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Milk Rice
4 ounces of rice 1 quart of milk Nutmeg or vanilla Sugar Wash the rice, and put it in a double pan. Boil the milk, and pour it over the rice. Let it cook for two hours, and then sweeten with sugar and flavor to taste. Milk rice is very liable to burn, so that it is safer to use a double pan. It takes longer to cook in this way, but it is much more satisfactory. Serve cold with jam. An attractive dish is made by molding the rice in small cups.
A plain stovetop rice pudding, cooked in a double boiler and served cold. The proportions are generous with milk, which is what gives the finished dish its creaminess.
- The hinge: the double panA "double pan" is a double boiler — a bowl or upper pan set over simmering water, never in direct contact with the burner. Milk and starch scorch readily on a direct flame, and once scorched the whole quart tastes of it. The two-hour time is a consequence of the gentle heat, not a mistake.
- Quantities4 ounces of rice is about 1/2 cup plus a tablespoon by volume; 1 quart of milk is 4 cups. Use short or medium grain rice (pudding rice, arborio, or plain short-grain white) for the starch that thickens the milk. Long-grain basmati will stay separate and thin.
- Sugar and flavoringNo amount is given. Start with 1/4 cup sugar for the quart and taste; 1 teaspoon vanilla extract, or a freshly grated 1/4 teaspoon of nutmeg, suits this volume. Sugar is added at the end here; as a general matter sugar added early slows the rice's absorption of liquid, though the recipe gives no reason for the order.
- Timing checkTwo hours over water is realistic but stir every 20 minutes or so, scraping the sides. Pull it when the grains are fully soft and the milk has thickened to a loose custard; it sets considerably firmer as it chills.
- MoldingFor the small cups, rinse them with cold water first or brush lightly with a neutral oil so the pudding turns out cleanly. Chill at least four hours, preferably overnight. A firmer mold wants slightly less milk, closer to 3 1/2 cups.
- YieldServes four to six as a cold dessert, or six small molded cups. Serve with jam as directed — a sharp fruit preserve such as raspberry, redcurrant or damson does more for it than a sweet one.
- StorageKeep covered and refrigerated, and eat within three days. Cooked milk and rice held at room temperature is a poor idea; cool it promptly before it goes in the refrigerator.
Milk-boiled rice is a long-established sweet dish in European cookery, and versions of rice cooked in milk — or, frequently in medieval kitchens, in almond milk — appear in manuscripts long before the baked, egg-thickened rice pudding familiar from Victorian nurseries. The molded version, turned out of small cups and served with preserve, dresses up cheap ingredients through shape and presentation; the same rice appears on grand menus as riz à l'impératrice once cream, candied fruit and gelatine are added to it.