Leftover Long-Grain Rice, Carolina Style

In The Carolina Rice Cookbook, reproduced in facisimile in Karen Hess’s The Carolina Rice Kitchen, there’s a short recipe for reheating rice that tells us to “take any cold dinner rice and fry in butter until brown.” If you’re starting with an already flavored rice such as the Mexican rices or the pulaos in this chapter, then simply heating the rice briefly in oil or butter is one option.

But if the leftover rice you’re starting with is plain or minimally flavor