Arthur Schwartz
The Food Maven
About Arthur:  The New York Times Magazine called Arthur Schwartz “a walking Google of food and restaurant knowledge.” As the restaurant critic and executive food editor of the New York Daily News, which he was for 18 years, he was called The Schwartz Who Ate New York.  Nowadays, he is best known as The Food Maven, the name of his website. Whatever the sobriquet, he is acknowledged as one of the country’s foremost experts on food, cooking, culinary history, restaurants, and restaurant history.

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The
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Dutch Gardens, Inc.
Creamy Rice Pudding
The Wine Messenger
Serves 8 

I can't tell you how many requests I get for CREAMY rice pudding. It has to be really creamy, my listeners (and readers) say -- but they'd prefer it without the cream. Well, after much experimentation, here's what I've come up with.

  1 1/2 quarts whole milk

  2/3  cup sugar

  1/2 cup extra long grain rice

  1/2 cup raisins

  1 teaspoon vanilla extract

  As much as 2/3 cup additional whole milk


Combine milk, sugar and rice in a heavy, 3-quart saucepan. Bring to a gentle simmer over medium heat, then reduce heat and cook uncovered for 1 hour, stirring occasionally. The milk should just barely simmer, with bubbles breaking only at the outside edge of the surface. After an hour, the rice should be soft.

If you like raisins, add about 1/2 cup now, increase the heat to medium, and cook, stirring frequently now, until the rice has absorbed most of the rest of the milk -- but not all -- and the pudding is creamy, about 20 minutes longer.

Remove from the heat and stir in the vanilla. Cool thoroughly then chill in the refrigerator. As it chills, the pudding will thicken. After a few hours in the refrigerator it will be quite thick, and probably no longer loose enough to be called "creamy." Just before serving, stir in as much as 2/3 cup whole milk, half and half, or cream). Serve chilled. (If eating only a portion of the pudding at a time, divide it before stirring the additional milk or cream.)