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Plums in Ambush
Boil rice in milk until tender and quite dry; sweeten it to taste with powdered sugar. Pour it into a border mold to set; if a border mold is not at hand, take one of the ordinary kind of a plain pattern; set a jam pot nearly filled with water in the center, then pour the rice into the mold and set away to get cold.
When ready to serve, remove the jar, turn the rice out carefully (it should form a compact wall), and fill the hollow with rich stewed plums. Pour a little of the syrup over the rice, and mask the plums with whipped cream.
A rice-ring mold with stewed plums hidden in the middle — the "ambush" is the fruit you cannot see until the cream is disturbed. The original assumes you know how to cook rice pudding on the stovetop and gives no quantities, so the proportions are yours to set.
- Proportions to start fromFor a ring that will hold its shape, use about 1 cup short-grain rice to 4 cups whole milk, simmered gently until the grains are swollen and the pan is nearly dry, roughly 30–40 minutes. Long-grain or basmati releases less starch and is less likely to set into a "compact wall."
- The hinge: cook it drier than you want to eat itThe rice must be stiff enough to unmold. If it is still loose and creamy it will slump the moment the jam pot comes out. It firms further as it chills, but a wet mixture never recovers.
- Powdered sugarIn this period that usually means finely ground granulated sugar, not modern confectioners' sugar with its cornstarch. Ordinary granulated sugar stirred in while the rice is hot is the correct substitute; about 1/3 cup is a starting point.
- Improvising the ringThe jam pot filled with water is a weight to keep it from floating. A straight-sided glass or small tin inside a larger bowl does the same job; oil both lightly and press a disc of parchment where the rice meets the outer wall if you want a clean turn-out.
- Chilling time"Set away to get cold" means at least 4 hours and preferably overnight in the refrigerator. A cold ring releases cleanly; a barely cool one tears.
- Stewed plumsHalve and pit about 1½ lb plums, simmer with sugar to taste and a splash of water until just collapsing, 10–15 minutes. Reduce the syrup separately if it is thin — poured over the rice while watery it will make the wall soggy.
- Masking"Mask" means cover completely, not garnish. Softly whipped, lightly sweetened cream spooned over the fruit so none shows is the intended effect.
- YieldA ring of this size serves 6 to 8. It is best eaten the day it is turned out; the rice stiffens and dries by the second day.
Molded rice rings filled with fruit appear in late-Victorian and Edwardian cold-dessert chapters, when the border mold — a ring-shaped tin — was one of the moulds a well-stocked kitchen might own, though this recipe assumes the reader may not have one. Classical cookery includes a bordure de riz built as an edible wall around a compote. Plums were cheap and abundant in late summer, and their syrup thick enough to hold its own against sweetened rice.