"rice" news and stories

While rice is an easy-to-prepare grain, removing its residue from pots and pans is no small feat. With these tips, it's a breeze.

No, that claw is not a scary Halloween trick. Look closer; it's actually a very tasty treat.

Because the price of lobster is so low right now -- almost half of what it was more than a year ago -- the bloggers over at REC(cession)IPES were able to add a little luxury to this simple, creamy risotto, made with arborio rice, olive oil, butter, onions, shallots and white wine. Plus, the lobster adds a much-needed burst of color to what can often be a very monochromatic dish.

Come to think of it, should you want to try this at home, there may actually be a little trick to achieving these picturesque results. As REC(cession)IPES points out, it's only live lobster that's so cheap right now. So unless you can bring yourself to butcher your own crustacean (think Julie Powell in "Julie & Julia"), you may have to settle for just feasting only your eyes on this lovely lobster risotto.

"For some people, the way they eat boudin is to bite off the first bite and squeeze out the filling the rest of the way," explains event organizer Bob Carriker, who created the web site The Boudin Link to chronicle his ardor for the spicy, rice-y, pork-based snack. "And some people like to eat the casing as they go."

Carriker polled attendees at last year's cookoff, the first edition of the festival, and discovered the crowd was almost evenly split: Discarding the casing was favored by 117 voters, while 86 boudin fans claimed they liked their casing on.

"This is a raging debate in South Louisiana," Carriker says. "Health care, schmealth care."

As Carriker's lingo suggests, he's not a Louisiana native. He moved there from Washington for a job, and immediately set about acquainting himself with the state's cuisine.

Chicken bog is a seasoned chicken, rice and sausage dish that's not half as soupy as its name suggests. What chicken bog isn't -- at least according to the organizers behind the 30th annual Loris Bog-Off being held this weekend in Horry County, S.C. -- is pilau.

Samantha Norris, executive assistant to the Chamber of Commerce's board of directors, maintains that bog is distinct from the beloved African-tinged casserole served one county over, also known as pilau, perloo, pilaf and perlau.

"Some people tell me bog is wetter, some people tell me there's more chicken in bog," Norris says.

Food historians don't necessarily agree: In her book "The Carolina Rice Kitchen: The African Connection," Karen Hess posits that bog is really just pilau made on a massive scale. "It is difficult to make very large amounts of a proper pilau, so it ends up being 'boggy,'" she writes.

Photo: Sarah LeTrent.

Risotto, the preeminent comfort dish of the Milanese, gets rich red-wine depth.

Traditionally a very simple Italian dish, when risotto is coupled with top-notch red wine and beef broth, it becomes something quite dignified. Parmesan adds a delightfully salty tang to the finished product.

Despite its reputation as a "restaurant dish," it's not difficult to make a good risotto. You do have to give it constant attention -- risotto is an act of love. When cooking for one, it's calming, even therapeutic after a long day of work, to stand over the stove and stir. And the idea of enjoying a glass of the leftover wine while tending to the risotto on a cool autumn night is a way to schedule some "me time" into a busy week.