Chef Thomas
Apple Charlotte
Buttered bread baked to a deep mahogany around a filling of spiced Bramley apples, turned out at the table in a small moment of drama, cold cream poured from a jug alongside.
Culinary Explorer
A cooking platform built around craft, culture, and the stories behind what we eat.
Baked Rice Pudding
Created by Chef Thomas
A proper baked rice pudding, slow-cooked in whole milk with butter and nutmeg until the top sets into a freckled golden skin. The kind of pudding that makes January feel like less of a long haul.
Desserts
British
Weeknight
Comfort Food
5 min
Active Time
2 hr 30 min cook•2 hr 35 min total
Yield4 servings
There are two kinds of people in this world, and one of them scrapes the skin off a rice pudding. I'll never understand it. The skin is the whole point. That wrinkled, freckled, golden layer where the milk has caramelized and the nutmeg has settled and the butter has done its quiet work. If you take that away you're left with porridge, and porridge is for breakfast.
This is a pudding for a cold evening in the middle of the week. Nothing much to do with your hands. You rub a dish with butter, tip in rice and sugar and milk, grate over more nutmeg than feels reasonable, and slide the whole thing into a low oven. Then you leave it. For two and a half hours, give or take, the kitchen gradually fills with the smell of warm milk and something faintly toasted, and by the time you pull it out the top has set into a skin that looks almost too beautiful to break.
I wrote it down in the notebook years ago with three words: rice, milk, skin. That's all it needed then and it's all it needs now. A recipe is a conversation, not a contract, and this one has been speaking to me for decades.
Serve it in a warm bowl, straight from the dish, with a spoonful of something sharp on the side if the mood takes you. Raspberry jam, stewed rhubarb in spring, a blob of bramble jelly in autumn. Or nothing at all. We're only making dinner.
The technique, the tradition, and the story behind every dish.
Discover Culinary ExplorerIngredients
pudding rice
Quantity
100g
short grain
whole milk
Quantity
1 litre
golden caster sugar
Quantity
60g
unsalted butter
Quantity
25g
plus extra for the dish
whole nutmeg
Quantity
1
for grating
lemon zest (optional)
Quantity
1 strip
fine sea salt
Quantity
pinch
jam or stewed fruit (optional)
Quantity
to serve
| Ingredient | Quantity |
|---|---|
| pudding riceshort grain | 100g |
| whole milk | 1 litre |
| golden caster sugar | 60g |
| unsalted butterplus extra for the dish | 25g |
| whole nutmegfor grating | 1 |
| lemon zest (optional) | 1 strip |
| fine sea salt | pinch |
| jam or stewed fruit (optional) | to serve |
Equipment Needed
- •Shallow ceramic baking dish, roughly 1.5 litres
- •Nutmeg grater or fine microplane
- •Butter knife
Instructions
- 1
Heat the oven, butter the dish
Set the oven to 150C/130C fan. Take a shallow baking dish, something ceramic and roughly 1.5 litres in capacity, and rub it all over the inside with a good knob of butter. Be generous. The butter matters both for flavour and for keeping the edges from catching during the long, slow bake.
A wide, shallow dish gives you more surface area, which means more skin. If you love the skin, and you should, choose your dish accordingly. - 2
Combine rice, sugar, milk
Scatter the rice into the buttered dish in an even layer. Sprinkle the sugar over the top and add the pinch of salt. Pour the milk in slowly, right to the edges, and give the rice a gentle stir with your finger to settle it. Drop in the strip of lemon zest if you're using it. It's subtle, but it lifts the whole thing.
- 3
Butter and nutmeg
Cut the remaining butter into small pieces and dot them across the surface. Now take the nutmeg and grate it generously over the top. More than feels sensible. A rice pudding without enough nutmeg is a sad thing, and the skin is where most of that flavour will end up, so don't hold back.
Always grate whole nutmeg fresh. The pre-ground stuff loses its perfume within weeks of opening and tastes of dusty cupboards. - 4
Bake long and slow
Slide the dish carefully into the oven and leave it alone. No stirring. No interfering. After about an hour, the milk will begin to thicken and the first hints of a skin will show. After two hours, the skin should be setting up properly, turning from pale cream to a freckled, golden brown. The pudding is ready when the skin is deep gold and wrinkled at the edges, and the rice beneath feels soft and yielding when you press a spoon through. This usually takes two and a half hours, sometimes a bit more. Trust your nose and your eyes. It should smell of warm milk and nutmeg and something slightly toasted.
- 5
Rest briefly, then serve
Take the dish from the oven and let it sit on the side for five minutes. The pudding will seem a bit loose at first and will firm up as it rests. Fish out the lemon zest if you used it. Serve it straight from the dish, making sure everyone gets a piece of the skin. A spoonful of jam on the side, if you like, or some stewed fruit. But honestly, it's complete as it is.
Chef Tips
- •Whole milk only. No skimmed, no semi, no cream sneaking in. The fat in whole milk is what gives the pudding its silkiness and allows the skin to form properly. A rice pudding made with skimmed milk is a penance, not a pudding.
- •Pudding rice is worth seeking out. It's short and round and releases just enough starch to thicken the milk without turning gluey. Risotto rice is too firm, long grain is too thin. If the packet says 'pudding rice' you're in the right place.
- •The skin is non-negotiable. If you find yourself tempted to stir the pudding halfway through, resist. Every stir breaks the skin and sets you back. Leave it alone and let the oven do its job.
- •Leftovers are a small blessing. Cold rice pudding, eaten from the fridge with a spoon late at night, is one of life's quietly splendid things. A dollop of jam on top and nobody needs to know.
Advance Preparation
- •The pudding is best eaten within an hour or two of coming out of the oven, while the skin still has some crackle and the rice beneath is yielding.
- •Leftovers keep in the fridge, covered, for up to three days. Eat cold with jam, or warm through gently with a splash of extra milk to loosen it.
Frequently Asked Questions
Nutrition Information
1 serving (about 300g)
Calories
350 calories
Total Fat
14 g
Saturated Fat
8 g
Trans Fat
0 g
Unsaturated Fat
5 g
Cholesterol
39 mg
Sodium
140 mg
Total Carbohydrates
47 g
Dietary Fiber
1 g
Sugars
27 g
Protein
10 g
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