Recently I had the pleasure of joining the fine folks at Riceland, the world’s largest miller of rice, for the World Championship Duck Calling Contest in Stuttgart, AR.  In addition to being introduced to the art of duck calling including a lesson from former champion Pat Peacock, I was able to try numerous innovative rice based dishes prepared by cookbook author Georgia Pellegrini. 

While there, the Riceland team and I discussed the numerous ways in which rice can and could be incorporated into barbecue and grilling, including an idea I had for cold smoking uncooked rice.

Since rice is great at absorbing flavors I was certain that adding an element of smoke would be a problem so upon returning home I decided to give it a try.  The result?  Lightly smoked rice grains which when added to various dishes.  Here’s the “how to”:

SMOKED RICE

Ingredients

1lb. uncooked medium grain rice

Instructions

Heat 2-3 charcoal briquets.  Place on one end of the grill’s bottom grate.  Add 2 small chunks of your favorite smoking wood.  Place a single layer of uncooked rice in a cake pan or baking dish. 

Once the wood begins to smoke, place the rice filled dish on the main cooking grate as far away from the charcoal and wood as possible.  Cover the grill and allow the rice to smoke for 1 hour for a mild smoke flavor.  Remove rice from the grill and store in an airtight container until ready to use.