the glory of rice pudding

I worship rice pudding. It is true. I don't recall ever eating rice pudding before moving to California (Going on 5 years!). It might have been one of those buffet dessert items at Chuck-A-Rama, but I don't remember trying it (or if I did, it was not worth remembering!) BUT then I started to shop for myself (after leaving home) and there was that one magic day in Safeway when I saw Kozy Shack brand rice pudding next to the sour cream...and I bought it. My life would never be the same.

Then came the many attempts at making rice pudding. There was the baked puddings, the stovetop puddings, the one time disaster of a crockpot pudding, and finally more precise puddings that used a thermometer. Some would curdle*. Some would be fantastic. But nothing could match the consistency of Kozy.

*Curdling is a thing of the past. The blessings of living at sea level combined with the delicate egg yolk conspired against me for too long, but now I have outsmarted them. I just keep the heat down:) (Custards are supposed to stay between 185 and 190 F during cooking time to prevent curdling.)

Then came the time when I bought Kozy pudding and it was awful. Yes. It tasted totally off. Then I was afraid to buy it for a while. Suddenly I wondered if Kozy pudding was really the ultimate.

Now after being in El Barrio going on 2 years, I have discovered Salvadoran rice pudding. There is a couple in our ward who like to make it to serve after baptisms (and sometimes go crazy and give it out after church--like last week!). They use a combination of sweetened condensed milk, regular milk, cinnamon sticks, and a lime--rind and all! No eggs! Fancy that. It is quick to make, none of the hours of reducing milk or anything laborious in that vein. Lucky is the one who chokes on a piece of cinnamon and finds part of a lime in their cup. Eat with caution. Oh, but the delight of rice pudding!

Incomplete LIST of rice pudding recipes attempted:

1. The baked rice pudding recipe I used comes from Betty Crocker Cookbook.

2. Simply Recipes: http://simplyrecipes.com/recipes/rice_pudding/

This one I made notes. They go like this:

Turned out great--much more creamy than baked rice pudding. I kept the heat below boiling like she said, and the egg did not curdle. I think I will try sweetening with honey next time (less than 1/4 cup).
SO good. Try with 1/4 cup arborio next time, it was VERY thick. I put raspberries in it and it was so divine.

(I should point out that I used arborio rice instead of the short grain white the recipe called for. Had I used short grain white, it would not have turned out so thick.)

3) Crockpot: http://crockpot365.blogspot.com/2009/03/crockpot-rice-pudding-recipe.html

Notes:

it curdled. Using high heat after putting the egg in was a mistake--it might work on low, but I'm not sure I want to try it again when I have another rice pudding recipe that is great. (simply recipes)

4) Temperature measured: http://www.ehow.com/how_4830558_kozy-shack-rice-pudding.html

I can't exactly recall how this turned out. I think it worked ok, but by this point I had been trying to cut back on rice pudding (since I inhaled it at ludicrous speed) and only made this recipe one time.

5) This one is untested, but highly recommended by some people in a chowhound thread: http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Raisin-Rice-Pudding-762

I need to make this one.

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As a final note, I must remark how much I adore puddings and custards of all kinds. DH doesn't care as much about pudding as I do, but we try not to let that be an issue in our marriage. But he can surely attest to the fact that more often than not when I'm feeling like dessert I'll say, "I want a pudding."