[Sca-cooks] a boiled pudding question

[Stefan li Rous]

Margaret FitzWilliam asked:
<<< So I am working on the Ryce Pudding recipe from John Murrell's A  
new booke
of Cookerie and I have a boiled pudding question:

A Ryce Pudding.>>>

<<< I don't at the moment have sausage casings. Can I substitute a  
cloth or a
mold instead? >>>

This same question has come up before and the general consensus seemed  
to be, yes.

rice-pudding-msg  (50K)  5/13/06    Period rice puddings, both savory  
and sweet.
http://www.florilegium.org/files/FOOD-SWEETS/rice-pudding-msg.html

I cooked rice pudding for a family gathering this last Sunday, using  
Bear's redaction of a Gervase Markham's 1615 recipe. I had ALOT of  
trouble with the rice sticking to the pot. Since the rice and milk  
were supposed to cook covered, I assumed you were only supposed to  
stir it occasionally. Before I knew it all the milk had been absorbed  
and the rice had started to stick and burn. I had actually used more  
milk than originally called for because it didn't quite look like  
enough and I figured I'd just pour off any excess at the end. I was  
using basanti rice and perhaps that absorbs more liquid.

I used the trick suggested on this list of not trying to pull off the  
rice and brown bits, but to pour off what I could into a new pot and  
get the loose parts I could without pulling off the browned bits.  
Didn't quite succeed or went to far. Spooned off the floating brown  
bits, poured in more milk and started again. And I ducked away for a  
few minutes, but again came back to a bunch of rice stuck to the pot.  
Since I figured it was pretty well done now, I poured the loose rice  
into a third clean pot, added the cream and went on from there.

I also did use brown sugar Splenda instead of sugar, since I wanted to  
be able to eat some of it.

It was well received and I came home with only about a third of the  
baking dish, which considering how much food was there and how many  
desserts, wasn't bad.  So I've been having rice pudding for breakfast.

Still, I'd like to solve the sticking problem. Maybe the solution is  
to not cover the pot and just stand there stirring it for 30 minutes,  
adding more milk as needed. Or a Lot more milk to start with.

Stefan
--------
THLord Stefan li Rous    Barony of Bryn Gwlad    Kingdom of Ansteorra
    Mark S. Harris           Austin, Texas          StefanliRous at austin.rr.com
**** See Stefan's Florilegium files at:  http://www.florilegium.org ****