How to make red rice, a Lowcountry classic

A recipe as old as time, for a Gullah Geechee meal that is timeless.

“Red rice goes back to the old, old days — the days before me, my momma, and her,” writes Emily Meggett in her new book, out next week, “Gullah Geechee Home Cooking: Recipes from the Matriarch of Edisto Island.” Photographs by Clay Williams illustrate the cooking life of Meggett, the 89-year-old matriarch of the Gullah community on Edisto Island, S.C.

The Gullah Geechee people of the Sea Islands of South Carolina and Georgia have a history that spans centuries — to a time well before the establishment of a United States of America. They came over as enslaved members of West African tribes and eventually set up residence in the Lowcountry. Because of their physical separation from the rest of the South and an almost instinctual commitment to preserving their roots, their culture lives on, and indeed thrives, in people like Meggett.

Meggett has lived in the Gullah community for her entire life, and counts 50 grandchildren and great-grandchildren among her heirs. For the first time, her recipes are now documented in a book that’s part history and part living culture.

One of the grains West Africans brought to the Americas was rice, and along with it, they brought their know-how for cultivating it. Rice thrived in the Lowcountry thanks to their skills and remains today a staple of their cuisine.

“Red rice is a beautiful, earthy one-pot rice dish that borrows from the traditions of my African ancestors. Sometimes called Charleston red rice, red rice really owes a great debt to the enslaved Africans who brought their knowledge of rice and vegetable farming to the United States,” Meggett writes.

It may be a cousin of jambalaya and jollof, but red rice is its own dish. “Here on Edisto, Wednesdays and Fridays were seafood days. We had shrimp or fish with red rice, so it was something to look forward to. Back in the day, you didn’t use tomato paste and sauce, you used the tomatoes you’d planted in your garden. The tomato paste works just as good, though, and Gullah Geechee red rice is one of the best dishes you can enjoy,” Meggett explains.

She notes that cooking red rice takes more skill than your average pot of rice. Tomatoes contain different levels of moisture, and if the ratio of liquid to rice is off, “it will come out like mush. If you have too much rice, you can add water, but the texture will be uneven. Early in the cooking, you want to use your spoon to feel the weight of the rice, and make sure it’s cooking evenly.”

The finished rice should glisten red, each grain slicked with a touch of pork fat, but not be clumpy. Still, Meggett is encouraging: “Don’t let this dish intimidate you — with well-seasoned vegetables, slices of sausage, and perfectly cooked rice, you’ve just about got yourself a meal. Oh, and when you put some fatback in there? Now you’re talking.”