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RICE BORDER (a Danish recipe)
Scald one pound of rice, boil it in two pints of milk till it becomes a stiff cake. While still warm stir in a quarter of a pound of butter, four eggs, salt, and a little grated nutmeg. Put it into the oven to bake, setting the dish in sand to prevent cracking. This border may be used round various dishes. It is frequently served with fish stewed, especially lobsters stewed with cauliflower, and has a very pretty effect. A little of the lobster-butter should be mixed with the rice to give it a fine red colour.
A savoury baked rice ring, moulded and turned out to hold a stew in its centre. The instructions assume a border mould and a Victorian range, and give neither temperature nor time.
- The hinge: cook the rice down to a pasteA pound of rice in two pints of milk sounds dry, but the point is a stiff, sticky mass that will hold a moulded shape once the eggs set. Stir often over low heat and keep going past the point where the grains look done, until the mixture pulls away from the pan in a single mass.
- Rice to useA short or medium grain rice, or pudding rice, gives the starch needed to bind. Long-grain basmati or parboiled rice will stay separate and the border will collapse when unmoulded.
- Scalding the riceProbably a brief blanch in boiling water, or boiling water poured over rinsed rice, to clean it and soften the grain. It is not essential with modern packaged rice, though a rinse still helps.
- Oven temperatureNone is given. Treat it as a moderate oven, 325-350F (165-175C), for 35-45 minutes, until set and just coloured at the edges. The mixture is already cooked; the bake is only to firm the eggs.
- The dish set in sandA tray of sand acted as a heat buffer, in the same way as a water bath, so the outside would not scorch and crack before the centre set. A roasting tin of hot water works better and is easier to clean up.
- The mouldA ring mould, savarin tin or plain cake tin with a greased tumbler in the middle. Butter it well and line the base; let the border stand five to ten minutes before turning out, or it will tear.
- Lobster butterButter pounded with lobster shells and coral, then melted, strained and chilled. It was a familiar preparation in well-equipped Victorian kitchens and gave the red colour the recipe asks for. If you are not making it from the shells of the lobster in the stew, leave it out rather than substituting paprika, which changes the flavour.
- Nutmeg and saltSeason the rice more assertively than seems right while it is warm. Once cold and set, a starchy moulded dish reads bland, and it is carrying a sauced filling.
- YieldA pound of rice is a great deal. Expect to serve ten to twelve; halve everything for a household of four.
Moulded border dishes of this kind gave the kitchen a way to present a stew or ragout as an architectural centrepiece rather than a bowlful. The recipe is marked as Danish, and rice cooked slowly in milk to a stiff paste is a foundation of Scandinavian rice cookery - the same technique underlies risengrod and the Christmas risalamande - though here it is turned to savoury use. Lobster butter, made by pounding the shells and coral with butter, was a familiar Victorian way to extract both colour and flavour from parts that would otherwise be thrown out. Setting the dish in sand rather than water is a reminder of how uneven coal-range ovens were, and how much of period technique is really heat management.