American writer and social activist Jack London was one of the first American authors to turn his writing skills into a significant personal fortune. He did this in part by going places and doing things other writers were unwilling to risk, including repeated forays into the remote gold fields of Alaska. He participated in and wrote about the Klondike Gold Rush, and his health suffered from the hardships he endured there. His inability to access shelter, food and medicine was reflected in his fiction, including the story. To light a fire. He lost his four upper front teeth as a result of scurvy and a poor diet while in Alaska.
Less well known than her ability to “outwit” it in Alaska and write about it, and other border posts of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, is her very particular palate when it comes to how her rice was prepared. A staple of the goldfields, because it can be bagged and will stay fresh for months, Jack London was very familiar with rice and had very special requirements when it came to cooking it.
Sarah M. Williamson, a member of San Francisco high society who helped popularize canning and food preservation in the early 1900s, reported in a 1916 newspaper article that she had obtained Jack London’s personal recipe. for the preparation of rice of the suffered of London. second wife, Charmian Kittredge London.
Here’s how Sarah Williamson recounts her discovery of Jack London’s rice recipe:
“Rice, cooked like American housewives never cook and can never learn to cook it, appeared on Martin’s table at least once a day.” So says Jack London in the forceful novel that is almost autobiographical. And this is the way Jack London cooks his rice: I have the recipe please from Mrs. London, upon her husband’s signature, “wrote Williamson.
“Correctly cooked rice: First, the rice should be washed well, which will remove all the stickiness from the grains when boiled. The ratio of rice should be one to two cold water. The proper Chinese chef will allow this to sit for several hours. before Putting the saucepan on the stove. When the saucepan is finally placed on the stove, the fire should be hot and the rice should continue to boil until the rice has absorbed all the water and no water remains on the surface. Then remove where the stove is not so hot and bring to a simmer. Cooking a pot of rice should require fifty minutes to an hour for moderate measure. Just before serving, stir gently and carefully with a fork, which will loosen the batter. in a light, flaky appearance. It should be light, smooth, and separate. “
Williamson claimed that rice was very difficult to cook because it came in many different grains and subspecies. “The problem is not so much with the cook as with the rice itself,” he wrote. “There are about 49 varieties and no two are cooked the same. Some work best by boiling and then draining and starting over in cold water. Getting the same type of rice would always mean a reliable recipe. As there is Chinese rice , Japanese rice, Indian rice, Georgia, South Carolina and now California, and a few dozen more, cooking rice is likely to be a never-solved problem. “
She also shared another of London’s favorite recipes for a rice dish, this one with onions and green peppers.
“In a steel skillet, melt enough lard to fry a cup of rice to a brown seal. The rice should be wiped with a napkin and not washed. It is necessary to stir constantly to prevent the rice from burning. Remove the rice. rice and adjust to Drain. In the butter put one or two large peppers, seeded and finely chopped, and the juice of a medium onion (grated). A pinch of salt, pepper to taste. Two heaping teaspoons of chili powder, which has been mixed with three cups of well-crushed tomatoes. In a granite saucepan put a cup of boiling water. Pour the sauce from the pan into the saucepan, then pour the rice. Boil slowly until the rice is cooked, place in the oven and bake. If this dish is well done, each grain is separated and dried. “
Jack London died in November 1916, just a few months after Williamson published his rice recipes, still a relatively young man in his early 40s. Despite his very particular requirements to cook rice to his liking, there is no doubt that the deprivations of the Arctic and the severe conditions he endured to continue his writing contributed to the loss of health that led to his untimely death.
