Website design By BotEap.comAmerican 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.

Website design By BotEap.comLess well known than his ability to “outwit” it in Alaska and write about it, and other border posts of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, is his very particular palate when it comes to how his 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.

Website design By BotEap.comSarah M. Williamson, a San Francisco socialite 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.

Website design By BotEap.comHere’s how Sarah Williamson recounts her discovery of Jack London’s rice recipe:

Website design By BotEap.com“Rice, cooked like American housewives never cook and can never learn to cook, 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.

Website design By BotEap.com“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. “

Website design By BotEap.comWilliamson 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. “

Website design By BotEap.comShe also shared another of London’s favorite recipes for a rice dish, this one with onions and green peppers.

Website design By BotEap.com“In a steel skillet, melt enough lard to fry a cup of rice to a brown seal. The rice should be wiped clean 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. Put one or two large seeded and finely chopped peppers in the butter, and the juice of a medium onion (grated). A pinch of salt, pepper to taste. Two heaping teaspoons of chili powder, which It 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. “

Website design By BotEap.comJack 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 for cooking 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.