It's getting better and better! I'm sharing these posts in response to Bramwell - the 1995 TV series that I'm currently watching. Why am I thirty years late? First of all, I'm not sure this period drama was aired in my country at the time and if it was, I somehow missed it. And second of all, I love old and retro and past and historic. I thought it was obvious by now. Why did I say it's getting better and better? In episode 7 of Season two, Eleanor refuses a dish of marrowbone jelly after donating her blood to a patient though marrowbone jelly was great invalid food. Instead, she eats cake that housemaid Katie brings to her room! Thankfully, rice pudding no. 3 is not as plain as the one in the previous post though I doubt Dr Bramwell would like it.
Recipe #3
"A good boiled rice pudding. Swell gradually, and boil until quite soft and thick, four ounces and a half of whole rice in a pint and a half of new milk; sweeten them with from three to four ounces of sugar, broken small and stir to them while they are still quite hot, the grated rind of half a large lemon, four or five bitter almonds, pounded to a paste, and four large well-whisked eggs; let the mixture cool, and then pour it into a thickly buttered basin, or mould, which should be quite full; tie a buttered paper and a floured cloth over it, and boil the pudding exactly an hour; let it stand for two or three minutes before it is turned out, and serve it with sweet sauce, fruit syrup, or a compôte of fresh fruit. An ounce and a half of candied orange-rind will improve it much, and a couple of ounces of butter may be added to enrich it, when the receipt without is considered too simple. It is excellent when made with milk highly flavoured with cocoa-nut (see Chapter XX). Whole rice, 4 1/2 ozs.; new milk (or cocoa-nut flavoured milk), 1 1/2 pint; sugar, 3 to 4 ozs.; salt, a few grains; bitter almonds, 4 to 6; rind of 1/2 lemon; eggs, 4: boiled, 1 hour." Elizabeth Acton, Modern Cookery, in all its branches (1845), p. 385
Coconut-flavored milk sounds exciting although I'm not sure it pairs well with lemon or candied orange or fruit syrup. There were detailed instructions on how to make it on page 428 of the book: you simmered about 50g of shredded coconut in a liter of fresh milk, optionally adding the milk of the nut at the end.
A GOOD BOILED RICE PUDDING
This is the richest version of Elizabeth Acton's pudding, excluding the coconut flavored milk.
I n g r e d i e n t s
130g Carolina rice
3 cups full milk
110g caster sugar
pinch of salt
a lemon rind
1tbsp almond extract
4 eggs
60g butter
M e t h o d
Gently cook the rice in the salted milk. Add the sugar and flavors and remove the pan from the heat. Whisk the eggs in a bowl. Pour in some of the liquid, whisk again, then empty this mixture into the pan. Stir in the butter and transfer to a pudding mould. Fill a large pot with hot water, place a rack at the bottom and the mould on top. Cook for an hour or until the pudding is set. Remove from the heat, wait a few minutes, and upturn on a serving dish. Serve the pudding topped with fruit sauce.
V a r i a t i o n
Halve the recipe and boil the pudding in ramekins that you will cover with aluminum foil and place on top of your rack, adjusting the boiling time.
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