I spent much of today at the hospital with the family member who is receiving chemotherapy. It made me think of the women in The New Galt Cook Book (1898) who submitted cookery for the sick and home remedy recipes. It is amazing the level of care available today and so I’m making something completely different. There’s some boiled rice leftover from tonight’s simple supper so I’m going to make Rice Croquettes using a recipe contributed to the Pudding section by someone with the initials M.A.R.
I used 3 cups cup of boiled rice and added 1/2 cup of milk, 1 tablespoon of butter, 1 tablespoon of white granulated sugar and a bit of nutmeg. I added a beaten egg and mixed it all together. Once it was cool I shaped them into flat patties and dipped them in the rest of the beaten egg and then rolled the patties in bread crumbs. I fried them in hot fat for 3 minutes.
I have no idea the identity of M. A. R. There’s at least three contributors who use initials in this cookbook and I have no idea why they preferred to keep their identities secret.
Rice croquettes were not a success for me. My rice was a bit too soggy to really deal well with the extra egg so I skipped that step and simply rolled them in bread crumbs. I found the flavour bland and not at all what I expected. I thought they’d be crispy outside and sort of soft inside. Instead they were just soft and blah. Maybe that’s why M.A.R. is anonymous.
RICE CROQUETTES
M.A.R.Boil one cupful of well washed rice in four cupfuls of boiling water for half an hour. Drain it, add to it half a cupful of milk, one tablespoonful of butter, one of sugar, half a teaspoonful of salt and a grating of nutmeg. When this mixture boils, stir in rapidly one egg and set it away to cool. When cold, shape, dip in beaten egg, then in bread crumbs, and fry three minutes in hot fat.
Cooking with the Galt Cook Book 