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Rice Conde
Boil together one pint each of milk and water; when boiling drop in one teacupful of well-washed rice and boil for twenty-five minutes, stirring it all the time. When cooked stir in one saltspoonful of salt, four ounces of sugar and a few drops of orange-flower water. Mix all well together for one minute, break in three whole eggs and stir again for two minutes. Arrange the rice neatly on a hot dish, keeping it high in the center, and decorate it with stewed peaches, two ounces of dried currants and one ounce of dried angelica cut in small, lozenge-shaped pieces.
A French rice dessert reduced to its bones. The one thing the text does not say is the thing that decides whether it works: once the eggs go in, the pan must stay over the gentlest heat and be stirred without pause, or you get sweet scrambled egg in rice.
- Teacupful of ricePeriod teacups were not a fixed measure; figures from about 4 to 8 fluid ounces appear in nineteenth-century books, so take this as roughly 1/2 to 3/4 cup of raw short- or medium-grain rice. Long-grain will not give the clinging, moldable texture this dish depends on.
- SaltspoonfulA quarter teaspoon. It is not optional; without it four ounces of sugar tastes flat.
- Four ounces of sugarBy weight, so a generous 1/2 cup granulated. Add it only after the rice is tender, as sugar added early slows the grains from softening.
- Twenty-five minutes, stirringKeep the heat low and use a heavy pan. A pint each of milk and water will foam and catch on a thin bottom, and constant stirring is what breaks down the surface starch into creaminess.
- The eggsThree whole eggs stirred into rice straight off the boil will set almost instantly. Work off the direct flame for a moment, add them one at a time while stirring hard, then return to low heat and keep stirring until the mixture thickens and reaches about 180F. Do not let it boil again.
- Orange-flower waterSold with baking extracts or in Middle Eastern groceries. Strength varies considerably between brands; start with 1/4 teaspoon and taste.
- Currants and angelica"Dried currants" means Zante currants, the small dried grape, not fresh red currants. Angelica is the candied stem, dyed green, once standard in confectioners' shops and now a specialty item; candied citron or a strip of candied lime peel stands in for the color and the lozenge shapes.
- Shaping and servingThe rice must be built into its dome while still hot and pliable. A wetted bowl or a plain charlotte mold, turned out onto the dish, gives a cleaner mound than piling by spoon. Serves four to six, and it is good cold as well as hot.
"A la Condé" is one of the older survivals in French classical cookery, generally traced to the kitchens of the Condé branch of the Bourbon family and attached over time to several unrelated preparations, sweet and savory alike. By the nineteenth century the dessert sense had settled: a sweetened, egg-bound rice built into a mound or ring and dressed with poached fruit, most often peaches, apricots or pears, with candied angelica for green and currants or cherries for contrast.