Variations on a Theme of Fried Rice.

Fried Rice. A pretty pedestrian dish, most of the time, I think. Interestingly, in the West, what constitutes ‘Fried Rice’ has changed significantly over the last century and a half or so.

Fried Rice.

Boil a cupful of rice, drain; then fry it with a little butter, sprinkling in a very little cayenne and saffron powder, salt, and sugar. Some people add a few raisins.

A Lenten Cookery Book: Being Nearly 200 Maigre Recipes,

by Henrietta Louisa Lear.(1876)

Spanish fried rice is excellent. Wash the rice and brown it in hot butter. Add onions, tomatoes and garlic. Cover the whole with hot water. Season with salt and pepper. Let the rice cook thoroughly, but do not stir it.

[From an article on the cookery of Porto Rico.]

Portsmouth Herald [New Hampshire] March 22, 1899.

Fried rice with cheese is a good luncheon dish. Cut slices of cold boiled rice

and fry brown in butter. Sprinkle the hot slices with grated cheese, which may

be a combination of dairy and Parmesan. Fresh tomatoes go well with the rice

and the two make a substantial meal. Slice the tomatoes in rather thick slices,

sprinkle with bread crumbs and fry carefully so as not to break the slices.

After lifting them out of the spider pour in a little cream, stir for a moment and

pour the gravy over the tomatoes.

Racine Daily Journal [Wisconsin] July 9, 1904

Fried Rice.

Take any rice that is left over, and mold it in a pan or dish. Turn out of molds, cut in slices, and bake on both sides in oven or fry in hot drippings or bacon fat.

Rice for Breakfast, Dinner, Supper (c.1919) by Betty Murphy.

Rice, Fried.

Rice boiled in milk and flavored with orange or lemon. To it add sugar and milk. When cold cut in pieces, roll each piece in cracker crumbs; then in white of an egg; then in cracker crumbs and egg again. Fry in hot konut.

Unpolished rice, the staple food of the Orient;

Philadelphia, The Vegetarian society of America, 1905

Henry Stephen Clubb.

Different Fried Rice.

3 slices bacon                                                4 tablesp. soy sauce

3 ½ cups cooked unsalted rice                  Green tops from 3 to 4 green onions.

2 eggs, beaten

Dice bacon, and fry until crisp in skillet. Remove from pan. Fry cooked rice in bacon drippings 5 min., stirring occasionally to prevent sticking. Remove rice from pan, and add to fried bacon. Pour eggs into pan, and cook slightly about 1 min. Add rice-and-bacon mixture and soy sauce; stir till thoroughly mixed. Place rice in serving dish; garnish with onion tops cut crosswise in 1/2 “ pieces with kitchen shears. Makes 4 servings.

Good housekeeping: Volume 131, Number 4: Oct. 1950

Chinese Fried Rice.

[From a feature on Chinese recipes.)

This can be made the following day from any left-over cold boiled rice. Fry in oil any left over bacon or cooked meat chopped up with one large onion. Add the cold rice and when it has browned slightly add a mixture of one beaten egg, a dessertspoonful of soy sauce, and salt to taste. Continue cooking for a few more minutes, and serve hot.

The Times (London, England), Monday, Jan 16, 1956

I am now on the trail of something called Fried Rice Pudding. I will keep you informed.