Marking column’s 75th year with rice, onion soup
Recipes that appear in Idea Alley have not been tested by the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.
In the late 1970s the Arkansas Gazette (Idea Alley’s newspaper of origin) made the shift from publishing its Food section on Thursday to publishing it on Wednesday. I recently came across an advertisement for that shift that read:
Top of the Morning WEDNESDAY. ANOTHER REASON MORE GOES INTO THE GAZETTE Now brought to you each Wednesday, the Gazette’s Food Section is more than just food news. It’s entertaining and educational reading for everyone, making it one of the best food sections in the South. It’s a money-saver with coupons to stretch your home budget. And new ideas in entertaining, shopping and just good things to eat … plus time-honored columns like “Down Idea Alley”… make the difference in the Arkansas Gazette.
The Food section, known as Wednesday Style today, doesn’t include much about shopping or entertaining these days, but I do strive to continue offering entertaining and educational reading for everyone and, of course, new ideas for good things to eat. And Idea Alley lives on. Based on my research in the historic paper archives, Idea Alley debuted in 1949, making 2024 its 75th year.
To celebrate, I thought it would be fun to look back at some of the recipes that appeared throughout the paper in 1949. First up — I plan to do this several times over the year — are typical examples of the year. At that time, many of the recipes published were provided by the companies that made their ingredients. The recipes often took narrative form rather than the list of ingredients followed by the instructions format that we use today.
There are many ways to cook rice, one of Arkansas’ major export crops, but this one featured in an advertisement for Arkansas rice farmers, Arkansas and Louisiana rice millers and the brands Water Maid, Mahatma and F.A.G., is one I hadn’t encountered before. It calls for using a double boiler, which makes perfect sense considering rice is best steamed rather than boiled.
The ad touted Water Maid as America’s finest short grain rice; Mahatma as America’s finest long grain; and F.A.G. as extra large long grain.
I have edited the recipe to fit our recipe format.
Double Boiler Rice
1 cup rice
1 teaspoon salt Boiling water
In the top part of a double boiler, combine the rice, salt and 1 ½ cups boiling water. Cover, cook over boiling water, without stirring, until rice is tender and water is absorbed (about 30 to 45 minutes). Do not rinse.
Makes 3 to 4 cups cooked rice.
This one is from Mildred Woods’ Counselor at the Cookstove column. Woods alternated using Milly and Mildred in her byline for many years.
“How about a little quick word on some French Onion Soup? I figured this one out for myself, long ago, and subsequently found out that George Rector almost matched it — which would have annoyed me horribly if he hadn’t been such a darn good cook, too. We stand together, but otherwise alone, on the confection of this dish.”
[George Rector was a restaurateur and author of several cookbooks in the 1920s and ’30s.]
French Onion Soup
Allow a large onion for each person to be served. Slice in rings and saute golden in a little olive oil (my version). Pour in a cup of cold consomme — handmade, canned or use water and add a liver-fortified bouillon cube, with a spare for the pot for each of four people. Salt, fresh ground pepper, Worcestershire (our mutual inspiration) to taste. Simmer sweetly for 15 to 20 minutes, and there you are. Serve Gallic style with round of French bread, toasted, or if you aren’t a dunker, just have it available in job lots with plenty of butter. Parmesan cheese on a similar basis.
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