[Sca-cooks] kitchen tips

[Huette von Ahrens]

I have to confess that I grew up on Minute Rice.  It was the only rice that my mom would make.  And the only reason that I would eat it was because she would add a pat of real butter to it, so it had the taste of butter, which I like.  However, I have grown up and haven't used Minute Rice or Uncle Ben's or Rice-a-Rone.  I don't think that I have a good palate for rice, as most of the rice tastes the same to me, i.e. bland.  I dislike the taste and texture of the sticky rice served at most Asian restaurants.  They are only good when you put sauce on it.  I find that I do like pilaf as the rice in pilaf has a different texture.  However, pilaf usually has other things in it that usually flavors the dish.  Now, if I could find a restaurant that doesn't put peppers in their pilaf, I would be a happy camper.  

Years ago, at Angel's 20th Anniversary, which was a camping event with an outdoor kitchen, one of my cooks insisted that we serve Frumenty as she said that no feast is a true feast without it.  I let her make it, which was a mistake.  She made enough to serve without getting to the burnt area on the bottom.  However, the one inch thick burnt area was almost impossible to scrape out and clean.  I will never make frumenty that way again.  If I ever consent to do frumenty again, it will be premade in boiling bags or cooking in a disposible pan in the oven.

Huette

--- On Wed, 8/20/08, Michael Gunter <countgunthar at hotmail.com> wrote:

> From: Michael Gunter <countgunthar at hotmail.com>
> Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] kitchen tips
> To: "Cooks within the SCA" <sca-cooks at lists.ansteorra.org>
> Date: Wednesday, August 20, 2008, 10:09 AM
> > It did come in handy for camp cooking for 20+ people
> when
> > I had no oven and only a coleman stove. I wanted to
> avoid scorching the
> > rice on the stove even at the lowest flame I could
> get. I certainly don't
> > like the tasted of burnt rice.
> 
> > I thought it to be a reasonable option.
> 
> It's not too bad if cooked in a good chicken stock or
> some
> type of flavored broth or water. But there are better
> options.
> 
> If you wish to aviod the burning of rice there are a couple
> of things
> you can do when camping.
> First is pre-cook the rice and seal. Then drop the bag of
> cooked
> rice into hot water. No mess.
> 
> If you must use a pre-packaged rice then I suggest
> "Uncle Ben's
> Boil-In-Bags". In taste tests it has scored the
> highest and is
> very good and convenient. There is also much less cleanup
> than cooking rice in a pot. Personally, I hate scrubbing
> pots 
> when camping. 
> 
> > Is there something odd about the Minute Rice that I
> just don't taste?
> 
> There is very little rice flavor in Minute Rice. More of a
> processed
> cardboard taste. And the texture is way off. There are much
> better choices out there currently. 
> 
> > Euriol
> 
> Yers,
> 
> Gunthar
> 
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