" In looking over the ' American Woman's
Home ' the other day," observed Alice, " I came
across a paragraph on butter, that I presume you
would endorse. I will read it to you : ^ A matter
for despair as regards bad butter is, that at the
tables where it is used it stands sentinel at the
door to bar your way to every other kind of food.
You turn from your dreadful half slice of bread
which fills your mouth with bitterness, to your
beefsteak, which proves virulent with the same
poison. You think to take refuge in vegetable
diet, and find the butter in the string-beans, and
polluting the inuocence of early pease. It is in
the corn, in the succotash, in the squash. The
beets swim in it ; the onions have it poured over
them. Hungry and miserable, you think to solace
yourself at dessert, but the cake is acrid and the
pastiy is cursed with the same plague.'"
" But to change the subject, Kate, have you
noticed," interrogated Emeline, " on how few
tables you find rice that is properly cookeel ? "
"Yes, I have noticed with sorrow the ignorance
and stupidity exhibited in the preparation of so
simple an article of food.
116 COOKING AND CASTLE-BUILDING.
" There are several excellent methods of cooking
rice. This is one of them : After the rice has been
carefully picked and wasiied, add three measures
of warm water to one measure of rice, and soak
for an hour. Then cook it in the same water, by
setting the dish containing it in a steamer, and
steaming it for one hour. When put to steam add
a small quantity of salt✪ Steamed Rice, and stir two or three times
with a fork during the first fifteen minutes. Rice
cooked in this manner will be white and dry, with
each grain separate and distinct, yet soft and
palatable. If desired, part of the water can be
left out, and its equivalent in milk added, when
the rice is nearly done cooking. One advantage
of this method is, that rice can be boiled in a china
bowl, or any vessel preferred.
" If you wish to cook rice quickly, I know of
no better way than this : Put one measure of rice
in five measures of boiling water. Cover closely
and boil rapidly, twenty or twenty-five minutes,
till tender. Drain, partly cover, and set fifteen
minutes, where it will keep hot, and dry off."
Ahce seemed to be growing restless and im-
patient about something ; but she gave no expres-
sion to her feelings except by a quick, nervous
tapping of the toe of her kid slipper upon the
carpet, and by a frequent pushing back of the stray
curls whicli rested against her cheek. At last she
sprang up joyfully, exclaiming: "Oh, Susannah,
AT DINNER. 117
what a deal of work you must have had to do this
niornmg. Where shall we go first? Up stah-s,
down stairs, or to the lady's chamber?"
" I always do her room first, and the drawing-
room last," replied Susannah, adding : " Will you
come too. Miss Kate? and perhaps the Madam
wouldn't object. "
Page 48 · 2 recipe records on this page
Presented as published in 1880. Historical recipes may not meet modern food-safety standards. Cook from the modern interpretation, not the original instructions.
AI-modernized reading of the original text
" In looking over the ' American Woman's Home ' the other day," observed Alice, " I came across a paragraph on butter, that I presume you would endorse. I will read it to you : ^ A matter for despair as regards bad butter is, that at the tables where it is used it stands sentinel at the door to bar your way to every other kind of food. You turn from your dreadful half slice of bread which fills your mouth with bitterness, to your beefsteak, which proves virulent with the same poison. You think to take refuge in vegetable diet, and find the butter in the string-beans, and polluting the innocence of early pease. It is in the corn, in the succotash, in the squash. The beets swim in it ; the onions have it poured over them. Hungry and miserable, you think to solace yourself at dessert, but the cake is acrid and the pastiy is cursed with the same plague.'"
" But to change the subject, Kate, have you noticed," interrogated Emeline, " on how few tables you find rice that is properly cooked ? "
"Yes, I have noticed with sorrow the ignorance and stupidity exhibited in the preparation of so simple an article of food.
" There are several excellent methods of cooking rice. This is one of them : After the rice has been carefully picked and washed, add three measures of warm water to one measure of rice, and soak for an hour. Then cook it in the same water, by setting the dish containing it in a steamer, and steaming it for one hour. When put to steam add a small quantity of salt, and stir two or three times with a fork during the first fifteen minutes. Rice cooked in this manner will be white and dry, with each grain separate and distinct, yet soft and palatable. If desired, part of the water can be left out, and its equivalent in milk added, when the rice is nearly done cooking. One advantage of this method is, that rice can be boiled in a china bowl, or any vessel preferred.
" If you wish to cook rice quickly, I know of no better way than this : Put one measure of rice in five measures of boiling water. Cover closely and boil rapidly, twenty or twenty-five minutes, till tender. Drain, partly cover, and set fifteen minutes, where it will keep hot, and dry off."
Ahce seemed to be growing restless and impatient about something ; but she gave no expression to her feelings except by a quick, nervous tapping of the toe of her kid slipper upon the carpet, and by a frequent pushing back of the stray curls which rested against her cheek. At last she sprang up joyfully, exclaiming: "Oh, Susannah,
what a deal of work you must have had to do this morning. Where shall we go first? Up stairs, down stairs, or to the lady's chamber?"
" I always do her room first, and the drawingroom last," replied Susannah, adding : " Will you come too. Miss Kate? and perhaps the Madam wouldn't object. "
Records on this page
Steamed RiceQuick Boiled Rice