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Rice Pudding, Boiled
for pudding for 6 persons.—1/4 lb. of rice, INGREDIENTS for pudding for 6 persons. lb. of rice, 1½ pint of new milk, 2 oz. of butter, 4 eggs, 1/2 saltspoonful of salt, 4 large tablespoonfuls of moist sugar, flavouring to taste. AVERAGE COST, 11d.
Stew the rice very gently in the above proportion of new milk, and, when it is tender, pour it into a basin; stir in the butter and let it stand to cool; then beat the eggs, add these to the rice with the sugar, salt and any flavouring that may be approved, such as nutmeg, powdered cinnamon, grated lemon-peel, essence of bitter almonds, or vanilla. When all is well stirred, put the pudding into a buttered basin, tie it down with a cloth, plunge it SEASONABLE for a winter pudding, when into boiling water, and boil for 1 hour. fresh fruits are not obtainable.
Rice Pudding, Baked. (Plain and Economical; a nice Pudding for Children.) -INGREDIENTS for pudding for 6 children. -1 teacupful of rice, 2 tablespoonfuls of moist sugar, 1 quart of milk, 1/2 oz. of butter or 2 small tablespoonfuls of chopped suet, 1/2 teaspoonful of grated nutmeg. AVERAGE COST, 6d.
Wash the rice, put it into a pie-dish with the sugar, pour in the milk, and stir these ingredients well together; then add the butter cut up into very small pieces, or, instead of this, the above proportion of finely-minced suet; grate a little nutmeg over the top, and bake the pudding in a moderate oven, from 1 to 2 hours. As the rice is not previously cooked, care must be taken that the pudding be very slowly TIME.-1 1/4 hour.
SEASONABLE at any time.
Rice Pudding, Boiled (with Dried or Fresh Fruit; a nice Dish for the Nursery). -INGREDIENTS for pudding for 6 children. lb. of rice, 1 pint of any kind of fresh fruit that may be preferred, or 1/2 lb. of raisins or currants. AVERAGE COST, 6d.
Wash the rice, tie it in a cloth, allowing room for it to swell, and put it into a saucepan of cold water; let it boil for an hour, then take it up, untie the cloth, stir in the fruit, and tie it up again tolerably tight, and put it into the water for the remainder of the time. Boil for another hour, or {rather longer, and serve with sweet sauce if made with dried fruit, and with plain sifted sugar if made with fresh fruit.
RICE PUDDING.
TIME.-1 hour to boil the rice without the fruit; 1 hour, or longer, afterwards.
SEASONABLE at any time.
Note. This pudding is very good made with apples; they should be pared, cored and cut into thin slices.
Rice Pudding, French; or,
A steamed suet-era pudding in a basin, cooked in boiling water rather than baked. The proportions are sound; the vessels and one flavouring need translating.
- The rice quantity is incompleteThe ingredient line for the boiled pudding gives "lb. of rice" with the fraction missing. For 1½ pints of milk and 4 eggs, a quarter-pound (about 4 oz / 115 g) of short-grain pudding rice is the workable amount; a full pound would give you a solid block.
- Basin and cloth"A buttered basin" is a pudding basin; with 1½ pints of milk plus rice and four eggs allow a 2-pint (about 1.1 litre) heatproof bowl. The cloth tied over the top is the seal; a double layer of buttered baking parchment and foil, tied under the rim with string, does the same job.
- Plunged into boiling waterThe basin goes into a deep pan of already-boiling water, not cold. Water should come two-thirds up the sides and be topped up from a kettle as it evaporates so it never drops below a steady simmer.
- New milk"New milk" is fresh whole milk, unskimmed and with the cream still in it. Whole milk is the equivalent; lower-fat milk will give a less rich, softer set.
- Moist sugarMoist sugar is soft light brown sugar, not white caster. Four large tablespoonfuls is roughly 3 oz / 85 g.
- Cool the rice before the eggsThe instruction to let the buttered rice stand and cool is the hinge. Beaten eggs stirred into hot rice will scramble in streaks and the set will be grainy rather than smooth.
- Bitter almond flavouringVictorian "essence of bitter almonds" was sometimes a genuine bitter-almond preparation carrying traces of hydrogen cyanide. Use modern almond extract, which is benzaldehyde-based and harmless; do not attempt any home preparation from bitter almonds or apricot kernels.
- Yield and servingSix servings, as stated. Turn the basin out onto a warm dish and serve with sweetened cream, a thin custard, or jam; it will sink slightly as it stands.
Boiled and steamed puddings dominated the English sweet course long before domestic ovens were reliable, and the pudding cloth and basin let a household with only a fire and a pot produce something substantial. Rice reached British kitchens as an import long before the colonial trade, and by Mrs Beeton's day was cheap enough to be a nursery staple — note the average cost of 11d. for six people, and the sibling versions here costed at 6d. The seasonal note is telling: this was recommended as a winter pudding "when fresh fruits are not obtainable," a reminder that a household cook planned the year around what the garden and the market could not supply, and that milk, eggs and a bag of rice were the reliable fallback.