Wild Rice

[Bulldog lady]

    Ok  got this bag of Wild Blend Lundberg rice, with more rices than I ever imagined existed!  No directions of course- ok been in the kitchen more than once or twice so old rule of thumb should work. 2x water to 1x rice!!!!    Wrong- kept having to add more broth and after 45 min had some good rice, or at least that is what the Red Badger told me it was supposed to taste like. (he ate 2 helpings so guess it was ok)  Anyways does anyone have the proper porortions?   Do I dare play with it like white and put in celery, onion, mushrooms and the kitchen sink as I am prone to do on occasion?  Appreciate any suggestions or recipes.

[Bear Medicine]

Wild Rice is generally a 1:3 ration of rice and water.  As for adding stuff to it, go for it.  The one and only cooking contest I ever entered took first prize with a pot of Wild Rice with Smoked Salmon.  I was camping lite and the only thing I had in my pack was a bag of wild rice, an onion, a few packs of cup-o-soup chicken broth and a foil pack of smoked salmon, a little pepper and salt.  Cooked all that up together and it turned out really tasty.  And believe me, we've got some "professional" camp cooks in my little group. 

[voyageur1688]

 I have fount it can vary slightly depending on the type of rice. If its real wild rice and is hand parched youd be in for a real treat but most is commercial patty rice. Either one can be made into a real treat by popping it. To pop it just get yourself some grease/oil in a pot thats fairly deep and get it hot enough that its started rippling. Sprinkle a bit of the rice into the hot grease and it will sink but will surface as soon as it pops. Make sure to have a slotted or mesh scoop handy to get the popped rice out fast as it pops cuz it scorches fast.  Once its popped ya can mix it with some sugar or even cinnamon sugar if ya want for a great treat or breakfast cereal. Kinda looks ugly but tastes great.
Voy

[Baldy]

50 or so years ago I used to visit my GPa in northern MN (Cass Lake area Voy) and would have wild rice with cream and sugar for breakfast every day.  Never got tired of eating that stuff.  Sure can't afford it now.  Used to be able to buy it back then for $1/lb.  Family always got at least 10# to take back home to Iowa.  Once went out harvesting it in the fall with a couple of the natives.  Used a canoe, a tarp in the bottom and two sticks.  As one guy polled the canoe through the rice, the other would bend over the stalks with one stick and hit them with the other to shake the rice loose.  No commercial harvesters were allowed.  This made sure some rice got back into the water to re-seed the crop.  Wonder if they still do it the same way.

[voyageur1688]

 Not sure bout Cass Lake but I know the locals up here and at Nett Lake still do it the old way. Since ya had real wild rice then ya know how much better it is than the commercial stuff. The best is hand parched over maple coals. Man is that good stuff. I have done it and know the work that goes into it so even at $12-$14 a # for the hand parched its well worth it for the difference in quality/taste. I know that may sound pricey but its alot of work and is very tiring as once you start a batch you cant stop til its done and when ya got the parch pit going if ya end up working at it all night then you end up working it all night cuz otherwise ya hafta restart the fire the next day and wait for the coals to be just right before you start parching again. Each batch will take about an hour of nonstop pushing of the rice to keep it from burning. and unless you have a big parch pan you wont get much from each batch as most of the weight when it first goes in is water that is evaporated out and looks like much more as it still has the chaff on it which has to be threshed off it, then the chaff has to be fanned from the rice, etc.
Voy

[Baldy]

Yeah the stuff they sell for "wild rice" looks like it and sort of tastes like it but there is something missing.  Sometimes tempted to go back up there and get some but know that everything will have changed -- greatly.  Places I used to know are long gone -- only the lakes remain and they are probably overrun with people now.  Old memories are the best ones.

[voyageur1688]

  Thats happening everywhere. We got it up here as well to a point but luckily we do have areas that cant be bought up or built on.
Voy

[shootrj2003]

Take that wild rice and put it with celery,Jimmy Dean hot and sagey sausage,onions,after fryin' them up til the veggies are just short of done,mix that with seasoned croutons,3 eggs ,1 cup New York Apple Cider [fresh squeezed] and about 1 1/2 lbs of boiled chestnuts[shell them!] and stuff it into just about any bird you can find and you'll know what my stuffing tastes like!-IMPORTANT- Also,bake the whole shebang before you eat it.

[Bulldog lady]

Thanks for info and recipes- got out the bag and it has-long grain brown, sweet brown, wehani, black japonica, and wild rice pieces  2 lb $$6.00  FYI  Got it and catalog from friend who into the health food, all natural ingredients, way of cookin  they have all kinds of stuff   www.cinf.org  out of Oak Haven Mi    269-236-5011  Enjoyed learning of how they used to do it.  Progress does have it's virtures, I'm to old to bend over a canoe all day, sides that we haven't had enough rain to grow anything but rocks!!

[Linc]

Bulldog Lady,I did a search and came up with this amongst others.

http://www.lundberg.com/products/rice/Lundberg_Wild_Blend%C2%AE_-_25lbs.aspx

According to this your original water to rice assumption was correct. Could you please pass the rice. I just had lunch and now I am hungry again. Oh how I love rice. Yum, yum.

[Mouse]

Cooked me up a pot of locally harvested wild rice the other night (yep... 3 parts water to one part wild rice, just like Bear Medicine said).  Used part of the rice in a chicken/broccoli/mandarin oranges/etc. salad.  Used the rest in another meal..... mixed the pre-cooked wild rice into stir-fried turkey/broccoli/cauliflower/etc.  Something else that's really yummy is fresh, hot wild rice bread to go with wild rice soup. (I bribe my cousin with the bread!   )    And now I'm making myself hungry!

[Bulldog lady]

Linc  checked out site and they have store here in Tulsa-Will check it out-Thanks     Mouse will try the wild rice bread-looked up recipe and think the blend I have is worth a try, thank you also for the recipes!  Look out Red Badger, veggies on the way!!

[Red Badger]

...    Mouse will try the wild rice bread-looked up recipe and think the blend I have is worth a try, thank you also for the recipes!  Look out Red Badger, veggies on the way!!

I don't mind vegetables as long as the meat to vegetable ratio is 50 to 1 ....

[Mouse]

That's kinda my ratio too! 

[Tim Burns]

"VEGETARIAN"  ---- Old Indian word for - "Poor Hunter"