Rice, Mussels and (an Algerian recipe). — Wash the mussels weU ; set them on the fire in a stewpan without any water, but with a close-fitting lid. Shake them up from time to time so as to bring them aU in turn to the bottom. They will gradually open and give out their liquor, in which, and in the steam from it, they will cook. When they are all well opened and detach easily from the shell, turn them out into a large-holed colander placed over a vessel to catch the liquor which strains, and set aside to settle. Take the mussels out of their shells, rejecting the weed attached to their inside and any little parasitical crabs within them, and put them aside. Boil rice as if for a curry, so as to be as dry as possible when done. To this put a good lump of butter and a few table-spoonfuls of the mussel liquor, season with pepper, salt, and grated nutmeg✪ Rice with Mussels. Put in the mussels, beat up all together, mixing with- out breaking them ; or heap the warmed-up mussels in the centre of a dish, and surround them -with the seasoned rice. Rice, Norfolk {see Norfolk Eice). Rice, Nutritive Properties of.— The seeds of rice contain a much less proportion of nitrogenised compounds than the other cereal grains, and particularly wheat, viz., about seven per cent. ; the quantitj- of fatty matter is also less. Much difference of opinion has prevailed in reference to the value of rice as an article of diet, some persons placing it very high. Analysis, however, clearly proves that it is the least nutritious of the cereal grasses. This difference of opinion has probably arisen from the fact that rice is seldom eaten by itself, but is partaken of usually with milk, butter, or sugar, the nutritious portions of which sub- stances have been attributed to the rice itself. —Ilassnll. The following analj-sis of rice is by Bra- connot : — Carolina. Piedmont Water 5-0 7-0 Husk 4-8 4-8 Gluten 3-6 3-6 Starch . 85-07 83-8 Sugar 0-3 0-05 Gum 0-7 0-1 Oil. 0-13 0-2.5 Phosphat es . . 0-4 0-4 1000 100-0 " Eice," remarks Professor Johnston in his "Chemistry of Common Life," " is remarkable chiefly for the comparatively small proportion of gluten it contains. This does not exceed seven or eight per eent. — less than half the BIC (749) RIC quantity contained in oatmeal. In rice-countries it has often been noticed that the natives devour what to us appear enormous quantities -of the grain, and this circumstance is ascribed to the small proijortion it contains of the highlj^ nutritive and necessary gluten. Rice contains also little fat, and hence it is less laxative than the other cereal grains, or rather, it possesses something of a binding nature. It has recently been observed that, when substituted for pota- toes in some of our workhouses — in consequence of the failure of the potato — this grain has, after a few months, produced scurvy. This may have been owing as much to the effects of sudden change of diet as to an inherent evil property in. the grain itself. Still it suggests, as many other facts do, the utility and whole- someness of a mixed food."

AI-modernized reading of the original text

Rice, Mussels and (an Algerian recipe). — Wash the mussels well ; set them on the fire in a stewpan without any water, but with a close-fitting lid. Shake them up from time to time so as to bring them all in turn to the bottom. They will gradually open and give out their liquor, in which, and in the steam from it, they will cook. When they are all well opened and detach easily from the shell, turn them out into a large-holed colander placed over a vessel to catch the liquor which strains, and set aside to settle. Take the mussels out of their shells, rejecting the weed attached to their inside and any little parasitical crabs within them, and put them aside. Boil rice as if for a curry, so as to be as dry as possible when done. To this put a good lump of butter and a few table-spoonfuls of the mussel liquor, season with pepper, salt, and grated nutmeg. Put in the mussels, beat up all together, mixing without breaking them ; or heap the warmed-up mussels in the centre of a dish, and surround them with the seasoned rice. Rice, Norfolk {see Norfolk Eice). Rice, Nutritive Properties of.— The seeds of rice contain a much less proportion of nitrogenised compounds than the other cereal grains, and particularly wheat, viz., about seven per cent. ; the quantity of fatty matter is also less. Much difference of opinion has prevailed in reference to the value of rice as an article of diet, some persons placing it very high. Analysis, however, clearly proves that it is the least nutritious of the cereal grasses. This difference of opinion has probably arisen from the fact that rice is seldom eaten by itself, but is partaken of usually with milk, butter, or sugar, the nutritious portions of which substances have been attributed to the rice itself. —Ilassnll. The following analysis of rice is by Braconnot : — Carolina. Piedmont Water 5-0 7-0 Husk 4-8 4-8 Gluten 3-6 3-6 Starch . 85-07 83-8 Sugar 0-3 0-05 Gum 0-7 0-1 Oil. 0-13 0-2.5 Phosphat es . . 0-4 0-4 100-0 " Eice," remarks Professor Johnston in his "Chemistry of Common Life," " is remarkable chiefly for the comparatively small proportion of gluten it contains. This does not exceed seven or eight per cent. — less than half the BIC (749) RIC quantity contained in oatmeal. In rice-countries it has often been noticed that the natives devour what to us appear enormous quantities -of the grain, and this circumstance is ascribed to the small proportion it contains of the highly nutritive and necessary gluten. Rice contains also little fat, and hence it is less laxative than the other cereal grains, or rather, it possesses something of a binding nature. It has recently been observed that, when substituted for potatoes in some of our workhouses — in consequence of the failure of the potato — this grain has, after a few months, produced scurvy. This may have been owing as much to the effects of sudden change of diet as to an inherent evil property in. the grain itself. Still it suggests, as many other facts do, the utility and wholesomeness of a mixed food."

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Rice with Mussels

Cassell's dictionary of cookery