cover image Wild Rice, Star of the North: 150 Minnesota Recipes for a Gourmet Grain

Wild Rice, Star of the North: 150 Minnesota Recipes for a Gourmet Grain

Michael W. Dempsey, One Thousand Six Summit Avenue Society S. McGraw-Hill Companies, $12.95 (188pp) ISBN 978-0-07-002455-7

To correct a small mistake in culinary history, let it be said straightaway that wild rice is not a rice of any variety; it is an aquatic grass, a grain, the only grain native to the North American continent, and the state grain of Minnesota. The compilers of this gathering of 150 recipes from as many sources represent a Minnesota-based historical society. The book is a thorough guide to preparation and cooking, storage and handling of wild rice and provides an essential directory of mail-order houses. The recipes run the conventional course from appetizers, soups and salads through entrees and stuffings, to breads, side dishes and desserts; some are of Far or Middle Eastern derivation, and a numberfor example, pioneer molasses bread, Gitchi Gumi salad and Chippewa quichepay homage to their frontier origins. For the most part, these are traditional American dishes of the kind that would grace a county fair or church supper. Major ad/promo. December 16