Classic Rice Pudding - Old Fashion Creamy Rice Pudding Recipe - One-Pot Method

Hello, this is Chef John from FoodWishes.com with Classic Rice Pudding. That's right, this is one of those homey, comforting desserts that nobody wants, but that everybody loves. And what I mean by that is you never really hear about someone craving rice pudding. I mean, nobody's ever looked at a dessert menu at a restaurant and said, oh man, there's no rice pudding on here. But despite that, when you make this and serve it to people, they absolutely love it. And by the way, not only am I going to show you how to make this crowd-pleasing dessert, I'm going to show you how to make it a lot easier with our proprietary one-pot method. So with that, let's go ahead and get started with our one-pot, into which we're going to add some long-grain rice. And I know, you may have heard short-grain and medium-grain rice work better for this, but in my opinion, they don't, at least not for what we're calling Classic Rice Pudding. So we're going with the long-grain, to which we're going to add some salt, as well as, of course, some nice, fresh cold water. And then once that's set, we'll head over to the stove, where we're going to bring this up to a boil over medium-high heat. And this is probably a good time to mention, if you have leftover rice from that takeout last night, you can just skip this step. But anyway, we're going to bring that up to a boil over medium-high, at which point we will reduce our heat to low, cover this, and set our timer for 20 minutes. And if everything's gone according to plan, once that timer rings, we should be looking at some very nice, tender, soft rice. Okay, we really do want this fully cooked before we proceed to the next steps. So we'll go ahead and check that with the fork, and I'm happy to report mine was perfect, and yours should be too, after 20 minutes. And then what we're going to want to do at this point is turn off the heat, as well as toss in our sugar and our milk. And then what we're going to do while the heat is off, is stir this with a whisk, until the bottom of the pan is completely clean and deglazed. So as I mentioned earlier, we're just going to use one pot here, which is not the normal method. Okay, virtually every other recipe calls for transferring the cooked rice into another pot before you make the pudding. And the reason for that is, they're worried we're going to scorch the bottom of our pan, because of that layer of starch that's already on the bottom. But as you know, we have tricks. So by stirring in this cold milk with the heat off, we're going to deglaze that thin layer of cooked-on starch from the bottom, and as long as your heat's off and you give it a minute or two, as you'll see, all that's going to dissolve, and the bottom of your pan will be clean. And once that's been accomplished, there's almost no chance this is going to burn. So take that two-pot method. And then once we're confident that there's nothing stuck to the bottom of the pan, we can put our heat back to medium, and cook this for about 10 minutes or so, or until it's done. And the reason done is in quotes, is because you're going to have to decide when that happens. Okay, the longer we cook this mixture, the thicker and stickier it's going to be. Okay, because those grains of rice are going to continue to cook and swell, and eventually they'll just collapse completely, and you'll have something super thick and starchy. But I generally don't like to let it go that far. Okay, while I do like them very, very soft, I do want some identifiable grains of rice in this. Sort of cloaked in a sweet, creamy sauce. So I cook mine for about 10 minutes or so, until it looked like this. But like I just said, you might want to go for 5 more minutes. Totally up to you. You are, after all, the Richard Hertz of your comforting, old-fashioned desserts. And then what we'll do once we've decided it's cooked long enough, is turn off the heat, and stir in the rest of the ingredients. We'll do a nice pinch of cinnamon, some real vanilla extract, and an egg yolk. And please note how as soon as that egg yolk hits the pan, I'm stirring immediately and vigorously until it disappears. Okay, really we're supposed to temper that egg yolk before we add it. But as long as your heat's off, and you stir fast and furious, you will be okay. So we'll go ahead and give that a whisk until we're sure it's all incorporated. And then we'll whisk it for another 20 seconds, just to be sure. At which point we will introduce our last two ingredients, some butter, and if we're adding it, some dried fruit. And if you'll indulge me, let me do one of my rare freeze frames, because I have a couple things to quickly explain. Number one, that butter's not dirty. That's a cinnamon fingerprint. By the way, in case you're wondering, not admissible in court. And then secondly, if you are adding dry fruit, may I suggest some chopped up dried cherries instead of the traditional raisins. Okay, that's enough. Let's get back to the action and stir that in. So as you know, I'm not a huge raisin fan, so for me personally, these dried cherries work much better. They're going to add that same kind of dried fruit sweetness, without that off-putting texture I don't enjoy with the raisins. And then once we have that all stirred together, technically it's ready to serve, if you want to serve it hot. Which I do not recommend. I mean, it's not like it's going to taste bad, and some people enjoy this warm. But I think it's a far superior dessert once it's chilled and gelatinized. So what I like to do while it's still warm is transfer it into whatever cups I'm going to serve it in. And if we want, and it's optional, we can give that the old tapa tapa to settle it down. Kind of flatten it out a little. At which point we will let those cool down to room temp. And once that's happened, we will wrap them up and pop them in the fridge until very, very thoroughly chilled. And yes, by far, that is the hardest part of this recipe. But somehow I managed to do it. And then once those are chilled, we can pull them out and serve them in so many different wonderful ways. And I'm going to show you a couple. The first and most classic would be to dust the top with some cinnamon, and enjoy as is. Which is probably my favorite. By the way, this is also a wonderful top with fresh fruit. But anyway, I'm going to dust that with cinnamon, and our classic rice pudding is done. And waiting for someone with a spoon to enjoy it. And for now, that someone is me. So let me go ahead and dig in. And that, my friends, is just the epitome of a comforting, stick-to-your-ribs, homey, old-fashioned dessert. Just sweet enough. Just starchy enough. And just very easy for all your senses to understand. And I'm not sure exactly how well you can see it. But if you cook it as much as I cook mine, it's all going to be very soft and tender. But it's still identifiable as grains of rice. And like I said earlier, it's all being sort of held together by this beautiful sticky creamy sauce. So I was 100% happy with how that came out. But as you know, I'm never satisfied with just happiness. So I decided to try another one, using the same technique we do for a creme brulee. I decided to sprinkle a little white sugar over the top. And then I fired up my trusty blowtorch. Which you really should buy at a hardware store, and not at one of those fancy kitchen equipment stores. Where it's going to cost you twice as much. But anyway, using that exact same technique, we will melt that sugar over the top. And if you're wondering, I would have glazed this all the way to the edge. But I didn't fill my cup up enough. And I was afraid to char and or break the glass. But anyway, I think it kind of looks nice with it just glazed in the center. And that's the story I'm going to stick with. And then once that sugar has been torched, it will cool down into a very thin, very crispy layer. Which we will now verify. Because as you know, spoon don't lie. Oh yeah, that sounds good. So I dug into my second rice pudding. Which at my age is probably one pudding too many. And while this approach is definitely different, I thought it was just as delicious. The only thing that's a little weird is the rice right under the surface is a little bit warm. So not only do we get a contrast in texture, but we also get one in temperature. Which you may or may not like. But anyway, that's it. My take on classic rice pudding. As I mentioned in the intro, this isn't really a dessert people know they want until they get it. Then they're like, oh yeah, that's exactly what I wanted. So for those reasons and more, I really do hope you give this a try soon. So head over to foodwishes.com for all the ingredient amounts and more info as usual. And as always, enjoy.