Home › Creamed Rice › Creamed Rice
Creamed Rice
1070. Boil a large handful of rice in a pint of new milk till very thick and tender; when about half done, put in half the rind of a small lemon cut very small, and a little nutmeg or laurel leaf. Sweeten to the taste; put it in the moulds, and when quite cold turn it out, and pour over it some thick cream or custard, or place round it some jam or preserved fruits; if wanted for dinner, it should be prepared the previous day.
A moulded rice pudding of the plainest kind, set by the starch in the rice alone rather than by eggs or gelatine. It stands or falls on cooking the rice until it is genuinely thick, and on chilling it long enough to unmould cleanly.
- On the laurel leafVictorian cooks used cherry laurel (Prunus laurocerasus) leaves for an almond-like flavour; they contain cyanogenic compounds and should not be put in food. If you want that note, use a bay leaf, which is what "laurel" means in modern kitchen usage, or stay with the nutmeg.
- New milkFresh whole milk, not skimmed and not scalded. Ordinary full-fat milk is the equivalent; the pudding will be thin and chalky with semi-skimmed.
- The measurementsAn imperial pint is 20 fl oz, about 2½ US cups. A "large handful" of rice is roughly 4 oz, a generous half-cup; that ratio of about five parts milk to one part rice by volume is what gives a mixture stiff enough to mould.
- Rice to useShort-grain pudding rice or arborio, which release more starch and help the mould set. Long-grain or basmati release less starch and the pudding is likelier to slump when turned out.
- Heat and stirringVery low heat, and stir often once it begins to thicken; milk and rice catch and scorch readily at the bottom of the pan. Reckon 30 to 40 minutes to the point where a spoon leaves a channel.
- The lemon rindHalf the rind of a small lemon, pared thin and shredded very fine, goes in at the halfway mark so it softens into the rice rather than sitting in strips. Take no white pith.
- MouldingRinse the moulds with cold water and fill them while the rice is hot, pressing out air pockets. Chilling overnight, as the recipe advises for dinner service, firms it enough to turn out; a few seconds in a bowl of warm water loosens the mould.
- YieldAbout four small moulds or one 1-pint mould. Sweeten with 2 to 3 tablespoons of sugar for a pudding meant to be eaten with cream, more if it is to stand alone.