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Cup Rice Puddings
926. Steep a teacupful of rice a rather less than a quart of milk, add four eggs beaten, two ounces of butter, a quarter of a pound of currants, sugar to the taste, grated lemon-peel, and nutmeg; a little cream is a great improvement. Bake in cups, and serve with wine sauce. 1 EVERTON PUDDING (SMALL.) 927. Take three eggs and their weight in sugar, pounded and sifted, the same weight of flour and butter, and half a lemon. Put altogether, excepting the eggs, and beat them twenty minutes. The eggs must also be well beaten, then added to the other ingredients, and the whole well beaten. Bake in cups half an hour in a cool oven.
A baked rice custard set in individual cups rather than a single dish. The recipe assumes the rice has been softened before the eggs go anywhere near it, which is the step that decides whether the puddings are creamy or gritty.
- The hinge: cook the rice firstThe hinge: soften the rice first -- however "steep" is read, the rice needs to be simmered in the milk until the grains are soft and the milk thickened before it goes into cups. Raw rice will not cook through in a cup of custard in the oven; it should be tender and cooled to lukewarm before the beaten eggs are stirred in, or they will scramble.
- Quantities in modern termsA teacupful is roughly 6 fl oz, so about 150 g of short-grain rice. "A rather less than a quart" of milk is about 1 3/4 pints (roughly 1 litre). Two ounces of butter is 55 g; a quarter pound of currants is 115 g. Sugar to taste is unspecified; 3 to 4 oz (85-115 g) suits this volume.
- OvenThe recipe gives no oven direction; a moderate oven of about 325F (160C) suits a baked custard. Setting the cups in a roasting tin of hot water keeps the edges from curdling before the centres set.
- TimingSmall cups need 30-40 minutes, until just set with a slight wobble at the centre. Baked until firm all the way through, an egg custard weeps.
- Rice choiceVictorian "rice" for puddings was a short round grain. Pudding rice or Arborio gives the starchy body intended; long-grain will stay separate and dry.
- Wine sauceUsually butter, sugar and wine -- sherry or madeira -- warmed together until smooth; some versions are enriched into a custard. It is poured over at table, not baked with the puddings.
- YieldEnough for 8 to 10 teacups or ramekins.