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Milk Rice
A wholesome dish, suitable for children. When milk is scarce, the rice is first boiled tender in water, drained from it, and simmered until quite done in milk, but it is best boiled wholly in milk. A quarter of a pound of rice will thicken a quart of milk. Simmer gently with cinnamon or lemon-peel, and add, if liked, a small quantity of very finely-shredded suet. The sugar should not be put in while simmering, but when about to be served sweeten to taste. Milk rice is very liable to burn, therefore stir often. Time, about an hour to simmer. Probable cost, rice, 3d. per pound.
A stovetop rice pudding of the plainest sort, from the era when it was nursery food rather than dessert. Two things decide whether it works: constant attention to the bottom of the pan, and holding back the sugar.
- The quantitiesA quarter pound of rice is about 115 g, roughly two-thirds of a cup; an imperial quart is 40 fl oz, near enough 1.1 litres. The book does not specify a variety; a short-grain pudding rice rather than long-grain will give the creamier result.
- Sugar last, and whyThis is the hinge. Sugar added early slows the swelling of the starch granules, so the grains stay firm long after they should be tender, and it markedly increases scorching on the pan base. Sweeten off the heat at the end, as written.
- BurningMilk solids settle and catch. Use the heaviest saucepan you own over the lowest workable heat, stir right into the corners of the pan with a flat-ended spoon, and never let it come to a rolling boil. A double boiler removes the problem entirely at the cost of another half hour.
- TimingAn hour is realistic for a gentle simmer with this ratio. Start checking at 40 minutes; the rice should be soft and the mixture loose, since it thickens considerably as it cools.
- Cinnamon and lemon-peelUse a whole stick of cinnamon or pared strips of zest with no white pith, and fish them out before serving. Ground cinnamon stirred in will make the pudding gritty and grey.
- The suetShredded beef suet was a cheap enrichment, and may have served to put back richness lost from skimmed milk. Packet suet still works; a tablespoon or two is enough. Butter or a splash of cream gives a cleaner flavour to modern palates.
- Boiled in water firstThe water-then-milk method described for when "milk is scarce" produces a thinner, less creamy result, because the starch that would have thickened the milk goes down the drain with the cooking water. Use it only if you are short of milk.
- YieldNot stated in the original. This makes four to six servings, served warm in bowls.
- The priceThreepence a pound is pre-decimal currency, and marks rice as an inexpensive staple in late-Victorian Britain.
Rice boiled in milk is one of the oldest sweet dishes in the European repertoire, and by the time this book was compiled it had settled firmly into the English nursery and the invalid's tray. The note about milk being scarce is the telling detail: in urban households of the period fresh milk was expensive, of erratic quality, and often skimmed before sale, so the compiler offers a water-first method and a spoonful of suet to put back some of the richness. Rice, imported in quantity, was among the cheaper starches available, and milk rice appears frequently in charitable cookery and invalid-diet writing of the period. The insistence on adding sugar only at the end is sound practice that later kitchen science bore out.