Rice, rice, baby

[madbaker]

This week's Resolution Recipe: A Tart of Ryce.
This is not my redaction, as you will be able to tell from my comments about it.

To make a Tart of Ryce. Boyle your Rice, and put in the yolkes of two or three Egges into the Rice, and when it is boyled, put it into a dish, and season it with Suger, Sinamon and Ginger, and butter, and the juyce of two or three Orenges, and set it on the fire againe. (The Good Housewife's Iewell, 1596)

(My additions and comments in italics, because this redaction is woefully incomplete and/or incorrect)
3 cups rice, cooked (which is 1 cup rice cooked with 2 cups water)
3 egg yolks (size? I used mediumish yolks.)
1/4 cup sugar - increase to 1/3 cup with OJ change
1 tsp cinnamon (cassia)
1/2 tsp ginger
3 Tbsp butter
1/2 cup orange juice (bitter OJ - sweet oranges are much more modern)
single pie crust: 3/4 cup flour
4 Tbsp butter, or combination of butter and lard
2-3 Tbsp cold water

Take hot cooked rice and stir in butter and egg yolks. Add sugar, cinnamon, ginger, and orange juice. Cut butter and/or lard into flour and mix in water. Roll out a single 9" pie crust and blind bake at 325 for 15 minutes.
Pour into tart crust and bake at 350 F until golden. (Which is how long? I baked it for 35 or 40 minutes, but it never goldened up.) Serve hot.

Source: Dawson, Thomas. The Good Housewife’s Jewel. 1596. East Sussex: Southover Press, 1996.

What worked: This was yummy, like a not-very-sweet rice pudding. The orange juice added a nice note which was actually more prevalent when I ate it cold for breakfast, although it was better overall hot.

What didn't: See the extensive changes and comments I made. Also, I blind-baked the crust but didn't then remove the parchment and weights and bake for another 5-10 minutes, so the bottom crust was not crispy which would have been tastier.
I made the rice the day before, which worked fine, but when I mixed everything together I should have melted the butter and beat it into the egg yolks rather than mincing it which left small pockets.

Will I make it again? It'll probably show up at events on occasion.

Comments

[serendipity17.livejournal.com]

I'd have taken the rice and stirred in the melted butter, but made sure the rice was cool enough to not cook the yolks before stirring them in. That would have given the rice pieces an egg glaze. Also, would have mixed the spices with the sugar, for more even distribution. Mix sugar with eggy rice, then drizzle the orange juice across the top and fold carefully.

There are modern rice pudding pies (to my surprise) and one of them is "rijsttaart" from Belgium.