-
1
Heat the olive oil and butter in a saucepan over medium-high heat until sizzling hot (see Know-how, page 100).
-
2
Add the shallot and cook and stir for about 2 minutes, until soft and translucent.
-
3
Add the rice, season with salt and pepper to taste, and stir to coat with oil and butter.
-
4
Cook for about 2 minutes, stirring occasionally.
-
5
Add the thyme and just enough broth to cover the rice by about 1/4 inch, stirring just once to combine.
-
6
Cover, reduce the heat to low, and simmer for about 20 minutes, until the rice is tender and all the liquid is absorbed.
-
7
Remove from the heat and let sit, covered, for about 5 minutes.
-
8
Serve warm.
-
9
Often called the grandfather of long-grain rice in the Americas, Carolina Gold is a beautiful variety that was the star of the antebellum rice trade and a driving force in the creation of a distinct Southern culinary tradition.
-
10
Despite these claims to fame, Carolina Gold fell by the wayside after the Civil War, along with the Souths rice economy.
-
11
It was half forgotten and nearly extinct by the time Richard Schulz, a Georgia surgeon and plantation owner, rehabilitated the grain in the 1980s.
-
12
Thanks to his efforts, it is now once again commercially available from vendors like South Carolinas Carolina Plantation Rice and Anson Mills (see Sources, page 377).
