Carolina Gold Rice (Lowcountry Boil-and-Dry)
Rice · Side Dish · Southern · Vegetarian
The heirloom Lowcountry rice cooked the old way: boiled in plenty of salted water like pasta, drained, then dried and buttered on a sheet pan in a low oven so every grain stays separate.
Untested: not yet made in this kitchen. It is here for the Rice section’s regional pages and is adapted from the source named in the Notes.
Ingredients
- 6 cups spring or filtered water
- 1 tablespoon fine sea salt, plus more to taste
- 7 oz (1 cup) Carolina Gold rice
- 2 to 3 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
- ½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
Directions
Key ingredients
- Prepare. Heat the oven to 300 °F with a rack in the middle. Line a rimmed baking sheet with parchment.
- Boil. In a heavy 3½-quart saucepan, bring the water and 1 tablespoon salt to a boil. Add the rice, stir once, and when the water returns to a boil, reduce the heat to low. Simmer gently, uncovered, stirring occasionally, until just tender with no hard starch at the centre, about 15 minutes.
- Drain. Drain in a fine-holed colander, rinse well with cool water, and shake off the excess.
- Dry. Spread the rice evenly on the baking sheet and dry it in the oven about 5 minutes, turning the grains gently with a spatula from time to time.
- Butter. Dot with the butter and sprinkle with the pepper and salt to taste. Return to the oven about 5 minutes more, turning occasionally, until the butter melts and the rice is hot. Serve at once.
Notes
Source Adapted from Anson Mills, “Classic Separate-Grain Carolina Gold Rice” (read on the live page, 2026-09-30).
Which rice Use heirloom Carolina Gold (Anson Mills and others). The supermarket Carolina® brand sells an unrelated parboiled rice under a similar name. Carolina Gold is Asian rice (Oryza sativa), not African rice.
Why it works Boiling in excess water and draining is the pasta method, not absorption; the oven drives off the surface moisture, which is what keeps the grains separate.
The Rice section’s West Africa and the Carolinas page (/rice/west-africa-and-the-carolinas/) covers the history and technique behind this dish.
The photo The photograph shows a restaurant bowl of rice its photographer identified as Carolina Gold, dressed with preserved lemon and benne, not this plain boil-and-dry method.