Red rice ? The South's classiest classic

Savannah has as many versions of it as it has good cooks. Red rice, the quintessential Southern favorite, has been around for nearly 300 years, a time-tested cultural and gastronomic legacy from the world's once most prosperous rice growing area.

Whether you've heard it called pillau, perlou or perlow, red rice pilaf appears in the earliest cookbooks from Charleston and Savannah. It was even referred to as mulatto rice in the 1930s "The Savannah Cookbook." The use of long grain rice, which at one time could have been exclusively Carolina Gold, is essential to the uniqueness of this dish in that a hearty long grain rice absorbs the fat and smoky flavor of the bacon and keeps the rice grains from sticking together too much.

The actual cooking of red rice, on top the stove or in the oven, seems to be the source of much of the debate around what makes a good red rice. A true Savannah Red Rice, as opposed to a New Orleans Jambalaya, or a perlow, or even an upcountry bog, is prepared on top of the stove, but finished in the oven where each grain of rice is able to absorb the liquid and fat but still retain its shape.

Red rice appears on every great Southern cook's table and is a specialty of Savannah's best caterers and the numerous buffets around town. Making a great red rice can be challenging and tricky. First, every red rice expert knows that you have got to start with bacon (sorry vegetarians). I have included a vegetarian version of this recipe, but it isn't the classic.

The next important ingredient is the quality of the tomato sauce. It should be rich, red tomato sauce or puree. Some of the new organic tomato purees are excellent in taste, color and texture. My favorite for red rice is Italian crushed tomatoes, which have a little bit more texture than a puree, and they make a good rich red color. I like to add a couple of teaspoons of mild red paprika to enhance the red, and even a pinch of turmeric, not enough to turn the rice orange, but just enough to make the red color pop.

Of course, no red rice should be started without what Southerners, thanks to New Orleans, call the Trinity mix - equal parts of chopped celery, bell pepper and onion.

Finally, it is important to cook your shrimp, and the tinier the better, in the bacon fat first, so they are unctuous and coated with fat before they get mixed in with the rice.

The true trick to getting perfect red rice every time is to remove the cover after 25 or 30 minutes of cooking, fluff the rice, and let it "dry out" in the oven for 10 more minutes before serving, ensuring it won't be too wet or sticky.

The accompanying recipes are all based on the classic Savannah Red Rice. The variations offer a few new ideas for one-dish suppers that are easy and perfect for entertaining year round. Get ready to become Savannah's next great red rice maker.