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2012

A & P Rice Recipe

From: Diana
Sent: Saturday, February 04, 2012 12:31 AM
To: phaedrus@hungrybrowser.com 
Subject: A&P Recipe

I have searched Google and your website for a recipe I found in 1980 on a box of A&P brand of intant rice. 
I have tried to remember what I can of it. There was 1/3 cup of oil, saute 3 cups of instant rice, 
with 1/3 to 1/2 cup of onion, 1/3 to 1/2 cup of green pepper. 1 tablespoon sugar, 1 tablespoon lemon juice, 
teaspoon of salt, 1/4 teaspoon coarse ground pepper. Now from here I just muddle through the spices, 
like I add chili powder, banana peppers, tabasco sauce, ??  Can you or someone find it?

Diana 

Hello Diana,

I had no success at all finding this. The only recipes that I can find from the A & P rice box are a chicken dish and rice pudding. I had no success searching by ingredients, which are fairly common and therefore not much help. The recipe may be on the web, but it may just say “instant rice” and may not mention A & P at all. More often than not, people omit brand names when posting a recipe, and they rarely say things like “this is from the A & P instant rice box”.

I’ll post this on the site, perhaps a reader can help.

Phaed


Bird's Eye French Style Rice

-----Original Message----- 
From: david
Sent: Monday, February 06, 2012 3:28 PM
To: phaedrus@hungrybrowser.com
Subject: Birds Eye International Rice Recipes French Style Rice

Hello Uncle Phaedrus,

I've neen searching for a long time for a "copycat" recipe or list of 
ingredients from a product made by Birds Eye back in the 1980s. The product 
was called "French Style Rice" and it was part of a line of products called 
"International Rice Recipes". More recently Birds Eye made a similar product 
that was part of the "International Recipes" line. My request is about an 
earlier product made with rice, sold in a box, frozen, which included a 
small, foil pouch filled with seasonings. Can you help?

Thanks!,

David 

Hello David,

Sorry, I had no success finding a copycat recipe for Birds Eye "French Style Rice" or "French Rice," nor did I have any success finding a list of ingredients for the product.

There is no product listed on the Bird's Eye website called "French Rice" or "French Style Rice", so it must have been discontinued. I did find it listed in old newspaper ads.

Below are some "French Rice" recipes, but without knowing the ingredients of the Birds Eye product, I cannot say how close they might be.

Those little "seasoning packets" that are sometimes included with commercial products are quite problematic to copy. Precise lists of the packet ingredients are usually not available, and even with an ingredient list, they are difficult to duplicate because they often contain commercial flavorings that the home cook cannot easily obtain.

I note that Swanson is selling a product called "Flavor Boost". This is an envelope of spices and flavor enhancers to add to food for the purpose of enhancing the taste. I'm wondering if this is similar to those "seasoning packets" that come with many commercial products. The one that I saw was for chicken, but the ad appeared to show at least three kinds. Probably chicken, beef, and pork. Maybe they have one for vegetables?

Phaed

French Style Rice

1 cup uncooked rice
1 stick butter or margarine, melted
1 can French onion soup
1 (8 oz) can sliced water chestnuts, drained
1 1/4 cups water

Directions :
Combine rice, butter or margarine, soup, water chestnuts, and water.
Pour into lightly greased 2 quart baking dish.
Bake covered at 350° for 1 hour.
--------------------------------------------------
French Rice

1 (10 1/2 oz.) can French onion soup
1/2 c. butter, melted
1 (8 oz.) can water chestnuts
1 (4 1/2 oz.) jar sliced mushrooms
1 c. uncooked regular rice

Combine soup and butter. Mix well. Drain mushrooms and water chestnuts. Save 
liquid. Add water to make 1 1/3 cups.
Mix all together. Pour into 6x10x2 inch baking dish. Cover and bake at 350 
degrees for 1 hour. 6 servings.
----------------------------------
French Rice

1 1/2 c. UNCLE BEN'S® rice
1 can French onion soup
1 can beef bouillon soup
1/2 c. water

Mix all ingredients together in large baking dish. Bake at 400 degrees until 
all liquid is absorbed 
=======================================================
Subject: Birds Eye French Style Rice
From: David
Date: 7/7/2019, 7:03 PM
To: phaedrus@hungrybrowser.com

Hello Uncle Phaedrus,

I am following up on a request I made to you about seven years ago. I have since developed a recipe for the 
discontinued 1980s Birds Eye “French Style Rice” that nicely matches the original. I have not included water 
chestnuts because I can’t recall whether they were in the original or not, but the curious should add them 
at their own discretion. 

This was the original box. 

French Style Rice 

Birds Eye “International Rice Recipes” “French Style Rice” (rice, green beans, onions, wild rice and mushrooms 
in sauce) 1980-1983

Image.jpeg

The ingredients on the box were: 

Cooked Long Grain White Rice
French Style Green Beans
Cooked Wild Rice

Sauce: 

Water
Soybean Oil
Salt
Hydrolyzed Corn Gluten
Soy Protein
Wheat Gluten
Modified Corn Starch
Sugar
Autolyzed Yeast Extract
Dried Parsley
Dried Onion
Partially Hydrogenated Vegetable Oil (Soybean and Cottonseed)
Sodium Stearoyl Lactylate
Garlic Powder
Spice and Color
Xanthan Gum
Natural Flavor
Dried Garlic

Ingredients for my recreation are:

1 box Uncle Ben’s Quick Long Grain and Wild Rice
Slivered almonds (to taste, toasted in butter)
1 medium onion (minced)
1 jar sliced mushrooms
1 envelope Lipton’s Onion Soup mix
Sugar
Dried parsley (~1/2 tsp)
Garlic powder (1/4 tsp)
1-2 cloves fresh garlic (minced)
Accent to taste
Frozen French-cut green beans
3 Tbsp butter
Sliced water chestnuts (optional- to taste)

Instructions

Prepare the rice blend according to instructions, but do not add its seasoning. 
Sauté slivered almonds in butter. Sauté minced onions in butter. Add minced fresh 
garlic and sauté. Combine onions, garlic, rice blend, mushrooms, green beans, onion 
soup mix and a tiny bit of the rice mix seasoning. Add other ingredients. Stir to 
combine. Let rest for several minutes for flavors to blend.

Hope this helps!

David 

Gimbel's 1000 Island Dressing

-----Original Message----- 
From: Ken 
Sent: Tuesday, February 07, 2012 11:56 PM
To: phaedrus@hungrybrowser.com
Subject: Gimbels department store 1000 island Dressing

The most delicious salad dressing had hard boiled eggs and sweet pickles in 
it.  Can you help find it.  I used to go to Gimbels in Milwaukee, WI.

Sent from my iPad

Hello Ken,

Sorry, I had no success. There are numerous made-from-scratch thousand island dressing recipes on the web, but I did not find even a mention of Gimbal's dressing.

If you want to try another one with hard boiled eggs and sweet pickles, this looks like a good one:

Authentic Thousand Island Dressing

Phaed


Kon Tiki House Salad Dressing

From: Jackie 
Sent: Saturday, February 11, 2012 3:05 PM
To: phaedrus@hungrybrowser.com 
Subject: KonTiki salad dressing recipe

Dear Mr. Phaedrus,

Cool website.  Great info.  I stumbled on you by accident trying to find a recipe for my mother.

I grew up in Montreal in the 1970s and our Saturday family outing was to the Kon Tiki.  Mom loved the salad bar, 
the Bal Miki Special and the drink that came in the brown barrel glass! That was the only place where my brother and 
I were allowed to have something other than water with the meal.  What was the kid's drink called - the Surfer?  

You seem to have found a suitable alternative for the Bal Miki  Polynesian beef skewers - Thank You. 
 Now, if you could find the recipe for the Kon Tiki house dressing for the salad, 
 that would be the best present for Valentine's Day.  Or Mother's Day, if you need more time!

I'd love to be able to reproduce these nostalgic dishes for a special occasion and I thank you for help.

Jackie

Hello Jackie,

I had no success searching for this recipe. It may not be available at all.

The Kon Tiki in the Montreal Sheraton was one of a chain that were in Sheratons across the U.S. and Canada, so the recipes are probably quite similar from any of them. The chain was created by Stephen Crane, who also created the Luau restaurant. See:

Enter The Tiki

The cookbook “Campbell’s – Great Restaurants Cookbook, U.S.A.” has a few recipes in it from Kon Tiki, but I could not find a list of them, so I have no idea whether the house dressing is in there. Used copies of this cookbook are available at various book-seller sites.

Probably the best place to post a request for a recipe like this is on a Tiki message board such as this one:

Tiki Room

I will, of course, post this on my site in case a reader can help.

Phaed


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