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By Root 1065 0

so it’s ideal for a dinner party. Serve with baked ham or any roasted meat or fowl. Note: Fresh edible bay leaves (bay laurel) are the ones to use here because only they have the proper lemony-gingery fragrance. Luckily, many farmer’s markets sell little pots of bay laurel, as do a few specialty groceries. Just make sure what you buy is edible. Bay laurel makes an attractive house plant and all you need is a sunny spot. I keep a little bay laurel tree in the garden window over my sink and it’s thriving thanks to the southern exposure. I also kept one on my New York City windowsill for years; that, too, was “south light.” Tip: You can prepare this recipe through Step 3 a day ahead of time; cover with foil and refrigerate. Before baking, set the casserole on the counter, remove the foil, and let stand for about half an hour.

1 tablespoon bacon drippings or vegetable oil

2 large whole garlic cloves, finely chopped

1½ teaspoons finely chopped fresh lemon thyme or 1 teaspoon dried leaf thyme, crumbled

2 tablespoons all-purpose flour

2 cups light cream or half-and-half

1 teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon black pepper

4 large fresh bay leaves, bruised (see Note on Chapter 4)

3 medium baking potatoes (about 1½ pounds), peeled and thinly sliced

1 large sweet potato (about 1 pound), peeled and thinly sliced

2 tablespoons butter, cut into small dice

1. Preheat the oven to 425° F. Spritz a shallow 2-quart casserole or gratin dish with nonstick cooking spray and set aside.

2. Heat the bacon drippings in a small, heavy saucepan over moderate heat for 1 minute, add the garlic and lemon thyme, and cook, stirring often, for 3 to 5 minutes or just until the garlic softens. Blend in the flour and cook and stir 1 minute more. Whisking hard, add the cream, salt, and pepper. Drop in the bay leaves and cook, whisking constantly, for 3 to 5 minutes or until the sauce is thickened and smooth.

3. Place the baking and sweet potatoes in the casserole and toss well to mix. Pour in the hot sauce and push the bay leaves down into the potatoes, distributing them evenly. Shake the casserole gently to level the sauce and potatoes, then dot with butter (see Tip above).

4. Slide the casserole onto the middle oven shelf and bake uncovered for about 40 minutes or until the potatoes are crusty-brown on top and tender underneath.

5. Remove the casserole from the oven, discard the bay leaves, and serve.

* * *

RICE

In tropical countries rice replaces all other cereals as the staff of life…

—Albert F. Hill, Economic Botany (1952)

In this esteemed textbook, Harvard professor Albert Hill also noted that rice originated somewhere in Southeast Asia and that its cultivation began in the dimmest past. The Chinese were growing rice more than 4,000 years ago and there are records to prove it. Indeed, in classical Chinese, Hill pointed out, the words for rice culture and agriculture are synonymous. And in other languages “the word for rice and the word for food are identical.”

How rice reached these shores is a journey both long and circuitous. From China, rice entered India before the rise of Greek civilization. It appeared in Syria and North Africa early on, too (about 1500 BC), but it wasn’t grown in Europe (Italy) until 1408—forty-three years before Columbus was born.

Although Columbus introduced a number of Old World foods to the New World, rice was not one of them. Its time and place of arrival here are well documented.

Charleston Receipts (1950), to my mind the gold standard for community cookbooks because it’s intensely local, devotes a special section to rice and in it tells how the grain first came to South Carolina “around 1685” aboard a ship out of Madagascar (Botanist Hill agrees that rice arrived via Madagascar but puts the date a year earlier).

The ship’s captain befriended Dr. Henry Woodward, a Charles Towne pillar, and gave him “a small quantity of rice, less than a bushel.” Thanks to the

Lowcountry’s optimal growing conditions, that rice, once planted, flourished for more than 200 years. But it was another strain introduced