Tuesday, November 18, 2008

TWD: What's Black and White.....


....and runny all over? Well, that was the buzz on the TWD blog with this week's recipe Arborio Rice Pudding, White, Black (or both). I really love rice pudding. It's among my favorite "comfort" type desserts. And I had the rice on hand, since I like making risotto, so I was looking forward to giving this a try, especially after last week's cake.

Luckily I do these recipes after many others have posted about how it worked for them, so I can learn from their experiences. And this week Dorie herself posted that the recipe had a fatal flaw in that the time for it to simmer on the stove was off by 20 minutes (explaining why so many people had rice soup).





Knowing that in advance I settled in for a long night of simmering, and "entertained" myself by simultaneously making the Mac and Cheese recipe in this month's Bon Appetite Magazine (FYI - way yummy!). I didn't time how long the rice simmered, but the milk looked 80-90% absorbed to me, so I took it off the stove and divided it in two to do both the vanilla and the chocolate versions.

For some time now, I've known I'm not so good with the math (many moons ago, when I worked banquets, the powers that be finally stopped sending me out to determine how many people were at my 4 tables of 10 because I could never come back with the correct answer. I know! Sad! But somehow I can balance my checkbook to the penny. But I digress). My point is, I apparently don't know what 80-90% milk absorption looks like, as this morning I find I have rice soup. At least it is tasty rice soup, and I have plenty of company as many other TWDers got the same result.



This is a recipe I might try again at some point, but probably not anytime in the near future. The servings were VERY small, and it seemed like a lot of time for little return. If I were to make it again I would probably add a bit more rice (this time I increased the amount stated by a small amount, and decreased the milk 1/4 cup, hoping to avoid the soup result). I've only tried the chocolate, and although tasty, there was something about the consistency I didn't like. Perhaps I needed to chop my chocolate into smaller pieces. Perhaps the rice wasn't hot enough by the time the chocolate got mixed in to adequately melt all of it. Perhaps I need to go to chocolate school?

I was hoping to bring in a serving or two for my boss' boss, who had a birthday a week ago and I missed it. Alas, I don't think this will be the "presentation" I was hoping for, so he will have to wait for another week.

3 comments:

Lael Meidal said...

Sometimes we just have to chalk things up to being "learning experiences" -- that's what this recipe ended up being for a lot of people, I think. Having never made my own rice pudding before, I'm glad I tried it. Welcome to Tuesdays with Dorie!

Pamela said...

Well, you tried, right? At least it was tasty, and that's what matters. How was the mac & cheese??

TourGuide Jenn said...

Hi Lael -- thanks so much for the well wishes.

Hi Pamela -- tried I did. It was super tasty, as was the mac and cheese. Just added a delayed post about it.

Thanks ladies for stopping by!