I thought Tuesdays with Dorie was going to mutiny this week. Isabelle chose rice pudding for us to make, but the recipe has a mistake in it regarding the cooking time, and Dorie was traveling without an internet connection and wasn’t able to give us a heads up until many of us had already had frustrating experiences.
Even worse, the recipe was suspicious from the beginning. Dorie uses just ¼ cup of rice to thicken 3¼ cups of milk, far less rice than most rice pudding recipes use. Plus, the instructions actually say that the pudding will be thin when it’s taken off of the stove, but it’ll thicken once it chills. I don’t think Dorie meant that it should be quite this thin.
Unsurprisingly, my “pudding” never thickened. I left it in the fridge for two days, too irritated to think about it, until I realized that I could just put it back on the stove and try cooking it longer and maybe it would thicken. And eventually it did. Once Dorie was able to let the group know about the typo, I realized that the cooking time was indeed supposed to be longer than what the book says.
In the end, the rice pudding was pretty good. I wouldn’t say that it was any better or worse than the only other time I’ve had rice pudding. At least there was chocolate this time. Rice pudding just isn’t really my thing though. I kept thinking to myself, “why is there rice in my pudding?” Dave wondered why anyone would eat rice pudding when they could be eating tapioca pudding. He has a good point.
Isabelle has posted Dorie’s rice pudding recipe. Keep in mind that you’ll need to cook it for 55 minutes or so, until the texture is pudding-like. The ratio of rice to milk does work.
Mistakes in recipes irritate me also, though I find rice pudding an easy alternative to other sweets when you want to do something not complicated (well at least to me). Our version of rice pudding or we call it muhalabiya we put rose water or orange blossom in it (don’t know if you used these in yours), it gives a very nice taste and aroma. You can add some canned fruits (like peaches) on it or raisins.
Yours looks so good, even though it never thickened up. But you would think that a cookbook that went through multiple revisions wouldn’t miss things like this. Or that there would be a published errata. Hmph.
Both of your variations look delish!
Your pudding looks delicious! Rice pudding isn’t my thing either so I know exactly what you mean!
This is the only other time? Are you forgetting the overly sweet mush of a concoction I made on our last trip?
Your pudding looks really good and I love your red bowl!
That looks delicious but warm rice pudding is far superior to cold so having to chill it to make it thicken is a bit against the grain for me. Plus, adding chocolate seems like it would make the whole thing too sweet somehow. It just doesn’t complement rice pudding in my mind; stewed apples and pears with brown sugar and cinnamon, however, is delicious with a nice bowl of rice pudding.
The best recipe I’ve found so far is this one – it has converted a few people that I know who were not fans of this dish previously. If you’re ever in the mood for another attempt I’d give this one a try.
http://www.taunton.com/finecooking/recipes/classic-rice-pudding.aspx
B4B – I did forget about that while I was writing this. That had definite potential.
mcgamilton3 – Thank you. I’m anti-picky, so if you say you have a great recipe, I’m willing to check it out! I’ll keep your other tips in mind too. But, I think I owe my husband tapioca pudding first. 🙂
Your rice pudding looks good. I love the bowls.
I can’t do rice or tapioca pudding. Good for you for trying it.
I’ve only had rice pudding once, too… But I have to say, though I was skeptical at first, I liked it. No doubt I would have like it even better with chocolate 🙂 It’s tapioca pudding I’ve never tried before!
Great thinking to put the rice pudding back on the stove. It looks great!!
Oh boo for it not thickening up! 🙁 Stupid typos. Well, regardless, rice pudding is so yummy! That last pic with the spoon is making me crave it now! 🙂
Both puddings look delicious!
good to know that it’ll thicken up when you cook it more, even after two days… i might have to do that 🙂 your finished product looks lovely, i like the toppings you used!
I’m with you. Why is there rice in my pudding?
Your photos are just amazing! Your entire website makes me drool!