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Orange Meringue
4 ounces rice 2 ounces sugar 1 quart milk Any flavoring desired Boil the rice in the milk for four hours until all the milk is absorbed. Pour into a basin, and let it get cold, and turn out in a glass dish. Pour over a compote of oranges, and put whipped cream on top.
This is a moulded rice pudding under orange compote, despite the name; there is no meringue anywhere in it. The instructions assume a cook who knows how a milk pudding behaves, so a few things need filling in.
- Four hours means gentle heat, not a boilRice and milk held at a true boil for four hours on a direct flame will scorch long before the milk is absorbed. Use a double boiler, or bake it covered in a 300F oven, stirring occasionally; 2 to 2 1/2 hours is usually enough for the grains to collapse into the milk.
- Weights to volumes4 ounces of rice is a generous 1/2 cup; 2 ounces of sugar is 1/4 cup. A quart of milk is 4 cups. Whole milk gives the body the mould needs; skim gives a weaker, looser set.
- Choice of riceShort or round-grain pudding rice breaks down and thickens, and Arborio or a short-grain white rice behaves the same way; long-grain tends to stay separate and will not hold a shape as well.
- "Any flavoring desired"Likely a strip of lemon or orange zest, a vanilla pod, a piece of cinnamon or a spoonful of orange-flower water, added to the milk at the start and removed before moulding.
- Turning it outRinse the basin with cold water before filling so the pudding releases. It needs at least four hours cold, preferably overnight, to firm enough to unmould; dip the basin briefly in hot water to loosen.
- The compoteNo method is given. Peel and segment 4 to 6 oranges, removing all pith and membrane, and macerate them with a little sugar and their juice for an hour; a thin syrup boiled with zest and cooled is closer to what a compote meant then.
- YieldNo yield is stated; the quantities will serve roughly four to six. It is best assembled shortly before serving, since the compote juices soak the rice quickly.
Boiled and baked rice puddings ran through English cookery from the eighteenth century onward, and by the turn of the twentieth century the moulded version — cooked down until stiff, chilled in a basin and turned out to be dressed with fruit — was familiar nursery and supper-table fare. Rice, milk and sugar were cheap and filling. The title is a puzzle, since the recipe finishes with whipped cream rather than a beaten and browned meringue.