Levees in our backyard

So some of you may be wondering... why Levees & Lace???

Growing up, I was always super girly. I wanted to wear anything that was pink, sparkled, and had a skirt. As I got older, that didn't change much {although hopefully my sense of style changed a little}, but Sarah and I began to realize we did not live in the most convenient place to find the latest trends or try them out for that matter. Just beyond our backyard was not Neimans or Saks, it was a rice field field {see below}. However, thanks to our amazing parents who traveled with us all over the country, we were exposed to much more than what was in our "backyard". These family vacations helped cultivate our love for fashion, travel, food, and a world outside of the Mississippi Delta while at the same time giving us a great appreciation for where we were raised.

Here is a bit of a description about where the "Levees" of Levees and Lace originated and what it means to us.

It has been more than sixty years since Papa {our grandfather} moved to Mississippi to farm rice--a business that our family is still in today. As you can imagine, we grew up eating a lot of rice {had to support the industry}. Granny {our grandmother} rarely served a meal that did not include some version of it on the menu. Her famous white rice {recipe below} was delicious and really didn't need anything to help jazz it up, although there was typically at least one type of gravy for Sunday lunch.

I am often asked why I buy rice from the grocery store if we farm it. Well I guess you need to know a little more about the process of farming {if it was as easy as I am about to make it sound, everyone would probably be doing it}. After the rice has been planted and grown tall enough, the field is flooded. Levees {the small dirt hills in the pic below} are used to move water throughout the field from higher ground to lower lying areas.

Crooked Levee Photo in Murphy, MS by Flat Out Delta

The water is drained from the field before it is time for harvest-at which point the rice turns a golden brown color. We {Daddy} uses a combines to harvest the rice from the field {shown below}.

Then the rice is transported to the dryer to remove all of the moisture from it.

After that, it is sent to a mill where the hull is removed and it is polished to look "pretty" or as Granny said, this is when it gets the "window dressing". This is the type of rice you see at the grocery store. We do not mill our own rice- we sell it before that part of the process- which is why I buy my rice from the grocery store.

All that being said, Granny taught us how to cook her rice recipe which is below. After a little trial and error, Sarah and I made a few tweaks to the recipe to make it just a little healthier.

Granny's White Rice

3 c. Long grain white rice

5 c. Water

Crisco

Salt

White Vinegar

Rice Steamer

Cream of Tarter

1. Rinse 3 c. of rice until the water is clear. This usually takes about 3 rinses. This removes the "window coating" or polish from the rice.

2. Put the rinsed 3 c. of rice into top section of rice steamer with 5 c. of water, Crisco {as much as you like- a little goes a long way- Granny used a plastic knife to scoop this out and if memory serves me right she used to put about 3 scoops from the knife}, white vinegar {a small pour- this is to give the rice its white color back since you washed the polish off}, salt to taste {Granny always used the big salt container- not a shaker- and would pour until the water tasted salty} and mix this together

3. Fill the bottom section of the rice steamer with water and add Cream of Tarter {you can skip this if you want, but Granny swore it would keep your rice pot from pitting}

4. Put the top section into the bottom section of the rice steamer with lid on. Cook for 35 min on high. This time should start from the moment you see steam come out of your rice cooker.

5.Immediately take off the heat and stir. Make sure the rice is cooked to your liking. Then transfer your cooked rice into a dish that is room temp in order to prevent the rice from over cooking.

Hint: When serving rice, Granny would spray the serving spoon with cooking spray in order to prevent the rice from sticking and allow for easy cleaning later.

White Rice Recipe

1.5 c Long grain white rice

3.5 c Water

Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Salt

White Vinegar

Rice Steamer

Cream of Tarter

1. Rinse 1.5 c. of rice until the water is clear. This usually takes about 3 rinses. This removes the "window coating" or polish from the rice.

2. Put the rinsed 1.5 c. of rice into top section of rice steamer with 3.5 c. of water, Olive Oil{as much as you like- a little goes a long way and you don't want greasy rice}, white vinegar {a small pour- this is to give the rice its white color back since you washed the polish off}, salt to taste {taste the water after pouring salt in-this may take a few tries before you get it the way you like it} and mix this together.

3. Fill the bottom section of the rice steamer with water and add Cream of Tarter {you can skip this if you want, but Granny swore it would keep your rice pot from pitting}

4. Put the top section into the bottom section of the rice steamer with lid on. Cook for 35 min on high. I start the timer when I put the pot on the cook-top and turn the burner on.

5.Immediately take off the heat and stir. Make sure the rice is cooked to your liking. Then transfer your cooked rice into a dish that is room temp in order to prevent the rice from over cooking. {I sometimes skip this last step and it makes it a lot more difficult to clean my rice pot later}

Let us know how your rice turns out...

Enjoy!

Nicole

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