Thoughts on Wild Rice

When I was a kid we ate a lot of wild rice. I tell people that I am not sure we ever ate white rice. My mother wasn’t a great cook, she always said that her mother was a lousy cook, and we were lucky that she was a better cook than her mother.

But she knew how to make wild rice, and she handed her recipe down to me. Today I made wild rice for Thanksgiving dinner at some wonderful friends home.

The rice was great, everyone loved it, and I thought about how grateful I was for my mother.

Comments

[Donal O'Shea]

Talk about a teaser...! Could we please have the receipe?

[Spare Parts Nelson]

I remember that your mother used to buy her rice from Charley Rottenwood. Charlie harvested it out of Black Bay down near the mouth of the Rat Root River. Your mother stopped buying Charley's rice when she found out that his sled dogs slept (and pisssed on it) all winter. Ever wonder what gave Charlie's rice that spicy flavor?

Spare Parts Nelson
Ericsburg, Minnesota

[Spare Parts Nelson]

I remember that your mother used to buy her rice from Charley Rottenwood. Charlie harvested it out of Black Bay down near the mouth of the Rat Root River. Your mother stopped buying Charley's rice when she found out that his sled dogs slept (and pisssed on it) all winter. Ever wonder what gave Charlie's rice that spicy flavor?

Spare Parts Nelson
Ericsburg, Minnesota

[Dirt Bag Prettyman]

Buzz:

I don't know about Charley Rottenwood's wild rice, but I know his son George harvested and sold some pretty good stuff. I do remember that George had a heart attack one warm February night many years ago when was trying to pull a toboggan with four bags of rice across the ice back to their place on Dryweed. Guess he couldn't sell it in town. George just laid down on the ice and died. Mongrain's bought the place after George died. All of those places are gone now. Park took them. But, the graves of George's children are still there - something that the old NPS hasn't been able to find what with their fancy archeological surveys and what not. What a pain in the ass they are!

I remember that Eddie Wallbillig made some good rice. Think he poached it off the Net Lake Reserve. Your mom might have bought that stuff.

Dirt Bag Prettyman
Papermakers Addition
Int'l. Falls, Minnesota