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Food
In southwest Louisiana,
among rhe crawfish ponds and Gulf Coast
shrimp trawlers, rice is a staple in every
Cajun and Creole kitchen.
Whether it’s eaten in boudin for breakfast,
served with seafood gumbo for lunch, or
prepared as a side dish with fried okra and
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COOKING WITH
CAJUN RICE
barbecued pork cliops, the versatility of tlie
world's most popular grain is undeniable.
“If we fix fried chicken and make gravy,
we are going to serve that gravy over rice,
not potatoes,” says Mike Davis, 62, owner
of Conrad Rice Mill, the nations oldest
operating rice mill, in New Iberia, La.
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Davis, who bought
the historic mill in
1975, says rice is as
much a part of Loui
siana cuisine as are
seafood and spices.
“If you are going to
be a Cajun cook, you’ve got to have the seasonings and you’ve
got to have the rice,” he says.
Rice has been grown in Louisiana since early Acadian set
tlers tossed seeds into sloughs and wetlands and harvested the
volunteer crop, which they dubbed “providence rice.” In 2007,
Louisiana farmers grew 1 million metric tons of rice, or nearly
12 percent of the nation’s supply.
Built in 1912, Conrad Rice Mill processes locally grown
rice and, in terms of volume, may be the nation’s smallest rice
mill. The mill processes about 2 million pounds of rice each
year using some of the plant’s original machinery and markets
its products under the Konriko, R.M. Quiggs, HolGrain and
Conrad-Davis brands.
During milling, machinery removes hulls from the rice kernels.
What remains is brown rice, with a layer of bran surrouixling the
kernels. When the bran is removed, it becomes white rice.
Most Louisiana cooks serve shrimp Creole and crawfish
etouffee on a lied of long- or medium-grain white rice. In fact,
most of the white rice milled at Conrad Rice Mill is sold at
supermarkets in southwest Louisiana and east Texas, the heart
of Cajun country.
One of Konriko’s signature products is Wild Pecan Rice, which
interestingly is neither wild nor contains pecans. The aromatic
rice was developed in the 1940 s by an agricultural researcher
in Crowley, La., who crossed Asian and domestic strains and
came up with the nutty-flavored variety. Today, Davis contracts
a farmer in Egan, La., to grow 100 acres of the rice each year.
Wild Pecan Rice’s unique flavor is produced by cutting small
grooves into the bran. The grooves allow moisture to penetrate
the kernel, reducing cooking time to 20 to 25 minutes, while
the rice retains the bran’s nutty flavor. “It tastes really good
and it smells great,” Davis says.
Rice consumption is increasing in the United States, with
the average American eating about 24 pounds a year. Davis
expects that trend to continue with the influx of people from
Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean, and the continuing
popularity of Louisiana cuisine.
Davis concedes that white rice by itself is bland, but it carries the
flavors of other foods very well. “It will pick up on the red pepper
and the black pepper and the holy trinity of Cajun cooking: bell
pepper, onion and celery,” he says. “It’s all about the flavors.” ★
Story by Stuart Englert. senior editor.
Click on this story at www.americanprofile.com for a
link to Conrad Rice Mill’s website.
Page 12
1
\\ a Mike Davis owns
4j the nation’s
oldest rice mill.
• americanprofile.com
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