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RICE PIE (another way)
Chief ingredients: a pint of rice and a fat tender fowl. First boil the fowl in enough water to cook the rice according to the rule given in the recipe, RICE, BOILED, A LA CAROLINA (which see). When the fowl is done remove the large bones, and cut the bird into small pieces. Spread a layer of the cooked rice on the bottom of a deep pan, and on it place a layer of the fowl, with butter and eggs mixed, and with black pepper and spices to suit. Alternate these layers until the pan is full, having a layer of rice at the top, on which pour a mixture of butter and egg, and set the whole to brown in an oven or on the fire; then serve in the vessel in which it was last cooked. This dish resembles in richness the pilau of the Turks.
A layered rice-and-chicken bake in the pilau family, written for a cook who already knew the book's Carolina rice method. The quantities of butter and egg are left entirely to judgement, so the notes below give workable amounts.
- A pint of riceAbout 2 to 2½ cups of long-grain rice depending on whether the pint is read as US or imperial, roughly 14 to 17 oz, which cooks up to 6 cups or more. Enough for 6 to 8 servings alongside a whole bird.
- A fat tender fowlIn nineteenth-century usage a "fowl" generally means a mature hen, tougher and more flavourful than modern birds. A 4-5 lb roasting chicken stands in; simmer it gently 60-75 minutes rather than boiling hard, which toughens the breast.
- Cook the rice in the brothThe instruction to boil the fowl "in enough water to cook the rice" suggests the poaching liquid is meant to serve as the cooking liquid for the rice. The book's own rule is given under "Rice, Boiled, a la Carolina", which is not reproduced here; as a modern working method, roughly 2 parts strained broth to 1 part rice, lid on, 18 minutes off the heat to finish.
- Butter and eggs mixedNo amounts are given. For a full deep pan, 3 beaten eggs whisked into 3 oz melted butter is about right: enough to bind the layers without turning the dish into a custard. Whisk the butter in warm, not hot, or the egg will scramble.
- Spices to suitFor a dish compared to Turkish pilau, mace, allspice or a little cinnamon with the black pepper is in period and in character. Salt is not mentioned; the broth-cooked rice will need it.
- To brown in an ovenNo temperature is given; as a modern equivalent, 375-400F for 25-30 minutes, until the top layer is set and patched with gold. "On the fire" is the alternative of finishing over direct heat rather than in the oven.
- Serve in the vesselThe dish will not turn out cleanly, so choose a deep pan that can go to table: an enamelled cast-iron casserole or a straight-sided baking dish.
Rice pie of this kind sits between two traditions the book is quietly acknowledging at once. The cross-reference to "Rice, Boiled, o the rrice of the South Carolina Lowcountry, exported in quantity to Britain through the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries and prized for grains that cooked dry and separate; the closing remark about "the pilau of the Turks" points to the Ottoman and Persian pilaus that had shaped European rice cookery for far longer. The layered fowl-and-rice bake bound with butter and egg is a recognisable relative of the Lowcountry perloo. The book habitually prints two or three versions of a dish and leaves the seasoning "to suit".