One of our family’s favourite cold-weather desserts is a traditional recipe that dates back to a time when flour didn’t store well over the winter, so cakes and cookies were less likely to be on the menu. Rice, on the other hand, could tolerate dampness and temperature extremes, and so was less of a storage problem.
Raisins came in by the barrel-full straight to the fishing wharves in every small cosatal community, on the many ships that were actively trading between Maritime Canada and more temperate regions, and so did the exotic nutmeg.
Meanwhile, every rural household was likely to keep its own few chickens (for the eggs), a cow (for the milk) and a hives of bees (for the honey). The salt? Not exactly a scarce commodity, on the edge of the Atlantic.
I suppose the origins of rice pudding might date back to the heyday of the British Empire — but I always associate the scent and the creamy-sweet taste with a winter evening at Gran’s house, with the curtains drawn against the early dark and a fire on in the old Enterprise stove.
Baked Rice Pudding
1/3 cup rice
5 cups milk
1/3 cup honey
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp nutmeg
2 eggs, beaten
3/4 cup raisins
Preheat the oven to 300°F. Combine the rice, milk, honey, salt and nutmeg in a covered casserole dish and bake for 90 minutes, stirring every half-hour to keep the rice from settling to the bottom. After that time, mix in the eggs and raisins and return the covered dish to the oven. Bake it (without stirring) for another 30 minutes. Serve warm — with a dash of maple syrup or some honey drizzled on top, if you like.
