T.T.: Very Old-Fashioned Rice Pudding

Rice pudding is something that I had never in my life eaten until I had the MiL's. Hers is still the only recipe I have ever eaten, because I make it the way she did, using her recipe.

Her recipe, in turn, came from her father. He used to make it when the cows on their farm were in full milk, which, as anyone who has ever milked a cow can tell you, means A LOT of milk. That's what this recipe uses: A LOT of milk. 

Although we have no cow, I also make this recipe when I have too much milk. That happens when I have a gallon (or more) that is on the verge of going bad. Making a triple batch of this rice pudding uses more than half a gallon.

I was made aware somewhat recently that this is a rather unique recipe for rice pudding. It calls for a lot more milk than most, and that is because it cooks for so long in a low oven. Baked rice puddings--as opposed to stove top--appear to now be considered a British version of the pudding. 

The MiL told me her MiL made it the same way. It might just be such an old American recipe that it originally came from Britain and has been passed from generation to generation, mostly surviving in its original form on farms, which had the quantity of milk to make it at certain times of year.

So! The method for this is a long time in a low oven, with a lot of stirring. This means that you must be present and attending to it for some hours. It is not a strictly hands-off recipe. But the large quantity of milk that reduces in the oven, along with the stirring that keeps a skin from forming and distributes all those rice starches, will result in an unbelievably creamy pudding that has no actual cream in it.

It's best to make this when you have something else in the oven at the same time--like a brisket or stew--so that you can make your oven do double-duty. 

The recipe as written is for a single recipe. I triple it and bake it in my 10"x15" Pyrex casserole dish, which is almost completely full with that quantity of ingredients.

Very Old-Fashioned Rice Pudding

Ingredients

1 quart whole milk

1/4 cup short grain rice (I just use the cheap stuff we get from commodities)

1/4-1/3 cups sugar (I prefer the lesser amount, but you might like it sweeter)

pinch of salt

1/2 cup raisins

1 teaspoon vanilla

grated nutmeg

Method

Preheat your oven to 300 degrees and butter your casserole dish. You want a relatively wide and shallow one, so there's a large surface area. For a double recipe, use a 9"x13"casserole and, um, something smaller for a single recipe. (I've never made a single recipe, so I don't know what size would work.)

Pour the milk into the buttered casserole, then sprinkle the rice, sugar, and salt into the milk.

Bake uncovered for 1.5 hours (3.5 hours for a double or larger recipe), stirring every half hour.

After 1.5 hours, stir in the vanilla and raisins, and sprinkle the nutmeg on top, and bake for the remaining half hour.

Remove from oven and let cool. You can serve it warm, but I chill it until cold.

Notes

If you don't care for raisins, you can leave them out, but I would increase the sugar a bit. And, if you have a family disagreement about the desirability of raisins, you can do as I do and only sprinkle them into half of the pudding.

You want to remove the pudding when it still looks a bit liquidy. The rice and raisins will continue to absorb the liquid as it cools, so if you leave it in until all of the liquid is absorbed, the end result will be too dry and stodgy. It should be a bit saucy when it's cool. 

If you forget to stir it for awhile, it will form a skin on top that will then brown. You can just remove this and give it to your dogs or chickens, and then carry on with your stirring.

Or I suppose you could throw it away if you're lacking in livestock to eat it.

The finished product. 

Amazingly, my family will eat that entire giant quantity of rice pudding in one sitting. I hope you love it as much as they do.