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RICE (a la Milanaise)
Boil half a pound of rice as for curry, and dry it. Fry in hot fat over a slow fire till it begins to colour, and guard very carefully against its burning. Mix with it as much grated Parmesan as will flavour it thoroughly, and add cold cooked fowl, fish, game, or shell-fish, torn into shreds with two forks. Season with pepper and salt, and serve hot. Rice a la Milanaise is sometimes fried in fat till it is lightly coloured, then simmered until tender in as much broth as will cover it, flavoured with Parmesan, and served instead of soup.
Two dishes in one entry: a fried rice made from cold leftovers, and a rough approximation of risotto. Both are simple, but the Victorian shorthand needs unpacking.
- Half a pound of riceThat is about 225 g, or a generous cup of raw long-grain rice, giving roughly 3 cups cooked. Enough for four as a side dish or two or three as a supper with the meat added.
- "Boil as for curry"In Victorian kitchens rice for curry was generally boiled in plenty of salted water, drained hard, and then dried until every grain was separate. That drying step is the hinge of the first method: damp rice steams and clumps in the pan instead of colouring.
- The fatThe recipe specifies only "hot fat"; butter, clarified dripping or lard would all fit. Butter gives the best flavour with Parmesan but will brown before the rice does over the specified slow fire; clarified butter or a butter-and-oil mix is more forgiving.
- "Slow fire" and the burning warningMedium-low heat, and stir often. Dry rice grains scorch in seconds once they take colour, and burnt rice will taint the whole pan. Pull it off at pale gold.
- Parmesan "as will flavour it thoroughly"About 2 to 3 oz (60-85 g) finely grated for this quantity. Add it off the heat so it coats the grains rather than welding into strings on the pan bottom.
- The cold cooked meatFowl, game, fish or shellfish already cooked and chilled. Shredding with two forks keeps the fibres long. Warm it through with the rice only briefly; reheated fish and shellfish toughen fast, and the dish is meant to be served hot rather than cooked twice.
- The second methodThis is risotto technique in outline: fry the raw rice in fat until lightly coloured, then simmer in broth barely to cover until tender. A short-grain rice such as arborio or carnaroli suits it, and it will take about 18 minutes; note that the recipe adds the broth all at once rather than in stages. Served "instead of soup" means it takes the soup course, so keep it loose enough to eat with a spoon.
The entry shows a London kitchen absorbing an Italian dish at second hand. Risotto alla milanese as made in Milan is defined by saffron, which turns it yellow and which no version here mentions; what survives the journey is the frying of the rice in fat and the Parmesan. The first method is not risotto at all but a rechauffe, a staple of Victorian household cookery, in which yesterday's cold fowl or fish was made presentable again rather than thrown out. That the second version is offered "instead of soup" reflects the structure of the period's table, where a substantial rice dish could stand in for the opening course; the Italian practice of serving risotto as a first course, before the meat, arrives at much the same place by a different route.