RataterraFirst edition in progress
My atlas

Searches names, synonyms and regional names, with or without accents.

    Explore the world · Recipe · Verviers · Reference page

    Tarte au riz de Verviers

    tarte au riz / rijsttaart / blanke dorêye

    A thin yeast-dough base filled with a thick cinnamon rice pudding, cooked for an hour and a half the day before, bound with egg and glazed with yolk before a hot oven. The rice tart of Verviers, in the recipe of the Pays de Vesdre tourist office.

    A whole Verviers rice tart with a thin brown crust and golden blistered top on a white plate,in fine brown ink and watercolor.
    Editorial illustration of the documented recipe; not a photograph of a kitchen-tested result.
    Servings
    4
    Preparation
    1 h
    Cooking
    2 h
    Resting
    27 h
    Total
    30 h
    Difficulty
    Involved

    Equipment

    • Bain-marie (a pan of milk set over a larger pan of simmering water)
    • Large bowl; rolling pin
    • Pie tin, about 24 cm, greased
    • Pastry brush
    Servings4

    Ingredients

    • The rice (day before)

    • The yeast dough

    • To finish

    Shopping list

    Method

    1. The day before, bring the milk to the boil in a bain-marie. Stir in the rice and cook for an hour, stirring regularly.

      Why The bain-marie stops the milk from catching during the long cooking.

      Timer · 1 h60:00

    2. Add the cinnamon stick and the sugar and cook for 30 minutes more, still stirring regularly, until the rice is thick.

      Timer · 30 min30:00

    3. Transfer to a container, cool and refrigerate for 24 hours.

      Why Verviers bakers keep the rice pudding at least 10 hours in the cold, according to the University of Namur study: cold and set, it holds its shape in the tart.

      Timer · 24 h1440:00

    4. For the dough, mix the flour, yeast and milk in a large bowl and work it with your hands for about 20 minutes. Leave it for 10 minutes.

      Timer · 30 min30:00

    5. Add the sugar and salt and work for another 20 minutes or so, then work in the butter for a few minutes. Shape into a ball and leave to rise under a cloth for about an hour.

      Timer · 1 h 2080:00

    6. Heat the oven to 240 °C. Roll out the dough thinly and line the greased tin.

    7. Take out the cinnamon stick, add the whole egg to the rice and mix it in by hand. Pour the rice into the case and level it. Brush the top with the yolk.

      Why The egg sets the filling; the yolk gives the browned top that earned the tart its Walloon name *dorêye*, 'golden'.

    8. Bake for about 25–30 minutes.

      Timer · 28 min28:00

    9. Once out of the oven, wait at least a few hours before eating.

      Timer · 2 h120:00

    To drink & serve with

    • The Pays de Vesdre tourist office suggests a creamy, still-warm portion with a good hot coffee.

    • Café liégeois

      Editorial suggestion: or, in summer, the other famous coffee of the province of Liège.

    Substitutions

    • Cinnamon → Vanilla, which Verviers bakers also use (University of Namur study).
    • Plain tart → Scatter crumbled almond macarons over the dough before the rice, as in the old Verviers tart 'bourrée de macarons' (1910).
    • Fresh yeast → Dried yeast: about a third of the weight (2 g), a standard conversion, not from the source.

    Common mistakes

    • Rice pudding that is too thin: the tart will not set. It should be thick when it goes into the fridge.
    • Skipping the night in the fridge: warm, loose rice soaks the base.
    • Cutting it hot: it needs a few hours to firm.

    Storage & reheating

    Eat within a day or two; keep in the fridge once cool and bring back to room temperature to serve. Contains egg and milk: do not leave it out for long in warm weather.

    Safety

    Contains gluten, milk and egg. Cool the rice quickly and keep it refrigerated before baking.

    Allergens

    Gluten · Milk · Egg

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

    Dietary

    vegetarian

    The golden tart of the Wool City

    For the Pays de Vesdre tourist office, the rice tart is the gastronomic flagship of Verviers, the 'Wool City' east of Liège. A study by Natacha Aucuit and Julie Duchêne of the University of Namur, written to support the Verviers bakers' application for a Protected Geographical Indication, traces the tradition. Liège's Walloon called it doraie or dorêye, 'golden': in 1839 Remacle's dictionary describes the 'blanke doraie' made of rice, eggs and sugar that turns golden in the oven. The name 'Tarte au riz de Verviers' appears in the 1900s, and writers of 1910 and 1932 insist that a true Verviers tart is stuffed with macarons.

    Rice tarts are much older. The authors cite a tourte de ris of cooked rice, eggs, butter, sugar, cinnamon and rose water in Ouverture de cuisine (1604) by Lancelot de Casteau, cook to three prince-bishops of Liège, and Italian torte di riso of the 15th century. Whether the Verviers tart descends from them, they write, can be neither proved nor ruled out.

    [1][2]

    A day for the rice

    The filling is a very thick rice pudding: 135 g of round rice cooked in a litre of milk for an hour and a half, sweetened and scented with cinnamon, then chilled for a day. The base is a thin, lean yeast dough worked by hand. An egg goes into the cold rice just before it is poured into the case, a yolk glazes the top, and a very hot oven, 240 °C, browns it in under half an hour. The tart is left to firm for a few hours before cutting.

    [1][2]

    How it connects

    Place

    • origin Verviers In preparation
    • related Liège In preparation

    Recipe

    Continue exploring