritive value to the large or head rice usually met with in commerce.

Rice is characterized by a large percentage of starch, and is so deficient in other food elements that if used alone, unless consumed in very large quantities, it will not furnish the requisite amount of nitrogenous material necessary for a perfect health food. For this reason, it is necessary to supplement its use with some other food containing an excess of nitrogenous elements, as peas, beans, milk, etc. Associated with other articles rich in albuminous elements, rice is exceedingly valuable, and one of the most easily digested foods. Boiled or steamed rice requires but a little over one hour for digestion.

Preparation and Cooking.—Rice needs to be thoroughly washed to remove the earthy taste it is so apt to have. A good way to do this is to put it into a colander, in a deep pan of water. Rub the rice well with the hands, lifting the colander in and out the water, and changing the water until it is clear; then drain. In this way the grit is deposited in the water, and the rice left thoroughly clean.

The best method of cooking rice is by steaming it. If boiled in much water, it loses a portion of its already small percentage of nitrogenous elements. It requires much less time for cooking than any of the other grains. Like all the dried grains and seeds, rice swells in cooking to several times its original bulk. When cooked, each grain of rice should be separate and distinct, yet perfectly tender.

RECIPES.

Steamed Rice.—Soak a cup of rice in one and a fourth cups of water for an hour, then add a cup of milk, turn into an earthen dish suitable for serving it from at table, and place in a steam-cooker or a covered steamer over a kettle of boiling water, and steam for an hour. It should be stirred with a fork occasionally, for the first ten or fifteen minutes.

Boiled Rice (Japanese method).—Thoroughly cleanse the rice by washing in several waters, and soak it overnight. In the morning, drain it, and put to cook in an equal quantity of boiling water, that is, a pint of water for a pint of rice. For cooking, a stewpan with tightly fitting cover should be used. Heat the water to boiling, then add the rice, and after stirring, put on the cover, which is not again to be removed during the boiling. At first, as the water boils, steam will puff out freely from under the cover, but when the water has nearly evaporated, which will be in eight to ten minutes, according to the age and quality of the rice, only a faint suggestion of steam will be observed, and the stewpan must then be removed from over the fire to some place on the range, where it will not burn, to swell and dry for fifteen or twenty minutes.

Rice to be boiled in the ordinary manner requires two quarts of boiling water to one cupful of rice. It should be boiled rapidly until tender, then drained at once, and set in a moderate oven to become dry. Picking and lifting lightly occasionally with a fork will make it more flaky and dry. Care must be taken, however, not to mash the rice grains.

Rice With Fig Sauce.—Steam a cupful of best rice as directed above, and when done, serve with a fig sauce prepared as directed in the Farina with Fig Sauce recipe. Dish a spoonful of the fig sauce with each saucer of rice, and serve with plenty of cream. Rice served in this way requires no sugar for dressing, and is a most wholesome breakfast dish.

Orange Rice.—Wash and steam the rice according to directions already given. Prepare some oranges by separating into sections and cutting each section in halves, removing the seeds and all the white portion. Sprinkle the oranges lightly with sugar, and let them stand while the rice is cooking. Serve a portion of the orange on each saucerful of rice.

Rice with raisins.—Carefully wash a cupful of rice, soak it, and cook as directed for Steamed Rice. After the rice has began to swell, but before it has softened, stir into it lightly, using a fork for the purpose, a cupful of raisins, or Zante currents. Serve with cream.

Rice with Peaches.—Steam the rice as previously directed, and when done, serve with cream and a nicely ripened peach pared and sliced on each individual dish.

Browned Rice.—Spread a cupful of rice on a shallow baking tin, and put into a moderately hot oven to brown. It will need to be stirred frequently to prevent burning and to secure a uniformity of color. Each rice kernel, when sufficiently browned, should be of a yellowish brown, about the color of ripened wheat. Steam the same as directed for ordinary rice, using only two cups of water for each cup of browned rice, and omitting the preliminary soaking. When properly cooked, each kernel will be separated, dry, and mealy. Rice prepared in this manner is undoubtedly more digestible than when cooked without browning.

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