Yes, you can have my Charleston Red Rice Recipe
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It’s Fluffy, never mushy, perfectly cooked. Some are intensely protective over their red rice recipes. For good reason, its a dish that was perfected by Gullah-Geechee people over generations. The Gullah-Geechee people are descendants of enslaved West Africans who were brought to the coastlines of South Carolina, Georgia, and northern Florida, an area known as the Sea Islands.
The ideal texture of red rice is slightly dry with each grain separate and fluffy. Think a tad more moist than day old white rice. It’s served as a side.
Why I use Red Palm Oil
The red rice of today is not made with red palm oil. However, red rice descended from Thieboudienne and jollof rice. These dishes use red palm oil. Red palm oil is one of the most widely used cooking oils in West Africa and especially the “rice coast” stretching from Senegal down to Sierra Leone and Liberia.
Red palm oil is as ubiquitous in West Africa as vegetable oil is here in the States. It imparts a vegetal aroma and reddish-orange hue to food that is cooked with it. Its red color comes from its abundant levels of carotene.
Slave owners paid higher prices for slaves from rice coast. The largest group of slaves imported into South Carolina and Georgia during the 18th century were from this very region. When West Africans we’re brought to the States during the slave trade, red palm oil was left behind.
I use red palm oil in my recipe to give the dish a deeper connection to its roots. Further, it adds a bright floral note which when combined with the acidity of the tomato paste, cuts through the richness of the smoky bacon and sausage.
Red Palm oil is completely optional in my recipe. It is used as a flavor element and not the dominant fat for sautéing the aromatics and rice. Do not substitute it with a different oil. Just leave it out. There is already plenty of bacon and sausage fat. You can find red palm oil on Amazon or at any African grocery store in your area.
Choice of Stock or water
Highly regarded Gullah chefs Emily Megget, Sallie Ann Robinson and Kardea Brown use water in their recipes. You can use water, chicken stock, vegetable stock or tomato bouillon/water. Every household in the Lowcountry is going to have their own unique version of red rice with corresponding rules and regulations specific to their unique culture.
There is no definitive rule stating which stock you must use or that only water is appropriate in red rice. However it is undisputed that cooking rice with any type of stock as opposed to water adds more flavor.
I use tomato bouillon/water to further encourage a deep red color and tomato flavor in the rice. Interestingly enough, the tomato bouillon I use also contains red palm. So we just came full circle here with the connections to West Africa.
For my red rice we use equal parts liquid to rice. While I used 3 cups of stock to 2 cups of rice in the recipe video, subsequent tests of my recipe found 2 cups of stock to 2 cups of rice achieved better grain separation and texture. This is exactly what you want.
Browning the sausage and bacon
I choose to brown these together. I encourage a more efficient rendering of fat by adding 1/4 – 1/3 c of water to the sizzling hot cast iron skillet we cook them in. The use of water keeps the initial cooking temperature low and gentle.
In doing so the meat retains its moisture and stays tender as the fat renders. By the time the water reaches its boiling point, the bacon and sausage fat is almost completely rendered. This technique also helps keep the bacon from burning as the larger sausage browns along with it.
The water technique is not for use in rendering lard for long term preservation generally. It can decrease the shelf life of the lard. The water technique should only be used when frying fatty meats like bacon to a crisp.
You can cook the bacon whole and slice after crisping or cook it pre-sliced. You can cook the bacon first, remove it from the pan then add the sausage and brown it separately. You can brown them together with my water technique. You can also cut your sausage into circles, half-circles, or triangular fourths. Customize the dish to your liking. Do what feels right to you. Recipe’s are guides.
I find the half circle to be suitable to bite and mouth feel I want with each spoonful of red rice.
Carolina Gold Rice
Where do I start? It is a non-aromatic rice with a rich and toothsome texture. Non-aromatic rice is distinguished from aromatic rice like basmati and jasmine. The flavor profile is hazelnutty and earthy. It is resistant to overcooking and can even be used for risottos due to its starch makeup.
It arrived at the port of Charleston, South Carolina, in 1685. It made South Carolinian slave owners very wealthy. Slaves from West Africa’s rice coast were in high demand as their expertise in wetland rice farming was the only reason Carolina gold rice became the backbone of Antebellum South Carolina’s plantation economy.
West African enslaved peoples used the heel-and-toe technique, flooded the fields at proper intervals, chased destructive birds away, and harvested the rice by hand. By the 1720s some 6 million pounds of Carolina gold rice were shipped to England annually.
It remained the most prominent rice crop in the United States until the conclusion of the Civil War. It’s production was subsequently further ravaged by several hurricanes. As such, Carolina gold rice went into relative extinction by the 1940s.
Eventually the original grain lay dormant in a USDA Rice Research Institute vault until Dr. Richard Schulze inquired about receiving some seed. Dr. Richard Schulze, with the help of agronomist Richard Bollock, successfully propagated and planted Carolina gold rice.
From here, Anson Mills founder Glenn Roberts, Merle Shepard of Clemson University and other food scientists developed a more disease resistant seed. At last, the “golden seed” was reborn. Brands like Anson Mills and Carolina Plantation Rice began to commercially grow Carolina gold rice in the late 1990s and sell it to the public.
I hesitate to set strict rules and guidelines in recipes but I must do so regarding the rice used in my red rice recipe. Order it from Carolina Plantation or Marsh Hen Mill on Amazon. I used Carolina Plantation. It is worth the price you pay for it. Do not hesitate in purchasing it. I love this rice.
Why we parboil the Carolina gold rice
Many red rice recipes call for the use of parboiled rice. There are two types of parboiling. One refers to a method of processing harvested rice within its inedible husk during manufacturing. The other is defined as to boil briefly as a preliminary or incomplete cooking procedure.
When purchased from the store, parboiled rice is rice that has been specially processed from the complete grain which is soaked, steamed, and dried thoroughly. Store-bought parboiled rice is not cooked.
This process leads to greater nutritional properties in terms of fiber, calcium, iron, and niacin among others. In many ways it reminds me of nixtamal but for rice. It is much harder to make store-bought parboiled rice mushy due to the way it was processed.
Store-bought parboiled rice is great for its increased nutritional value and resistance to becoming mushy. However, I find its flavor is significantly neutral, even in heavily spiced mixed rice dishes.
Enter Carolina gold rice.
A very flavorful grain that needs great attention to detail to achieve the optimal texture in a mixed rice dish. In lieu of rinsing the rice repeatedly (upwards of 6 times) prior to cooking I choose to parboil then rinse the Carolina gold rice.
This technique is heavily used with basmati rice in Persian cuisine. It keeps each grain separate and fluffy. Its the starting point for the base rice in layered, mixed rice dishes called polo. Parboiling for polos is insurance against mushiness. We can take this technique and apply it very well in red rice.
Fluff the rice and let it rest
This crucial step rids the rice of excess moisture by letting trapped steam escape. Use a fork or rice paddle that came with your rice cooker.
Links to equipment:
fine mesh strainer or colander
kitchen scale (optional)
precision scale (optional)
12 inch pot lid with vent hole (optional)
Charleston Red Rice
It’s Fluffy, never mushy, perfectly cooked.
Equipment
- 12 inch cast iron skillet
- fine mesh strainer or colander
- kitchen scale (optional)
- precision scale (optional)
- 12 inch pot lid with vent hole (optional)
Ingredients
Salted Water
- 1 tbsp salt
- 12 c water
Red Rice
- 440 g Carolina gold rice (2 c)
- 27 g red palm oil (2 tbsp)
- 12 oz smoked sausage, half circle sliced (340 g)
- 1 green bell pepper, small diced (155 g)
- 1 medium onion, small diced 227 g
- 6 oz tomato paste 175 g
- sugar a pinch or two
- 6 cloves garlic (~30 g)
- 4 slices hickory smoked bacon, thick cut, sliced into lardons (150 g)
- 25 g Cajun seasoning (2 tbsp)
- 4 g MSG, optional (1 tsp)
- 1.5 g fresh cracked black pepper, and more to taste (1 tsp)
2 cups of tomato broth
- 482 g water (2 c)
- ~8 g tomato bouillon (2 tsp)
Garnish
- 6 scallions, sliced
Instructions
Parboiling the Carolina gold rice
- Bring the salted water up to a boil at the same time as you place your 12 inch cast iron skillet in the oven and Preheat it 350°F.
- Place a fine mesh strainer or fine mesh colander into the sink. The strainer or colander should be able to hold the rice as you rinse it and not let any grains escape.
- Once the water boils use your phone and set the time to 4 minutes 5 seconds.
- When you press start on your timer pour the Carolina gold rice into the boiling salted water stirring vigorously with a silicone spatula to release excess starch from the rice.
- As it boils stir once or twice more. As the time gets to the last 20 seconds you should be removing the pot from the stove and making your way to the sink to strain and rinse the rice.
- Pour the parboiled rice into the colander inside of the sink and begin to rinse it with warm water. Your timer should go off as you begin to rinse the rice. (Follow these instructions on parboiling to the tee. Any variation in time spent par boiling will alter the result.)
Red Rice
- Your skillet is now preheated properly. Place it on the stovetop over medium high heat and add the bacon and sausage to it.
- To the bacon and sausage add about 1/4 c of water. Stir the bacon and sausage into the water. Adjust your heat if necessary, to account for any cooling of the pan from the water.
- Cook the bacon and sausage until golden brown and crispy 8-12 minutes.
- Leaving as much pork fat in the skillet as possible, remove the bacon and sausage with a slotted spoon and place them on a plate.
- Do not turn down your heat. Immediately add the red palm oil to the skillet and let it melt into the pork fat.
- Quickly add the bell pepper, onion, some of the Cajun seasoning, pepper, and MSG and sauté about 5-7 minutes over medium high heat, until slightly translucent.
- Stir vigorously when you add the veggies to loosen up the fond on the pan created by the pork.
- Next add the garlic. Sauté until fragrant about 20-30 seconds.
- Add the tomato paste, and a pinch or two of sugar and stir until everything is evenly coated with tomato paste. Sauté for 1-2 minutes.
- Now add the parboiled Carolina gold rice to the mixture along with the rest of the cajun seasoning, pepper and MSG.
- Add the sausage and crispy bacon to the rice mixture and mix until the sausage and bacon are evenly distributed.
- Stir until well coated. Do not use a heavy hand or you will break the grains up. 1m 30 seconds total for this step. Spread the mixture in the pan until it is one layer.
- Add the tomato broth to the rice mixture, gently stir to combine.
- While stirring gently scrape the bottom of the pan to release the fond into the stock.
- Bring to a boil and cover with a top.
- Place the red rice in the 350℉ oven for 30 minutes.
- Remove from oven.
- Fluff the rice and let rest for 15 minutes uncovered.
- Mix in some scallion and enjoy.
