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Rice Is Nice

OF ALL THE starchy foods, rice is easiest to carry because it offers the most nourishment for its bulk. It is the most adaptable, too, since it can be prepared as a cereal, vegetable or dessert. It may be combined with proteins to make a one-dish meal, it takes the place of bread, and has more points to recommend it for outdoor cooking than anything else that takes up so little room. Its weight and bulk are only a fraction of the weight and bulk of potatoes, for instance, and it will wait until wanted, patiently and indefinitely, without spoiling, in any galley cupboard, cabin shelf, or corner of a knapsack.

Its only disadvantage is that few know how to cook it so that it can fulfill all its degrees of usefulness. Few even know how to wash it until they have seen a Chinaman dump it into a basket or colander and jump it up and down in a running stream or swish it over the side of a boat. Until it is properly washed, it cannot be properly cooked- 5-6 waters are not too many to rid it of sticky starch. After that, there are two methods for turning it out fluffy with every grain separate, the hot fire method and the slow method; and many ways to prepare it more suitably for camp appetites.