Rice for 75?

[Indigo House]

As part of a course on the Material Culture of Slavery I am leading a class of 150 students (broken into two sessions) through the history and preparation of Hoppin' John. Because many of my cookery books are in storage I can't put my finger on the amount of raw rice I need for 75 people. Help! Once I have an idea of the rice I can figure the beans. Thanks

[Culprit]

It will depend, of course, on the type of rice you intend to use. Assuming you'll use long grain rice and that your group will be serving themselves (ala buffet style) I'd suggest using about 3 pounds of rice to 2 gallons of salted water.
Post Script:
I just thought of something. If you're cooking in a natural setting where it's more difficult to control the cooking conditions I'd suggest you keep about a quart of boiling water handy on the side; just in case you lose more liquid than you might typically lose in a controlled kitchen environment.

[OahuAmateurChef]

How much rice will feed 150 slaves? Wow. I bet that question hasn't been discussed in about 150 years. A definite forum first.

[Jayme]

Indigo-
You didn't mention your portion size...?????

[castironchef]

I do historical re-enactments, as well as a bit of catering for groups.

If you tell me the size of the group and what style of cooking you have available (e.g., commercial kitchen, campsite, wood and cast iron only, etc.), I'll try to steer you in the right direction.

[Indigo House]

Thanks all for the quick responses! For this class the serving portions will be self determined but in the slave past rations would have been 1 peck of broken rice or ground corn meal per adult laborer per week along with perhaps a quarter pound of salt pork or 2-3 dried herring. That's it. Salt would have been dispenced at 1-2 lbs every coupla months and sometime folks got a pint or two of molasses every once in a while. Thus every other thing an enslaved person/family ate was usually hard earned through gardening, hunting or fishing after work hours and via barter within the slave community. Lecture over - I only reply at such length because I so hope we can all appreciate the bounty of food we enjoy today.

[castironchef]

I'm still not sure how you're doing your cooking, but here are my suggestions:

As for quantities, to feed 75 (using regular rather than slave rations), I would go with 5 pounds of rice.

The rule of thumb is that 1 lb of uncooked rice will yield 2 qts. of cooked rice, or 16 1/2 cup servings.

If you have an oven available, you should divide the rice into two hotel pans (12x20). Add a 2 tablespoons of butter and 2 teaspoons of salt to each pan. Just cover with about 3 qts of BOILING water in each pan. Stir. Cover tightly with aluminum foil and bake for 45 minutes or so at 350 degrees. I find that this method is the easiest for bulk rice (unless you have a big rice cooker, of course).

If you are doing it "for real," then use four 12" inch cast iron Dutch ovens (the "real" ones, with rimmed lids and feet). Follow the same procedure as above, just dividing the rice, butter, salt and boiling water between the four Dutch ovens. Put 8 charcoal briquets in a circle under each one and 16 briquets above, with two in the center and the rest around the rim of the lid. (That's usually pretty close to 350 F.) Bake for 45 minutes or so.

Let us know if you want any more help and please let us how it all turns out.

[rozells]

It depends on the variety of dishes which r accompaning the rice.In Asian countries Countries where rice is one of the solids. we recommend 80-100grams per hd . in Euro i suggest 60-80 per hd

[Jayme]

Originally Posted by Indigo House

Thanks all for the quick responses! For this class the serving portions will be self determined but in the slave past rations would have been 1 peck of broken rice or ground corn meal per adult laborer per week along with perhaps a quarter pound of salt pork or 2-3 dried herring. That's it. Salt would have been dispenced at 1-2 lbs every coupla months and sometime folks got a pint or two of molasses every once in a while. Thus every other thing an enslaved person/family ate was usually hard earned through gardening, hunting or fishing after work hours and via barter within the slave community. Lecture over - I only reply at such length because I so hope we can all appreciate the bounty of food we enjoy today.

Guess that would be why you never saw a fat field worker.... and they worked twice as hard as we do now a days. Ok, I feel grateful and lazy!