The
immigration officer at Ellis Island, misunderstanding his Italian name, wrote
"Charlie" on the immigration papers, so Domenico used the name
Charlie for rest of his life. Moving from New York to Boston, he worked as a
barber for three years until he could read and write English. In 1895, Charlie
moved to California, where he heard the streets were paved with gold. There he
started a fresh produce store. Over a ten-year period his business thrived and
he added three more stores.
In
the tradition of family arrangements, Charlie's closest friend gave him a
portrait of Maria Ferrigno from Salerno,
Italy. Charlie sent for Maria, and after a brief courtship, they married and
later produced six children. Maria's family sold their pasta factory in Italy
to join the family in California. In 1912, Maria persuaded Charlie to set up a
pasta factory, Gragnano Products, Inc., in the Mission district in San Francisco.
The successful business sold 25 and 50-pound boxes of pasta to Italian stores
and restaurants in the area. Four of Charlie's sons, Paskey, Vince, Tom and Anthony, worked
with him to build the pasta business.
In
1934, the oldest son, Paskey, proposed
a new name for the company based on a newspaper ad for "Golden Grain"
smoking Tobacco. The family agreed that Golden Grain was a good name for
macaroni and the name "Golden Grain Macaroni Company" was adopted.
A
neighbor's Armenian style rice pilaf recipe inspired the original idea for Rice-A-Roni, a
mixture of rice and macaroni. Tom's wife Lois served the dish at a family
dinner, and it became a favorite of the DeDomenico families. In 1958, Vince
mixed a dry chicken soup mix, made at the plant, with rice and vermicelli to
create the San Francisco treat which he named Rice-A-Roni. The unique
preparation of the dish, and its wonderful flavor and convenience, made the
dish one of America's favorite products. The Rice-A-Roni jingle, The San
Francisco Treat® slogan, "Saute and Simmer" and scenic San
Francisco became familiar to every household in America in the 60's as the
product was introduced through television advertising.
A
trip to Italy in 1964 inspired Vince to develop Noodle Roni
Parmesano based on the classic "Noodles Alfredo" dish
served to him at Alfredo's restaurant in Rome. With the growing popularity of
pasta, the line has expanded with new shapes and sauces and has been renamed to
Pasta Roni to better describe its diverse shapes.
The
Quaker Oats Company purchased the Golden Grain Company from the DeDomenico
family in 1986.
Most
of the flavor comes from the rice a roni. Easy and tasty.
Rice A Roni Chicken Dinner
Copyright 2012, Christine's Pantry. All rights reserved.
Ingredients:
1
(5.9 oz.) box rice a roni chicken and garlic
1
(12.5 oz.) can chicken, drained
1/2
cup celery, chopped
1/2
cup onions, chopped
2
1/2 cups water
4
tablespoons butter
salt
and pepper, to taste
Directions:
Cook
rice a roni according to package directions.
Meanwhile,
in skillet, melt butter over medium low heat, add celery, onions, salt and
pepper, cook until tender. Stir in chicken, until heated through. Remove from
heat, stir in cooked rice a roni. Enjoy!
I remember when my mother first made rice a roni for us... brings back great childhood memories. :)
ReplyDeleteA very nice peice of information there. I think that rice a roni is one of the best things to come from Italy, that and Ice Cream
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