southern comfort

I'm southern. Sure, years of voice coaching and a theater degree beat most of the twang out of my everyday speech patterns, but make me angry and the accent is back in full effect. On days when I feel a little sad I find myself slipping into a slower cadence and lingering a bit longer on certain vowel sounds. My verbal comfort zone is firmly rooted in the sounds of the south, and my culinary tastes feel at home there too. Biscuits and gravy, tomatoes warm from the garden sun eaten with cornbread for dinner, fried okra, pecan pie, and of course, rice. I grew up in a state whose main agricultural product is rice. I wouldn't say that it was an everyday food for us, but we did eat it a lot, and too many carbs be damned, I love rice. Plain white rice. My grandmother often served rice as a side dish, but it was after the meal was completed that the real magic happened. After everyone finished she would pull out several small bowls and sit them on the table. Then she would fill each bowl with the remaining warm white rice, top it with a pat of butter, and sprinkle it with a teaspoon or so of sugar. Manna, I tell you. Manna from heaven. My cousins and I would hardly be able to contain ourselves as we patiently waited for our bowl to be placed in front of us. Slightly sticky rice with pools of melted butter would be good by themselves, but the sugar... sweet and pleasantly crunchy as the sugar crystals pop between your teeth. Ahhhh. Delicious. To this day, nothing brings me more more comfort than a bowl of white rice with butter and sugar. Unconventional I know. Maybe even strange. But given the turmoil of late, I think you could all use a little comfort, southern style.

Rice with Butter & Sugar

1 cup long grain white rice, rinsed
2.5 cups water
1T plus 4t butter
8t sugar

Heat water and 1T butter to boiling in a heavy saucepan. Stir in rice. Reduce heat to a simmer, cover with lid, and simmer for 20 minutes or until all water is absorbed. Remove from heat and let sit for 5 minutes. Rice will be slightly sticky.

Divide rice into four bowls. Make a well in the center and top with 2t butter and 2t sugar, or more to taste. Enjoy!

We tend to buy turbinado sugar so that's what you see in the photo. I would use that or white sugar, but not soft brown sugar.