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Bread and Rice Pudding
961. Steep a quarter of a pound of rice in new milk till quite soft, and cover it over till cold; then soak about two ounces of white bread; drain it from the milk, and add it to the rice; beat it well with two or three eggs, a little sugar and nutmeg, and boil for an hour. Or, if you bake it, put a little butter or suet on the top.
A frugal Victorian nursery pudding that uses up stale bread alongside the rice. The instructions assume a cook who knows how to set a pudding basin in boiling water, and they leave the milk and sugar quantities to judgement.
- The hinge: soften the rice properly"cover it over till cold" implies the rice had been heated, so read "steep till quite soft" as gentle cooking rather than a cold soak: cover 1/4 lb (about 115 g) short-grain or pudding rice generously with milk (the recipe gives no quantity) and cook it slowly until the grains swell and collapse, then cover and let it go cold. Rice merely left standing in cold milk is likely to stay chalky at the centre.
- New milk"New milk" is fresh whole milk straight from the animal, unskimmed and with the cream still in it. Whole milk is the right substitute; skimmed or plant milks give a thin, watery set.
- White breadTwo ounces is about 55 g, or two thin slices of a plain white loaf with the crusts off. Household bread of the period is likely to have been drier than modern sliced bread, so use bread a day or two old and squeeze it out well after soaking.
- Unstated quantitiesNo amounts are given for sugar or nutmeg. For this size of pudding, 2 to 3 tablespoons of sugar and a quarter teaspoon of grated nutmeg are in keeping; the milk quantity is likewise left to the cook.
- "Boil for an hour"A boiled pudding: the mixture was either tied in a floured cloth and dropped into boiling water, or put in a buttered basin, filled no more than three-quarters full and covered tightly, and stood in a pan of water for an hour. A bare simmer is safer for the basin method, since water at a hard rolling boil can work its way under a loose cover.
- If you bake it insteadThe recipe gives no oven direction; a moderate oven, around 350F (180C), for 45 minutes to an hour, until set at the centre with a faint wobble, suits it. The butter or suet dotted on top bastes the surface as it melts and helps it brown.
- EggsEggs of the period were unstandardised and often smaller than a modern large egg; two large eggs are ample for this quantity and three will make it noticeably firm and custardy.
- YieldEnough for four modest servings. Serve warm, plain or with stewed fruit or a spoonful of jam.