The obvious thing, if this matters to you, is to test the recipe both ways.
I can see either one in a 1951 book. General Foods test kitchen could have
wanted the limited garlic effect (although four cloves seems like a lot if
you are going to remove them anyway) and made an editing error, or could
have wanted clove cloves for a quasi-Greek effect.

The precedents go back hundreds of years, as many early recipes for tomatoes
are called "Spanish." The dish goes back farther, perhaps, as "red rice" in
the Carolinas. So the whole question is kind of like taking a 1948 Fannie
Farmer recipe for baked beans and asking what are the precedents?

Obviously this recipe has personal meaning for you, so the taste test is
crucial.


--
-Mark H. Zanger
author, The American History Cookbook, The American Ethnic Cookbook for
Students
www.ethnicook.com
www.historycook.com


"Dora Smith" wrote in message
...
In the following recipe, I am learning that the meaning of the word clove
is not clear. Does it refer to cloves, or to cloves of garlic?

The recipe is that for Spanish-rice Skillet, on p 174 of the current
loose-leaf edition of the 1953 Better Homes and GArdens New Cook Book.

Recipe calls for 4 whole cloves, then says to remove them after cookign
along with the bay leaf.

4 slices bacon
1 cup chopped onion
1/4 coup chopped green pepper
2 10 1/2 or 11 ounce cans condensed tomato soup
1/2 cup rice
1/2 cup water
4 whole cloves
1 bay leaf
1/2 tsp salt

Cut bacon in small pieces; fry until crisp in heavy skillet; remove bacon.

Cook onion and green pepper in bacon fat until golden. Add remaining
ingredients; cover tightly and cook slowly 50 minutes. Stir occasionally.

Remove cloves and bay leaf; sprinkle crisp bacon over top. Makes 5 to 6
servings.

Apparently some older recipes actually tell you to put in a clove of
garlic, whole, and remove after cooking, and noone has ever heard of
cloves in spanish rice.



--
Yours,
Dora Smith
Austin, TX