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Rice and Cabbage
Wash some rice and let it soak in hot water, with a cabbage sliced up, for about an hour; then strain it off and put the rice and cabbage in a stewpan with some butter, a little pepper and salt, and about a quarter of a nutmeg, grated. Toss these about for ten or fifteen minutes over the fire, but do not let them turn colour. Add a small quantity of water or stock, let it stew till it is tender, and then serve it very hot with grated cheese sprinkled over the top. Probable cost, 6d.
A frugal pilaf-style side that behaves much like a loose risotto. The original assumes you know how much liquid rice needs; it does not say, and that is the one thing worth settling before you start.
- Liquid is the hinge"a small quantity of water or stock" gives no measure. Long-grain rice generally takes roughly twice its volume in liquid, though grain already soaked for an hour in hot water will want less; add it in stages as the pan dries, as you would for risotto, rather than all at once.
- The hot soakAn hour in hot water softens and partly hydrates the grain; it is the washing at the start of the recipe that takes off surface starch. The soak does not cook the rice. Drain well before the rice goes near the butter, or it will steam instead of fry.
- Rice to useVictorian kitchens meant Carolina or Patna rice — long-grain, sold loose. Basmati or any long-grain works. Avoid arborio or pudding rice here, which will collapse into porridge.
- "Toss about over the fire"Medium heat, moving the pan constantly for ten to fifteen minutes. The instruction not to let it colour is the point: this is a pale, buttery dish, and browned butter or scorched cabbage will dominate it.
- The cabbageA whole sliced cabbage to an unstated quantity of rice is generous. Roughly equal volumes of shredded cabbage and dry rice gives a balanced result; a firm white or Savoy holds up best, as loose green cabbage disintegrates.
- NutmegA quarter of a whole nutmeg, grated, is about half a teaspoon — assertive, but nutmeg was commonly paired with vegetables and dairy in this period. Grate it fresh; pre-ground has little left to give.
- The cheeseUnspecified; a hard grating cheese is the likely intention — Parmesan, or a dry Cheddar. Sprinkle at the table so it melts on contact rather than turning to strings in the pan.
- Cost and yieldCost -- Sixpence was a genuinely cheap dish for the period. No quantities are given for rice or cabbage, so the recipe implies no yield.
Cassell's includes this among the plain vegetable dishes that carried the weight of Victorian household economy: rice was cheap imported bulk, cabbage was the year-round English vegetable, and butter, nutmeg and grated cheese did the work of making them palatable. Costings in pence appear at the end of most entries in the Dictionary. The method — softening grain and vegetable, frying them in fat without colour, then wetting them gradually until tender — follows much the same logic as pilaf and risotto, though this version is stripped of any spice beyond nutmeg.