Rice Flour Blancmange (1863)
Reader ratingsA rice flour blancmange from the Confederate Receipt Book, printed in Richmond in 1863: milk thickened with rice flour, sweetened, scented with rose water and molded.
- Recipe makes
- 1 mold, about 1 quart, serving 6
- Prep
- Cook
- Total
The cooking takes about 25 minutes of stirring; the blancmange then needs about 4 hours in the refrigerator to set before turning out.
Rice flour blancmange, turned out of its mold onto a white plate.
The story behind the recipe
“This is a very favorite article for invalids,” says the last line of this recipe. Rice flour blancmange is milk and a little rice flour boiled together, sweetened and scented with rose water, then poured into molds to set. It comes near the end of the rice-flour appendix in the Confederate Receipt Book (1863), just before a recipe for griddle cakes.
An invalid’s pudding
The appendix ends with a rule for every “rice flour bread, cake or pudding”: first make “a well boiled pap” of all the liquid and half the flour. This pudding is very nearly that pap on its own, milk boiled with rice flour until it thickens, then sweetened, scented and set.
It asks for a full quart of milk and imitates nothing, which sets it apart from most of the book. The article What Was Richmond Cooking in the Year of the Bread Riot? covers Richmond’s prices that year and the riot in April.
Read more about this recipe
Making it today
The book says to “season it as to your taste with sugar and rose water,” and gives “four table-spoonfuls of the rice flour” to the quart. The recipe doesn’t say whether a spoonful is level or heaped. We read the four spoonfuls as heaped and use eight level tablespoons, enough for the pudding to set firm and turn out. The book boils it “about fifteen minutes, stirring occasionally”; on a modern stove milk catches more easily, so our method stirs more often.
The rice paste in the Rice Bread (1863) starts the same way, with the rice flour mixed smooth before it meets anything hot.
RICE FLOUR BLANC MANGE.—Boil one quart of milk, season it as to your taste with sugar and rose water, take four table-spoonfuls of the rice flour, mix it very smooth with cold milk, add this to the other milk while it is boiling, stirring it well. Let all boil together about fifteen minutes, stirring occasionally, then pour it into moulds and put it by to cool. This is a very favorite article for invalids.
Recipe makes: 1 mold, about 1 quart, serving 6
Ingredients
For 1 mold, about 1 quart, serving 6. Quantities are shown as written.
Quantities as written here, for 1 mold, about 1 quart, serving 6.
Blancmange
- Whole milk28 fl oz
- Sugar2.5 oz
- White rice flour8 tbsp
- Cold whole milk for mixing4 fl oz
- Rose water2 tsp
Measurement notes
Ingredients as written here
- 28 fl oz whole milk
- 2.5 oz sugar
- 8 tbsp white rice flour
- 4 fl oz cold whole milk for mixing
- 2 tsp rose water
Equipment
- Heavy saucepan
- Whisk and wooden spoon
- 1-quart mold or 6 small molds
Instructions
Rinse the mold with cold water and leave it wet.
Put the whole milk and sugar in a heavy saucepan and bring slowly to a boil, stirring until the sugar dissolves.
Meanwhile, whisk the rice flour with the cold whole milk for mixing until completely smooth.
When the milk boils, pour in the rice flour mixture, whisking well.
Lower the heat and keep it at a gentle boil for about 15 minutes, stirring often and scraping the bottom of the pan, until it is thick and smooth and coats the back of the spoon heavily.
Take the pan off the heat and stir in the rose water, a little at a time, tasting as you go.
Pour into the wet mold, leave to cool, then cover and refrigerate for about 4 hours, until set.
To serve, loosen the edge with a thin knife and turn it out onto a plate.
Nutrition
190calories per serving
- Recipe makes
- 1 mold, about 1 quart, serving 6
- Servings
- 6
Estimated per serving from USDA FoodData Central values for the listed ingredients.
Recipe notes
When adjusting quantities
Keep eight level tablespoons (half a cup) of rice flour to each quart of milk.
Notes
Quantities mentioned in these notes don’t change when you adjust the servings.
Use rose water sold for cooking. Rose essence and rose oil are far stronger, and rose waters vary, so add it a little at a time.
If the blancmange is too soft to turn out, serve it from the mold or in cups.
The blancmange contains milk.
Keep the blancmange refrigerated and eat it within two days.
Scaling changes the ingredients only; pan sizes and cooking times need their own judgment. To adapt this recipe further, try the recipe tool at TuneMyRecipe (opens in a new tab), our sister site.
Sources and attribution
After the Confederate Receipt Book (Richmond: West & Johnston, 1863), Rice Flour Blanc Mange
Recipe details
- Course
- Dessert
- Dish family
- Desserts & Sweets
- Region
- American
- Era
- 19th century
- Source decade
- 1860s
- Main ingredient
- Milk & cream
- Difficulty
- Easy
- Occasion
- Everyday meal