Chef Hari Cameron in action
Jul 25, 2024
REHOBOTH BEACH, DE – Over the weekend, USA Rice and James Beard-nominated Chef Hari Cameron hosted American Grown Rice & Global Rice Dishes, a rice cooking class, at the Chef’s Table event space in this east coast resort town. Attendees heard about the history and significance of U.S.-grown rice while sampling different rice types and dishes and learning how to elevate their own rice cooking abilities.
The three-hour class kicked off with an overview on U.S.-grown rice including Chef Hari’s firsthand experience in Mississippi rice country through the USA Rice Farm & Mill tour, followed by an introduction to USA Rice from Cameron Jacobs, the organization’s senior director of domestic promotion. Next the participants were walked through various rice cooking techniques and sampled U.S.-grown brown long grain, sprouted, purple, and jasmine rice while discussing the different characteristics of the cooked grains.
Chef Hari then started cooking, providing a step-by-step tutorial on creating the rice recipes of Thai-style Maryland Crab Fried Rice, Salmon Onigiri, and Jollof Rice. The class capped off with a saké sampling courtesy of Origami Saké of Hot Spring, Arkansas, in which attendees were able to taste both filtered and unfiltered saké and discuss the differences in aroma and taste.
Each participant left equipped with USA Rice prize packs that included all-encompassing information on U.S. rice plus print-outs of all the recipes covered in the class as well as recipes for Mexican Green Rice and Horchata to try at home.
“Chef Hari is a great teacher who has had a very interesting path to where he is today,” said Michael Klein, cohost of The Rice Stuff podcast who attended the class and hung around to interview Hari for an upcoming episode. “He is passionate about education, cooking, and rice, and while he is classically trained and can go toe-to-toe with the most elite chefs, he brings it all back down to earth for an accessible experience.”
Jacobs and Chef Hari fielded questions from the attendees throughout from organic growing practices and export markets to cooking tips and knife skills.