Rice & Grains

During World War I, families Down Under sent cookies to their loved ones in the Australia and New Zealand Army Corps (ANZAC). ANZAC Biscuits were made from rolled oats, coconut, and golden syrup; the ingredients, and thus the cookies, would survive the long journey to the troops. The dough for these cookies should be mixed just before baking.

This one’s from my co-author. Growin’ up in southeastern Pennsylvania around lots of fruit trees, she makes a mean crisp.

I used to think I made a pretty good rice pudding. Then I went down to Miami and tasted the Cuban version, and I sent myself back to the stove. Now ours is modeled after the best ones I tasted down there. It’s perfumed with a bit of lime peel and has a creamy texture and a smooth taste spiked with rum.

This is the ultimate “anything goes” dish. All you need is some sausage and any kind of raw or cooked meat you might have on hand. We use a tasty mix of sausage, chicken, pulled pork, and ham. The only thing you can’t skip are the chicken livers. That’s what makes Dirty Rice dirty and gives it its deep, rich flavor. We’ve been servin’ it every Wednesday as a featured side, and we’ve found that Central New Yorkers really appreciate this frugal New Orleans specialty. It’s also good as a stuffing for Cornish hens, pork chops, or turkey.

Here’s another good old Louisiana dish we transported north for our menu. We thought its distinctive spicy, earthy taste was just what our customers were cravin’. Our gumbo is thick like a good hearty stew, and although we’ve personalized it, we’ve still kept it related to all other gumbos by thickening it with Brown Roux (page 139). The flour toasted in oil makes a dusky mix that binds all the veggies, meats, and seasonings into a veritable swamp of broodin’ flavors.

Back in the early days of the Dinosaur Bar-B-Que, I made a pilgrimage to New Orleans, and it seemed natural to bring some of the wonders of the Big Easy back up north. The thing that really grabbed me was jambalaya, a dish with infinite possibilities. There’s no one recipe for jambalaya because its whole reason for bein’ is to let the cook get personal and real creative with the bits of meat or fish hangin’ around in the fridge. You can give it your personal touch any way the spirit moves you. Try makin’ it with other veggies, throwin’ in some shellfish, messin’ with the seasoning—this is your chance to be a link in the evolution of one truly great leftover dish.

Most Yankees have a preconceived notion that they don’t like grits. When we put them on the menu, lots of folks are resistant. It’s a tough sell for the waitresses, but once they get customers to try them, they’re hooked. Our flavor-boosted grits are rich and powerfully earthy. Serve them instead of mashed potatoes.

Serve up these deeply flavored Cuban-style beans with a pile of perfectly cooked white rice. Add a salad or some veggies and you’ve got the Dinosaur vegetarian platter.

Rice acts as a base for many a saucy dish, so you should never take it for granted. It’s gotta be every bit as good as the food you serve it with. Rinsing the rice before cooking gets rid of the floury starch that clings to the grains and makes cooked rice sticky and lumpy, and adding some garlic boosts the flavor.

I’m a big fan of anything braised, and these lamb shanks fit the bill. The fall-off-the-bone tenderness of the meat and the richness of the stock really turn me on. Served on a pile of grits, it’s outstanding.

I guess because most of my recipes are southern, we’ll just have to say this one is way south of the border! This is a hearty side dish that can be used any time you serve rice. We serve this rice on the Fourth of July with Barbecued Pork Ribs (page 84).

I think people who say they hate grits just haven’t had them prepared correctly. Basic grits are pretty simple, and you can add what you like to make them tastier. My sister experimented with this flavorful herb and garlic cheese version for a yummy twist on an old southern favorite.

This casserole is hearty and contains everything you could want on the table in one dish. It’s a favorite of our whole family. It makes ten servings, but my husband likes it cold for breakfast the next day, so in my house you’d better take your serving at dinner the night before, ’cause that’s all you’re gonna get!

Sometimes it’s nice to make a meal that takes only a couple of steps to get into the oven, and then you can forget about it for an hour while it cooks. The beef broth gives the rice a great flavor. I serve this with Cooked-to-Death Green Beans (page 130).

This unusual take on chicken salad is a meal in itself, with the rice, fruit, and almonds as well as cooked chicken. Just add bread or crackers.

Here is the dessert we served on opening day at Joe Beef. You can use small foil molds or teacups for serving.

A note on ricers: For a young boy, a potato ricer is akin to magic. It’s more impressive than planes or satellites; it’s up there with fire trucks, guns, and large breasts. We use ricers a lot at Joe Beef—for potatoes, Madeira jelly for foie gras, fruit preserves, and polenta. One day, a hungover vegetable cook produced a plate of clumpy, amateur polenta. It was on the menu, so we couldn’t send out carrots and apologies. Instead, we just pressed it through the ricer. It came out freaking perfect, the clumps gone and the polenta shaped like rice, slowly falling in the butter. There we were, four grown-ups, as fascinated as ever with the potato ricer. The general rule for polenta is four parts water to one part cornmeal.

This recipe is an homage. While aboard the Ocean, en route to Prince Edward Island, we had three choices for dinner: haddock Dugléré, chicken jalfrezi, or fish chowder and sandwich. Meredith went for the chicken, everyone else had haddock. Fred looked at Meredith’s, knew it was better, and talked the entire trip about ordering it on our return. As we made our way back to Quebec, all he wanted was a warm and true jalfrezi. So we’re back on the train, in our favorite booth, two bottles of wine down when the attendant comes to our table. Fred orders. “Sorry, sir, all we have left are ham sandwiches and Pringles.” Devastation in the form of a one-hour rant about the decline of the railroad ensues. The jalfrezi had such an impact that we wanted to get it into this chapter. So we asked ex–Joe Beefer and curry pro Kaunteya Nundy to come up with a classic jalfrezi. Not surprisingly, he came up with a recipe that put the VIA Rail version to shame. This is for Fred. And this is what Kaunteya had to say about the dish: “I asked my family what jalfrezi means, and I was told by my Bengali grandmother [Calcutta region] that jal means ‘hot’ and frezi means ‘fry.’ This is a very Anglo-Indian dish that was invented by the British. My mom, Shobhna Nundy, and I created this recipe. We made it three times to make sure that it was just right and would not blow away the ‘white folks’ from a spicy [heat] level.”

Chef Vivian Howard uses toasted farro and chicken livers to boost the flavor and texture of this traditional Cajun side. Howard suggests serving the dish with braised pork shoulder or shanks.

This easy cake swaps out molasses for lighter-flavored sorghum syrup, a Southern staple.