MINNESOTA RICE FOR BREAKFAST
By James Norton
This story was created by our partners at the Heavy Table, a weekly culinary newsletter dedicated to covering the best food and drink of the Upper Midwest. Back them on Patreon to receive four distinct email newsletters focused on dining, the restaurant business, spirits, and home cooking: http://www.patreon.com/heavytable
James Norton / Heavy Table
At the risk of beating a dead and at this point partially skeletal horse still further, I am a man who is obsessed with making breakfast. It’s an exaggeration to say that my entire existence revolves around the meal I put on the table for my family every morning, but not as much of an exaggeration as I would like.
A recent book review for The Cookbook Test inserted a new breakfast option into my life: a wild rice porridge that recalls the stuff at Hell’s Kitchen, a dish that surely has to rate among the state’s most distinctive and worthwhile breakfast choices. Extra! Extra! Eat All About It is a collection of vintage recipes from Wisconsin newspapers (mostly 100 or more years old), and it features a Breakfast Rice dish that turned out far more deliciously than I’d expected.
It’s simplicity itself to transform wild rice into a tasty meal - everything you need is almost certainly hanging around your kitchen, maybe plus or minus a few fresh berries that are a non load-bearing but certainly delicious addition to the dish.
James Norton / Heavy Table
As for the heart of the matter: There are a lot of wild rice options out there, but I went for the Rolls Royce of wild rice at Eastside Food Co-op: Autumn Harvest Ojibwe Wild Rice. As per the bag, it’s hand picked by members of the Ojibwe Nation and wood fire parched, and I’d describe it as nuttier, more delicate, and more yielding than other varieties I’ve cooked with over the years.
BREAKFAST RICE
Via Extra! Extra! Eat All About It! from the Iron County News, March 14, 1914
1 cup water
1 3/4 cups milk
1 cup wild rice
Pinch salt
Pinch nutmeg
Splash cream if desired
2-3 Tbsp maple syrup if desired
Fresh fruit and/or nuts to top
Rinse rice. In medium pot, bring to low boil milk, water, rice and salt. Cover and simmer on medium until liquid has been absorbed, about 35-45 minutes for wild rice. To serve add nutmeg, cream, maple syrup, and/or fruit if desired.