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Rijstpap (Flemish rice pudding)

Name: Rijstpap (Flemish rice pudding)
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 45 min
Total time: 175 min
Yield: 4
Ingredients: 1 l whole milk; 150 g dessert rice (short-grain pudding rice); 1 piece vanilla pod, seeds only; 100 g sugar; 25 g custard (pudding) powder, mixed with a splash of milk; 3 tbsp mascarpone

rijstpap

Rice simmered slowly in milk with vanilla until thick and creamy, sweetened at the end and served cold: Flanders' rijstpap, in the 16th century a luxury coloured with saffron. Jeroen Meus thickens his with a little custard powder and mascarpone.

Editorial illustration of the documented recipe; not a photograph of a kitchen-tested result.

Servings: 4
Preparation: 10 min
Cooking: 45 min
Resting: 2 h
Total: 2 h 55
Difficulty: Easy

Equipment

Heavy-based saucepan
Wooden spoon
Serving glasses or a bowl

Servings4

Ingredients

1 lwhole milk
150 gdessert rice (short-grain pudding rice)
1 vanilla pod, seeds only
100 gsugar
25 gcustard (pudding) powder, mixed with a splash of milkMeus's addition, for a thicker pudding.
3 tbspmascarponeMeus's addition.

Shopping list

Method

Bring the milk, rice and vanilla seeds slowly to the boil over a gentle heat, then cook 40 minutes, stirring now and then.
Why A slow simmer lets the rice release its starch into the milk without catching on the bottom.
Timer · 40 min40:00
When the rice is cooked, stir in the sugar.
Why Sugar added at the start slows the rice softening.
Stir in the custard powder slaked in a little milk and let the pudding thicken a little more on the heat.
Timer · 3 min3:00
Stir in the mascarpone and leave to cool. Serve cold in glasses.
Timer · 2 h120:00

Substitutions

Custard powder and mascarpone → Leave them out for a plain milk-and-rice pap; cook a little longer for thickness.
Vanilla → In the 16th century saffron and cinnamon flavoured the dish (Meulemeester); no source here gives quantities for a saffron rijstpap.

Common mistakes

Cooking too fast: the milk boils over and the rice sticks and burns.
Serving straight from the pan: it thickens a lot as it cools.

Storage & reheating

Covered in the fridge for up to 3 days.

Allergens

Milk

Check labels: stock, bacon and sauces can contain further allergens.

Dietary

vegetarian · gluten-free

Eaten with golden spoons

In Pieter Bruegel's Peasant Wedding (about 1567) two men carry bowls of porridge to the table, and there are no spoons: guests brought their own. Jean-Luc Meulemeester, writing in Vlaanderen in 2006, says the thin rice porridge served at Flemish weddings in the second half of the 16th century was a luxury: rice and cane sugar were costly, and saffron, which gave it its yellow colour, was the dearest spice of the late Middle Ages, twice the price of pepper. Hence the Flemish saying that in heaven rice pudding is eaten with golden spoons. Rice appears in the accounts of the Sint-Janshospitaal in Bruges in 1425–1426 as an exotic import.

[1]

Slow milk, sugar last

Meus cooks 150 g of dessert rice in a litre of milk with vanilla over a low heat for 40 minutes, stirring now and then, and adds the sugar only when the rice is soft. A spoon of custard powder and some mascarpone make his pap thick and rich; he serves it in glasses with fruit, cream and almonds.

[2]

How it connects

Region

origin Belgium

Recipe

related Tarte au riz de Verviers