[Sca-cooks] more on rice

[Stefan li Rous]

Wow. One of the best summaries of the use of rice, at least in the non-European areas, I’ve seen so far. 

Aodh, you might also look at this file in the FOOD-BREADS (and GRAINS) section of the Florilegium. This is much of what we’ve been saying for the last fifteen years, but I’m afraid it isn’t quite as concise as Bear’s summaries.

rice-msg (130K) 9/ 1/14 Period rice. Recipes.
http://www.florilegium.org/files/FOOD-BREADS/rice-msg.html

I just updated this one and the one on flat-breads, but I should have the latest versions uploaded in the next few days.

Stefan

<<< Rice (and all cereals) have been cooked in water (and many other liquids) 
since the Neolithic and that manner of cooking is still with us.  There are 
recipes from the same region later than al-Warraq that use water.  So, the 
probability that plain rice is somewhat out of period is wrong.  However, it 
may have been out of favor.

The general opinion is rice entered Persia during the Achaemenid Empire 
(550-330 BCE) probably from India.  Lambton (Landlord and Peasant in Persia) 
provides the fact that rice production in Persia was limited during the 
early Islamic period and had expanded some in Persia by the later medieval 
period.  The conquest of Persia was essentially complete by 651 CE. 
Al-Warraq is 9th Century.  We are discussing a period of roughly 200 years 
during which rice cultivation in Persia was likely limited and the grain was 
more expensive than it would be after cultivation was expanded in Egypt, 
Spain and Sicily (becoming notable in the 10th Century).  Al-Baghdadi is 
13th Century placing it well after the expansion of Islamic rice 
cultivation.

Given and accepting these points as fact, the lack of a simple rice dish in 
al-Warraq might be attributed to the cost of rice in comparison to wheat and 
barley.  The speculation might be further reinforced by comparative cost 
data, contemporary recipes for simple boiled cereals, other other 
observations from the period.  Not an area where I am familiar with the 
available resources.

Bear >>>
--------
THLord Stefan li Rous    Barony of Bryn Gwlad    Kingdom of Ansteorra
   Mark S. Harris           Austin, Texas          StefanliRous at gmail.com
http://www.linkedin.com/in/marksharris
**** See Stefan's Florilegium files at:  http://www.florilegium.org ****