The Rice Book

by Sri Owen

Overview

The definitive book on rice, featuring more than 140 recipes from across the globe, from Sri Owen, winner of the 2017 Guild of Food Writers Lifetime Achievement Award.

Rice is the staple food for more than half the world, and the creativity with which people approach this humble grain knows no bounds. In The Rice Book, an instant classic when it published thirty years ago, renowned Indonesian chef and food writer Sri Owen builds on extensive travels and years of research to share recipes for biryanis, risottos, pilafs and paellas from Indonesia, Thailand, Japan, Korea, Russia, Iran, Afghanistan, Spain, Italy, Brazil and beyond.

With a fully updated introduction on the nutrition, history, and culture surrounding rice, more than 140 delicious, foolproof recipes, and beautiful two-color illustrations throughout, Sri Owen's The Rice Book is an essential book for every kitchen and every cook.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781526621634
Publisher:	Bloomsbury USA
Publication date:	11/08/2022
Pages:	464
Product dimensions:	6.69(w) x 9.65(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

Sri Owen is a renowned Indonesian cook and food writer, and author of several cookbooks including Indonesian and Thai Cookery, The Indonesian Kitchen, and The Rice Book, which won the André Simon Award. Since her first book was published in 1976, Sri has established herself as one of the preeminent food writers in the UK, and her unrivalled expertise saw her win the Guild of Food Writers Lifetime Achievement Award in 2017. She lives in London with her husband, Roger.

Editorial Reviews

Owen, an Indonesian-born food writer and cookbook author who now lives in England, includes a lengthy introductory section covering rice and history and politics, cultivation, and even the myths and folklore associated with this popular staple grain. This is followed by 200 recipes from a wide variety of international cuisines. Many of these dishes are indeed exotic and will be unfamiliar to American readers; some are somewhat complicated or time-consuming, but the instructions are well written and the headnotes informative. Marie Simmons's Rice, the Amazing Grain ( LJ 12/91) includes dozens of simpler recipes, but most libraries will want Owen's more unusual collection as well.

Library Journal

Subtitled, The Definitive Book on the Magic of Rice with Hundreds of Exotic Recipes From Around the World. Preceding the recipe section is about 75 pages of information on rice as a crop, a food, a commodity, and shaper of myths and rituals, governments, and industries, and on the various rice varieties, grades, brands, and types. Illustrated with line drawings. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Booknews

Rice every which way, from cultivation to cooking, is explored in food writer Owen's all-about compendium. A good portion of her book is devoted to whetting the appetite--specifically, by her in-depth research on the physical and nutritional properties of the species "sativa", its agricultural impact, the cultural myths surrounding rice, and a worldview of this grain's importance. Then she moves on to the recipes, more than 200 of them, all gathered and tested with an eye not to trendiness but to traditional tastes in any country. She's very precise in helping cooks to prepare to tackle her instructions; she gives generic directions--including quantity, texture, and washing and cooking techniques--before presenting each recipe, each one of which is then followed by descriptive lists of ingredients and other culinary methods such as dicing and blanching. Both familiar and exotic dishes, most of them easy to cook, are included: among them, Greek dolmas, chicken and hot sausage gumbo, pork vindaloo, Korean bibimbab, pumpkin risotto, and black rice sorbet.

Barbara Jacobs