No. 3578

Rice with Maraschino

Riz an Marasquin

Boil half a pound of rice in milk; when dry and soft sweeten it and two minutes after remove and put away to cool. Dilute it with a few spoonfuls of vanilla syrup (No. 3165) and three tablespoonfuls of maraschino and keep it on one side. Freeze a dome mold in pounded ice and salt for a quarter of an hour before opening it; when cold range the ice inside of it in layers, bestrewing each one with candied fruits cut in large dice. After the mold is full first close the opening with a round piece of paper larger than itself, then with its own cover, closing the joints with butter so that the salted water cannot penetrate inside; cover also with salted ice and one hour later wash the mold quickly in warm water, dry and invert the rice on a cold dish.

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For the Modern Kitchen

A molded frozen rice pudding from Ranhofer's ices chapter — closer to a bombe than to an ice cream, since it is packed and frozen in a mold rather than churned. Two things decide whether it works: the rice must be cooked soft enough to stay tender when frozen, and the mold must be sealed against the brine.

The hinge: cook the rice past the point you would for puddingStarch firms up hard at freezing temperatures, and any grain left with a chalky center will read as gritty on the tongue. Simmer the rice in milk until the grains are collapsing and the mixture is thick, not al dente.
Half a pound of riceAbout 1 generous cup of raw rice, which will need roughly 4 cups of milk to cook down. A round or medium-grain pudding rice suits the dish, though Ranhofer does not specify the variety.
Vanilla syrup (No. 3165)A sugar syrup flavoured with vanilla; the book's own numbered entry gives the proportions. A few spoonfuls means the mixture should loosen to a thick, spoonable batter, not a pourable one.
MaraschinoThe original is the clear Dalmatian cherry liqueur (Luxardo and Maraska are the surviving makers), not the sweet red syrup from a jar of cocktail cherries. Three tablespoons is a modest amount; much more alcohol would make the mixture harder to freeze firm.
Freezing in ice and saltThe mold is buried in crushed ice mixed with rock salt, roughly three parts ice to one part salt by volume, which drives the brine well below 32F. A domestic freezer at 0F does the same job with no brine and no leaking; pack the mold, cover it tightly, and give it four hours or more rather than one.
Sealing the joints with butterThis is the period's answer to a watertight seal — salted meltwater tastes vile and ruins the dish. Softened butter smeared along the rim under the lid works, but if you are freezing in a modern freezer a double wrap of plastic film under the cover is simpler.
Candied fruitCut in large dice so it reads as distinct fruit against the rice. Soaking the pieces in a spoonful of the maraschino for an hour first keeps them from freezing to little stones.
UnmoldingA quick dip in warm water, a few seconds only, then dry the outside and invert onto a chilled plate. Longer and the outer layer slumps.
YieldA quart to a quart and a half of mixture — eight to ten servings at the small portions this course expects.

A Little History

Charles Ranhofer, chef at Delmonico's for over thirty years, published The Epicurean in 1894 as a complete record of the restaurant's kitchen, and its ices chapter runs to hundreds of numbered entries because frozen desserts were the reliable finale of an American formal dinner. Riz au marasquin belongs to a family of French molded ices built on rice or other cooked starches rather than custard — a bombe in construction, a rice pudding in substance. Maraschino, distilled from the marasca cherry around Zadar on the Dalmatian coast, was the fashionable dessert liqueur of the nineteenth century and turns up throughout the book in syrups, sherbets and punches; the modern American association of the word with a dyed cocktail cherry came later, after cherries preserved in the liqueur were replaced by cheaper imitations. The instruction to seal the mold's joints with butter is a reminder of what freezing meant before mechanical refrigeration: everything was done in a wooden pail of ice and rock salt, and the constant threat was brine seeping past the lid.