1931 Cuban Cookery by Blanche Z de Baralt

53

1 heaping teaspoonful salt 1 small -kernel garlic 1 tablespoonful good lard.

The rice should be of good quality and not too new. New rice is too starchy and becomes mushy. Wash rice throughly and cook briskly in boiling. salted water, stir occasionally. that it may not cake. · Cook until almost tender, but not quite. Drain off water, return to the saucepan. add garlic and lard. Cover tightly and finish cooking on a very slow hre until done. The vapor from the moist rice £.1f ishes • the coction and the lard glazes it '. Care should be taken that £ire be very low to prevent the rice from burning. If the rice is too much cooked before the water is strained oH it becomes pasty~ if too raw. it remains hard. The secret of success in rice cooking lies in draining off the water at the proper moment. It usually takes about 15- minutes of quick boiling to burst the grain and 20 minutes more to steam it. But this varies with the kind and quality of the rice.