On Cottage Economy and Cookery, 93 



tlian the East India, and therefore generally preferred, yet It is 

 not at all better for family use, and it may be dressed in various 

 ways with advantage : first premising that, in whatever way it may 

 be cooked, it should always be well washed, and allowed to simmer 

 for a long time by the side of the fire in an earthen vessel, so as 

 to allow it to imbibe the liquor in which it is boiled ; or it may 

 be left in the liquor over night until it becomes soddened. For 

 instance, take a pound of rice, and if you have any of the liquor in 

 which meat has been boiled, put it into just as much as will cover 

 it, for if you put in more the rice will not absorb it. You must 

 also take care to occasionally stir it, and add a little more of the 

 liquor to keep the rice covered. When the grains are becoming 

 swollen, add three or four onions, and, if you have such a thing 

 in your garden as the love-apple, or tomata, take also as many of 

 these, leaving them all to stew until tender, and until the liquor 

 has been entirely absorbed; then mix them all together, and 

 season the mess with pepper and salt, stirring into it a piece of 

 butter. If broth cannot be had, it may be dressed with plain 

 water, and will be found a substantial and pleasant supper, even 

 without the tomatas, though they greatly improve it. 



Or as thus : — Cut a quarter of a pound of bacon into pieces with 

 a few onions, thyme, parsley, and peppercorns, boiled in two 

 quarts of water, and, when it boils, put in a pound of clean whole 

 rice, and set the pot by the side of the fire. The rice will swell, 

 and thus imbibing all the water, will become quite soft : it will 

 then weigh nearly five pounds, which is more than the family can 

 consume at one meal, though eaten without either bread or pota- 

 toe ; and the cost of either of the above will not exceed 6<i. Even 

 if plainly boiled into a pudding, without either bacon, onions, or 

 tomatas, and eaten with either a little butter or treacle, the same 

 quantity will be more satisfactory to both the palate and the 

 stomach than a quartern loaf of bread, though not costing half 

 the price. 



A much better mode than this is, however, to let it stew in 3 

 quarts of skim-milk until it becomes quite thick, and sweeten it 

 with sugar or molasses; or, if you have a Dutch oven, put it 

 into a deep dish, covered with a few thin slices of bread, without 

 eggs, and bake it. Indeed, two-thirds of that quantity, or 2 quarts 

 of milk and | lb. of rice, will be found amply sufficient as a 

 meal for four ; and, should any portion be left, it will be as good 

 cold as hot. If the milk be purchased, it will indeed be dearer ; 

 but many benevolent gentlemen, and some farmers, give away a 

 certain quantity of skimmed milk daily to their labourer, than 

 which few charities can be of greater benefit to a family. Even 

 if obliged to buy it, a poor man had better do so than be 

 without it, for in distant country places the price is seldom more 



