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Rice Blancmange
Soak three bay-leaves or the thin rind of half a lemon in a quart of milk till it is pleasantly flavoured, or, if preferred, drop into the milk a few drops of almond or vanilla flavouring. Mix a quarter of a pound of ground rice smoothly with a portion of the milk, add the rest gradually, together with a slice of fresh butter and a little sugar, and put the whole into a saucepan. Stir it over the fire, and let it boil for about ten minutes, or until it leaves the sides of the pan; turn it into a damp mould, and let it stand in a cold place till it is set. Just before the blancmange is wanted, turn it upon a glass dish, ornament with bright-coloured jam, or place stewed fruit round it, and, if liked, serve a little custard with it. The appearance of this dish may be varied by putting it into five or six small cups instead of into one mould, placing a piece of candied fruit upon the top of each one when turned out, and pouring custard round the whole. Time, about ten minutes to boil the rice. Probable cost, 8d., exclusive of jam and custard. Sufficient for five or six persons. (See also BLANCMANGE, RICE.)
A moulded milk pudding thickened with rice flour rather than gelatine or cornflour. The one thing that decides success is cooking it long enough for the starch to set and stirring hard enough that it does not scorch.
- Quart of milkAn imperial quart is 40 fl oz, about 5 US cups. Whole milk gives the texture the recipe assumes; skimmed milk sets but tastes thin and chalky.
- Ground riceGround rice is rice flour, sold coarser than the very fine flour used in Asian baking; either works. A quarter pound is 4 oz, roughly ¾ cup by volume.
- Sugar and butterThe recipe leaves both unmeasured. About 3 tablespoons of sugar suits this quantity, more if the blancmange is served without jam; a "slice" of butter might be taken as a tablespoon or so, and does as much for gloss as for richness.
- Bay leaves in milkThree fresh or dried bay leaves infused in warm milk give a faintly almond-vanilla note that was a standard Victorian sweet flavouring. Heat the milk, let it stand off the fire 15–20 minutes, then strain before mixing.
- Almond flavouringNineteenth-century almond essence was often made from bitter almonds. Use modern almond extract, and sparingly — a few drops in a quart is genuinely all that is wanted.
- The ten minutesKeep it at a bare boil and stir constantly with a flat-ended spoon, scraping the base and corners. Rice flour catches easily, and "until it leaves the sides of the pan" is the real test rather than the clock.
- Damp mouldRinse the mould with cold water and do not dry it; the film of water is what lets the set pudding slide out. Metal moulds release more reliably than ceramic.
- Setting time"A cold place" meant a larder; in a refrigerator allow several hours, and longer for a large mould, less for small cups. The recipe's only test is that it should be set before turning out.
- YieldFive or six servings as the original states, or five to six individual moulds if you use cups.
Blancmange began as a medieval dish of pounded almonds, milk and shredded capon, thickened with rice — savoury-sweet, the name meaning simply "white food." By the time Cassell's was compiled the meat had long gone and the word covered any white moulded pudding, set variously with isinglass, gelatine, cornflour, arrowroot or, as here, ground rice. This rice version was among the cheaper ones: the note of eightpence for a dish serving five or six is in keeping with a book that priced every recipe, and it needed no separate setting agent. Flavouring the milk by infusing leaves or rind, rather than using bottled essence, is the older practice, and the recipe still offers it first.