Rice Pudding

When people think of pudding in New Orleans, most often bread pudding leaps to mind.  While it's true that bread pudding has been a Creole favorite for time immemorial, rice pudding was right up there on the top shelf.  Three things the Creole cook sought - 1.) no waste, 2.) economy and 3.) loads of flavor!  Here are two 19th century recipes for rice pudding - both from 1885 and both delicious!

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from Creole Cookery, 1885

Rice Pudding

4 tablespoons of soft, boiled rice,[1]  ¼ lb. of butter, 1 quart of milk, 8 eggs;[2] Scald the milk; add a few sticks of cinnamon, and while warm, stir  into it the rice, butter, and eggs, which must be first beaten;[3]  sweeten to the taste, and bake in a dish.[4]

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from La Cuisine Creole, 1885

Rice Meringue Pudding

Boil ½ cup of rice[5] in a quart of milk until it is thoroughly done. Sweeten to taste and let it cool.  Beat in the yolks of 4 eggs.  Flavor with lemon rind[6] or essence and nutmeg.[7]  Bake in a pudding dish.  When cool, pour over it the whites of your eggs beaten with a cup of white sifted sugar.[8]  Bake light brown.  Season to taste with lemon, rose or vanilla.

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[1] A tablespoon meaning a serving spoon -  about ¾ to 1 cup of rice

[2] Eggs were smaller then – 4 large eggs will do

[3] Beat the butter and eggs together first, stir it into the rice, then fold in the other ingredients.

[4] Butter a baking dish – I’ve made this in a square 9x9x2 inch pan – bake at 350° for 45 minutes or until a knife inserted in the middle comes out clean.

[5] Uncooked rice – you’re cooking it in the milk; also, a cup back then meant a teacup – about ¼ cup in today’s measure

[6] Lemon Zest

[7] Meaning vanilla extract and nutmeg

[8] about ½ cup powdered sugar, beaten into a stiff meringue.