Savannah Red Rice

"Red rice — The South's classiest classic by Laura Binder

Red rice, the quintessential Southern favorite, has been around for nearly 300 years, a time-tested cultural and gastronomic legacy from the world's once most prosperous rice growing area.

Whether you've heard it called pillau, perlou or perlow, red rice pilaf appears in the earliest cookbooks from Charleston and Savannah. It was even referred to as mulatto rice in the 1930s "The Savannah Cookbook." The use of long grain rice, which at one time could have been exclusively Carolina Gold, is essential to the uniqueness of this dish in that a hearty long grain rice absorbs the fat and smoky flavor of the bacon and keeps the rice grains from sticking together too much.

The actual cooking of red rice, on top the stove or in the oven, seems to be the source of much of the debate around what makes a good red rice. A true Savannah Red Rice, as opposed to a New Orleans Jambalaya, or a perlow, or even an upcountry bog, is prepared on top of the stove, but finished in the oven where each grain of rice is able to absorb the liquid and fat but still retain its shape.

Red rice appears on every great Southern cook's table and is a specialty of Savannah's best caterers and the numerous buffets around town. Making a great red rice can be challenging and tricky. First, every red rice expert knows that you have got to start with bacon.

The next important ingredient is the quality of the tomato sauce. It should be rich, red tomato sauce or puree. Of course, no red rice should be started without what Southerners, thanks to New Orleans, call the Trinity mix - equal parts of chopped celery, bell pepper and onion.

Finally, it is important to cook your shrimp, and the tinier the better, in the bacon fat first, so they are unctuous and coated with fat before they get mixed in with the rice.

The true trick to getting perfect red rice every time is to remove the cover after 25 or 30 minutes of cooking, fluff the rice, and let it "dry out" in the oven for 10 more minutes before serving, ensuring it won't be too wet or sticky."

Savannah Red Rice
from Recipes from The Olde Pink House

This traditional meal was brought over to the U.S. by enslaved Africans originating from the West Coast of Africa. This cultural food way is almost always synonymous with the Gullah/Geechee people and heritage that are still prevalent throughout the coastal regions of SC and GA. The main component of the dish consists of the cooking of white rice with crushed tomatoes instead of water and small bits of bacon or smoked pork sausage. Celery, bell peppers, and onions are the traditional vegetables used for seasoning.

Note: A popular addition is shrimp. Cook in the bacon fat as noted above by Laura Binder, remove, set aside, and add at the end so they don't overcook.

2 Tbsp. bacon drippings
3/4 cup chopped onion
1/3 - 1/2 cup chopped green pepper
1 1/2 pounds cooked ham, cubed
2 8-oz. cans tomato sauce
2 cups water
2 Tbsp. sugar
1/2 tsp. salt
2 cups uncooked rice

Melt the bacon drippings in a deep iron skillet and saute the chopped onion and green pepper until tender. Stir in the cubed ham and cook over medium heat for about three minutes, stirring occasionally. Add the tomato sauce, water, sugar and salt and stir well. Bring the mixture to a boil and add the uncooked rice. Reduce heat, cover and simmer for 15 minutes.

While the mixture is simmering, cut a circle of brown paper large enough to overlap the edges of the skillet by two inches. After the rice has simmered for 15 minutes, remove the lid, place the brown paper over the skillet and replace the lid. (This ensures a tighter fit.) Continue simmering for 15 - 20 minutes, or until rice is done.

Serves 8 - 10