TeresaMN - about your wild rice (also calling Arley)

10 years ago

Being brought up in Minnesota I am very familiar with so-called Minnesota wild rice. It is a long grained dark brown rice that when cooked tastes exactly like barley. Blind folded you cannot tell the difference between it and cooked barley. It is the poorest eating rice in existence. Actually to me it tastes like mud from a pond and barley mixed together. No one ever ate it. Not one settler or Indian ever bothered with it at all as they knew it was no good for eating. We and the Indians hunted ducks in the rice beds as the wild ducks like to feed on it and that is about as far as it went. Drainage and pollution killed off most of the rice beds and when the rice began to become somewhat scarce someone decided it was good to eat because it was scarce. Immediately so-called Minnesota wild rice began to sell at nearly $2.00 or more a pound. The Indians began gathering it and men went into the rice business and began planting it. Today they do a flourishing business on so-called Minnesota wild rice and it is seeded and harvested like all other rice. The taste of Minnesota wild rice is so bad that in order to get it down you have to practically camouflage the flavor with other strong flavors. The Indians have never fallen for this modern "hokum" about Minnesota wild rice and still will not eat it if they can get other rice.

OMG, Arley, this cookbook you recommended is a trip. I'm about 10 minutes into skipping around and I realize I just need to read this one front to back!

Here is a link that might be useful: Link to Amazon - Arley's review is the Cliff Claven one

Comments (6)

Teresa_MN
10 years ago
FOAS - I am familiar the book although it's been awhile since I've seen a copy. Many people considered it wacky even when the book came out. And by today's standards it is even more hilarious. It's a perfect book to read excerpts from at a party after a couple glasses of wine.

The author is a "my way or the highway" kind of a guy, an authority on absolutely everything and I'm pretty sure he was 10 sheets to the wind when writing the book(s). He wasn't the kind of a guy you would try to have a reasonable discussion with.

That said - I think he really believed everything he wrote.

He wrote several other books including one titled "How to Live with a B*tch". Had to change the spelling - GW software alerted me that it had detected a "string of characters." The real book title contained the real word - long before the days of political correctness. The contents of this book are way off the charts also. It had some sex education tips if I remember correctly. Google it and see if you can find any excerpts.

Another fun book to read at adult parties. You can't make this kind of stuff up! :-)

Thanks for the laugh. I'd forgotten about Mr. Herter.
foodonastump
Original Author
10 years ago
It's just too funny! I also learned that All Purpose flour can lead to divorce. How? Well AP flour is a conspiracy fabricated by the bakery industry, to make it impossible for women to bake well. This leads them to buy commercial products instead. Now women have idle time when they should rather be baking, and this idle time can lead to divorce.
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Yes I'm here - I've just been busy this past week or so. Had a lot of problem with cookies (computer) to get on line, then got very distracted by co-hosting a shower for a niece that is getting married. And all the snow has kept me busy - we have had 5 snow emergencies already and winter just started today. My life has has become: shovel, work, shovel, cross country ski, shovel, work, snow shoe! Too much black ice this winter to keep running so I took up two new activities. I mentioned at the shower to my nieces that I had purchased snow shoes at Costco and was having a blast. The 8 of them looked at me like I had gone mad! Ann - those are two really great sources for Minnesota Wild Rice. Gibbs sells cultivated (paddy grown) - which I don't think is organic. But Moose Lake has an excellent hand harvested product. In fact, I buy from Charlie Worrath of Moose Lake in the years my family's crop is not so abundent. And Charlie shipped some to me this year for my friend Karen from Texas. Karen grew up here and comes home for the holidays. I have her rice shipped to me and then give it to her when we meet for a drink. Karen and her husband drive back to Texas with a car full of Minnesota beers, wild rice, hazelnuts and who knows what else. Nothing wrong with Gibb's rice though. I have a couple pounds in my cupboard. I picked it up at the Farmer's Market - 2 pounds/$6. The vendor was throwing in the towel for the year and having a clearance. If I am going to have wild rice soup on a buffet - I actually prefer the paddy grown rice. It seems to hold up better over long periods of time. There are many areas of the country that don't have the rice readily available however. Rusty has never seen it while shopping nor has trixietx. And I believe Beverly also said it was not availble in her area. And who else in Florida said they don't travel much so they don't get wild rice anymore..... was it mustangs? I think we all have foods that are regional to our area. Paw paws!!! They have a short shelf life and can't be shipped. Anyone see those in your farmer's markets? My mother had them as a kid and always talks about them. Up North Teresa
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I'm confused. Steamed rice is steamed. That simple. It is steamed. Not all rice can be steamed. So many varieties have different cooking requirements. Vietnamese steamed rice is steamed. If very fresh it can be soaked just a few hours but often needs longer. Usually after a bag is purchased a test is done for how fresh it is. How much moisture remains in the grain. It does not work with other rices. It is not 'sweet'. That is just a term used. If it is sweet to the taste in a restaurant, sugars are added after steaming. It can be steamed light and loose or steamed longer for a sticky texture so you can form it in a ball and dipped in sauce. A large mesh colander works if it fits over a saucepan at least 4-5 inches over the water bath. Then lidded with the saucepans lid. In an ethnic grocery look for Vietnamese 'sweet' rice. All rice can be micro waved, pressure cooked, boiled. Not all rice can be steamed. Needs a high gluten content to be soaked and steamed. Very few will work steamed.
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Teresa MN - Thanks!
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Lori, here it is: Baked Hand-Harvested Lake Rice You will need a 1-1/2 Qt. covered casserole. Preheat oven to 350. Rinse rice thoroughly. 1 cup wild rice 2-1/2 cups boiling water or broth Pinch of salt if using water Place water, rice and salt in casserole.Cover and bake for 30 minutes. Test rice for doneness. If you like the texture at 30 minutes, remove from oven, drain excess water and fluff with fork. If you want it more tender, return to oven for another 15 minutes, adding more boiling water if necessary. Remove from oven. Let the casserole sit covered if you want it to continue to steam the rice. Baking the rice this way will yield about 4-1/4 cups cooked rice.
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Winner(s) of the Wild Rice Lotto are .......
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Lake Mayor - if you click on "my page", then click on "my journal" and then click on "teresa_MN's page" it will bring you to a link to my email. Send me your address. I got to the post office today and there were no less than a couple hundred people. I will take an earlier bus tomorrow morning and go to the PO when they open at 6:30. So Shambo and all others should get their rice Saturday. Lou - no need to send me anthing. I found a package of goodies on my steps today that came from you! That will be a seperate thread. This was really fun! And Joshua did a great job picking a good mix of folks. A couple have never had the rice, some people I know, one I've never heard of! I was very happy to be able to share rice this year. I've never seen a crop like this, and I don't expect I ever will again. There have been years I have ordered rice from Deer River, Minnesota when our crop was slim. I ordered 30 lbs of rice from the guy a couple weeks ago for a friend who was coming to town for Thanksgiving. The shipping to my house was cheaper than shipping it to Texas. I had plans to meet this friend for drinks and I handed off the rice then. If anyone wants the name of that place, let me know. There are several rice sellers in Deer River, but only one has hand harvested lake rice. Teresa
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Teresa_MN
10 years ago
Makes you wonder what his wife Bertha was like ....... and what her life was like.

I wonder if any of his children/grandchildren are living?
dcarch7 d c f l a s h 7 @ y a h o o . c o m
10 years ago
Ã¢ÂÂ---------it is a long grained dark brown rice that when cooked tastes exactly like barley.------ It is the poorest eating rice in existence. Actually to me it tastes like mud from a pond and barley mixed together. No one ever ate it. Not one settler or Indian ever bothered with it at all as they knew it was no good for eating. ----Ã¢ÂÂ

Goes to show, you can always learn something new. I didnÃ¢ÂÂt know I have been enjoying mud, and all the others who consume 70 tons every year, and pay 10 times the price for the privilege of eating mud.

Sounds like an entertaining guy. It would be fun to read his books.

dcarch
dcarch7 d c f l a s h 7 @ y a h o o . c o m
10 years ago
Ã¢ÂÂ---------it is a long grained dark brown rice that when cooked tastes exactly like barley.------ It is the poorest eating rice in existence. Actually to me it tastes like mud from a pond and barley mixed together. No one ever ate it. Not one settler or Indian ever bothered with it at all as they knew it was no good for eating. ----Ã¢ÂÂ

Goes to show, you can always learn something new. I didnÃ¢ÂÂt know I have been enjoying mud, and all the others who consume 70 tons every year, and pay 10 times the price for the privilege of eating mud.

Sounds like an entertaining guy. It would be fun to read his books.

dcarch
arley_gw
10 years ago
Glad you folks are enjoying it. I love his certitude: the Virgin Mary was fond of creamed spinach; St Anthony created a famous sandwich; and the most oddball comment of all is his comment about his mayonnaise recipe:

"Using this famous recipe, mayonnaise is very easy to make and you will never have a failure with one exception. If you are a woman do not attempt to make mayonnaise during menstruating time as the mayonnaise will simply not blend together at all well. This is not superstition but a well established fact well known to all women cooks."

OMG, how many un-PC points does one assign to THAT?

The link is to the NYT Herter appreciation.

Here is a link that might be useful: NYT essay on George Leonard Herter

This post was edited by arley on Wed, Feb 19, 14 at 16:01

TeresaMN - about your wild rice (also calling Arley)

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Teresa_MN

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TeresaMN - about your wild rice (also calling Arley)

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Teresa_MN

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foodonastump
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