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Farm Kitchen:  Riz au Lait du Cafe Laugel  |
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Rosemary
True Blue Farmgirl
1825 Posts
Virginia
USA
1825 Posts |
 Posted - Jan 09 2007 : 11:06:58 AM
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Back in the early part of the 20th century, my mother's father's family (de Laugelle, shortened at Ellis Island to Laugel) ran a small chain of bakeries in New York City and across the river in New Jersey. There were coffee/tea shops attached where you could sit and enjoy your pastry at a little table, or take it home with you in a waxed paper bag.
The Laugels came from Alsace-Lorraine in France, where they'd been pastry chefs for a million years. As you know, Alsace is on the present German border and has often been under German rule. It's not surprising that, even though they considered themselves French, a lot of their recipes had a distinctly German quality. I like to refer to this as "patisserie mit schlag." (I hope I spelled that right!)
Anyway, this is basically rice pudding. My maternal grandmother, Madeleine, married the handsome young fellow who was supposed to take over the family business. Instead, he defied his parents and wound up a union organizer on the Jersey docks. He died of pneumonia very young, leaving Madeleine with two small children to care for on her own during the Great Depression. She got this recipe from her mother-in-law at some point, reduced the original huge commercial measurings, and passed it along to my mother, who gave it to me. It was one of the most popular things they sold in the cafés. Grandma used to say it was the style of rice pudding you would get in all the good German delicatessens "up home."
Riz au Lait du Café Laugel
Madeleine's Note Products as unprocessed as possible. No quick rice! Eggs from hens not eating table scraps, or flavor will go off. Corn feeding gives sweeter-tasting eggs, which is what you want. Be sure milk from cows not grazing on spring onions! Stir with flat-edged wooden spatula, so you get at everything in the bottom of the pan and into the edges, to be sure of complete blending.
Ingredients
4-1/2 cups whole milk
1-1/2 cups heavy cream like for whipping
3/4 cup long grain rice
3 large chicken eggs
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1T pure vanilla extract (that's TABLESPOON not teaspoon)
1/2 cup raisins or currants (optional)
Fresh nutmeg for grinding
To Create the Dish
1. In a 3-quart saucepan, bring 3 cups of the milk just to simmer. (Do not bring to a full boil--just simmer, or you'll get a skin. If you do, skim it off right away, get rid of it, and keep going.) Add the rice very gradually, trickling it from your fingers a little at a time, so the milk doesn't stop simmering. Stir, cover, and simmer slowly for 30-45 minutes or until the rice is tender and all the milk has been absorbed. (You'll have to stir and adjust your flame often. Remove from heat.)
2. Stir in the rest of the milk, plus all the cream and sugar.
3. In a small bowl, beat the eggs thoroughly, then stir them into the rice mixture in the saucepan.
4. Return the saucepan mixture to medium heat and, stirring constantly (no kidding), cook until the mixture thickens enough to heavily coat your wooden spatula. This takes about 20 minutes. It is vitally important to prevent the mixture from boiling after you add the eggs, or it will separate and you'll have to throw it out and start over, which is a sin. Keep it just under a simmer and you should be fine.
5. Remove from heat, then stir in the vanilla and optional raisins or currants.
6. Empty this mixture into a bowl with lid and chill in the refrigerator until completely cold all the way through. Don't worry that the mixture looks thin at first. It will thicken a lot more as it cools, but will never be hard; this is a fluffy, creamy dessert. Count on at least 4 hours for complete chilling. You might want to go into the fridge and fold the mixture over now and then to speed chilling and keep it fluffy.
7. Just before serving, grate nutmeg over each serving, or the casserôle, if being served family-style.
SERVING NOTE: Given the years when the Laugel cafés were at the height of their popularity and customers could take home a big waxed carton of this rice pudding to serve at the end of a meal, it might sometimes have been served with bootlegged brandy! A nice non-alcoholic accompaniment today is hot spiced tea, maybe sweetened with honey. Sometimes I fold in some sweetened whipped cream at the last minute, but that might be a bit much for most people. It's pretty creamy and sweet all by itself.
Bon appétit!
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Edited by - Rosemary on Jan 09 2007 1:04:20 PM |
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Miss Bee Haven
True Blue Farmgirl
4331 Posts
Janice
Louisville/Irvington
Kentucky
USA
4331 Posts |
Posted - Jan 09 2007 : 11:17:15 AM
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OOOOOHHHHH, Rosemary. This recipe sounds like the real deal from my childhood. My german granny and my german third cousin Eleanora made rice pudding the likes of which I haven't tasted for what seems like forever - never had the recipe. This is like gold bars from Fort Knox for me! I will be trying this very soon. thankyou a million times(insert a line of smiley faces here)!
"If you think you've got it nailed down, then what's all that around it?" - 'Brother Dave' Gardner |
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Rosemary
True Blue Farmgirl
1825 Posts
Virginia
USA
1825 Posts |
Posted - Jan 09 2007 : 11:59:56 AM
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| You can't imagine how lovely it is to see your post. Girl, make that recipe just as soon as you can! You will -- I repeat -- WILL love it. It's my all-time favorite comfort food. I like standing over the stove, watching, stirring, sneaking a taste -- it's all so timeless. |
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bramble
True Blue Farmgirl
2044 Posts
2044 Posts |
Posted - Jan 09 2007 : 12:30:30 PM
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Rosemary- Thank you so much for posting that recipe, my husband LOVES
real rice pudding and he had two German Grandmothers. I had one much beloved German Grandfather who also used to say "up ta home"!
with a happy heart |
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Rosemary
True Blue Farmgirl
1825 Posts
Virginia
USA
1825 Posts |
Posted - Jan 09 2007 : 1:07:14 PM
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I hope your husband will do something very nice for you in exchange for a bowl of this wonderful rice pudding.
You understand, of course, zat we waire Frahnch. You could still be killed in certain parts of Strasbourg for claiming that this is a German dish, though we all know it is. 
My kitchen is smack dab in the middle of the Twilight Zone. How about ya'll's? |
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Miss Bee Haven
True Blue Farmgirl
4331 Posts
Janice
Louisville/Irvington
Kentucky
USA
4331 Posts |
Posted - Jan 09 2007 : 1:36:51 PM
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My 27 year old son has fond memories of this pudding, too. My cousin Eleanora lived to be 98 and she was a cookin' little german woman to the end. My son's birthday was the 8th., but we've all been working late/crazy shifts, so we agreed to celebrate next Monday. So Rosemary, I'm aimin' to make a pot of this Sunday night and spring it on him for his late b/day on Monday! Girl, this is the ONLY THING in the world my son likes better than CHOCOLATE CAKE! Wow, Hooray and Yippee!!! And many thank you hugs to you! :) :D
"If you think you've got it nailed down, then what's all that around it?" - 'Brother Dave' Gardner |
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Nancy Gartenman
True Blue Farmgirl
9094 Posts
Nancy
West Seneca
New York
USA
9094 Posts |
Posted - Jan 09 2007 : 2:15:23 PM
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My husband is german and loves rice pudding. Thankyou for posting your family receipe. Girls is there a way to print that off without printing the whole thread?
NANCY JO
www.Nancy-Jo.blogspot.com |
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Rosemary
True Blue Farmgirl
1825 Posts
Virginia
USA
1825 Posts |
Posted - Jan 09 2007 : 2:49:37 PM
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Girls is there a way to print that off without printing the whole thread?
Don't know, Nancy Jo. I've uploaded a PDF file version that you can download here http://www.savefile.com/files/401034 . Just click on the Download button.
I think.  |
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Miss Bee Haven
True Blue Farmgirl
4331 Posts
Janice
Louisville/Irvington
Kentucky
USA
4331 Posts |
Posted - Jan 09 2007 : 2:57:49 PM
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The only computer I have right now is my work computer, so that's the only one I know. If I highlight whatever I want to print, then go up to file at the top of my screen, and drop down to print, an option appears in the print box for 'selection', which I check. Then just the highlighted item prints out.
"If you think you've got it nailed down, then what's all that around it?" - 'Brother Dave' Gardner |
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wovenheart
True Blue Farmgirl
80 Posts
Dona
Washington State
USA
80 Posts |
Posted - Jan 09 2007 : 3:04:58 PM
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Reminds me of our Danish tradition of rice pudding at Christmas time! We hide a nut in ours and the person that finds it gets a present! We pour a red currant or raspberry sauce over top.
"It's the beauty that thrills me with wonder...It's the stillness that fill me with peace." |
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Miss Bee Haven
True Blue Farmgirl
4331 Posts
Janice
Louisville/Irvington
Kentucky
USA
4331 Posts |
Posted - Jan 09 2007 : 3:13:25 PM
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Oh, my gosh, Dona! My second favorite thing(raspberry sauce) on top of my favorite thing(granny's rice pudding)! It's really too much for my mind to comprehend! I'm feeling giddy and blissful all at the same time.....I think I need to go and lie down! LOL
"If you think you've got it nailed down, then what's all that around it?" - 'Brother Dave' Gardner |
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wovenheart
True Blue Farmgirl
80 Posts
Dona
Washington State
USA
80 Posts |
Posted - Jan 09 2007 : 4:48:14 PM
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quote:
Originally posted by Miss Bee Haven
Oh, my gosh, Dona! My second favorite thing(raspberry sauce) on top of my favorite thing(granny's rice pudding)! It's really too much for my mind to comprehend! I'm feeling giddy and blissful all at the same time.....I think I need to go and lie down! LOL
"If you think you've got it nailed down, then what's all that around it?" - 'Brother Dave' Gardner
How funny!!! Truth be told, growing up we'd do anything to find the nut and the only way to choke down all that rice pudding was have it swimming in the red stuff:)
"It's the beauty that thrills me with wonder...It's the stillness that fill me with peace." |
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Marybeth
True Blue Farmgirl
6418 Posts
Mary Beth
Stanwood
Wa 98292
USA
6418 Posts |
Posted - Jan 09 2007 : 6:33:09 PM
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Virginia, My mother's side of the family is from Alsace-Lorraine, too. I always said I was French and German because i thought it sounded good. A crazy mix you might say. That rice pudding is just the way I learned from my mother and it is the BEST. I've made different kinds over the years but nothing compares to the very BEST. There is a little place up the way from here and they serve a remarkable rice pudding and you can get either vanilla sauce or bourban sauce, of course I go for the bourban. It's that crazy German French mix. Haha. MB
Nancy Jo, I printed it out by clicking on file in the upper left hand corner and the click print and click selection and it just prints anything you highlight. First highlight what you want to do. I am backwards. MB
www.strawberryhillsfarm.blogspot.com
www.day4plus.blogspot.com
"Life may not be the party we hoped for...but while we are here we might as well dance!" |
Edited by - Marybeth on Jan 09 2007 6:39:10 PM |
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Rosemary
True Blue Farmgirl
1825 Posts
Virginia
USA
1825 Posts |
Posted - Jan 11 2007 : 08:21:13 AM
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Bonjour, Mary Beth! (My name is Rosemary, by the way, and I live in Virginia. I fixed my profile thingie to correct the confusion! :-)
My grandmother says her mother-in-law (queen of Café Laugel) said when she was a child in school, they all came in for classes one day and a new teacher was there saying that now they would all speak German. It was quite shocking. I'll have to do a little research and see if I can figure out what miltary or political event had just taken place for that to happen. I figure she came to this country as a young woman in 1880 or so, which would have made her a schoolgirl about 1870. Franco-Prussian War, maybe?
Do you have any Alsatian family recipes to share? |
Edited by - Rosemary on Jan 11 2007 08:21:57 AM |
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Amie C.
True Blue Farmgirl
2099 Posts
Finger Lakes Region
NY
2099 Posts |
Posted - Jan 11 2007 : 08:33:49 AM
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I'm experiencing some of that crazy French-German mix too! As a kid, when I had to do a family tree for a class project, I put down that I was Italian, Irish, German and English. Then I found out that the English family name was really French with an Anglicized spelling and the German on one side was actually Alsace-Lorraine. (The Italian is half French too, for that matter. But that's another story.) My mother told me that her ancestors from Alsace-Lorraine came over here in the mid-19th century because there was a lot of fighting going on between France and Germany. The story she'd been told was that when the local creek/river started turning red with blood, that was what pushed them over the edge. But that sounds like an exaggeration...I hope.
Anyway, thanks so much for posting this recipe. I'll try it soon. |
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Mumof3
True Blue Farmgirl
3890 Posts
Karin
Ellenwood
GA
USA
3890 Posts |
Posted - Jan 11 2007 : 09:22:43 AM
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Mmmmmmmm- I love rice pudding! But I have a brother who loves it more, if that is possible.:) I will have to send off this yummy-looking recipe. And of course, make some for me!
Thanks, Rosemary!!
Karin |
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BarefootGoatGirl
True Blue Farmgirl
1495 Posts
Corrine
North Carolina
USA
1495 Posts |
Posted - Jan 11 2007 : 10:44:01 AM
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This sounds similar to a rice pudding that my Finish grandmother served for breakfast! When the goats are flooding me with milk, I will have to give it a try!
Trina
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Be thou diligent to know the state of thy flocks, and look well to thy herds. Proverbs 27:23 |
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Sweet Harvest Homestead
True Blue Farmgirl
279 Posts
Lindy
Stanfield
NC
USA
279 Posts |
Posted - Jan 12 2007 : 6:39:25 PM
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Oh what a treat!
Thank you for posting it. I have the good fresh eggs here already from our chickens and we buy our milk raw with a thick head of cream on top. My family is in for a treat!
The first time that I ever had rice pudding was in Key West Florida at a Cuban Bakery. They served the most wonderful cuban sandwiches, super sweet coffee and that grand rice pudding!
Thanks for the memory.
Lindy
www.sweetharvesthomestead.typepad.com |
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Rosemary
True Blue Farmgirl
1825 Posts
Virginia
USA
1825 Posts |
Posted - Jan 14 2007 : 6:51:29 PM
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I truly hope you'll enjoy this rice pudding.
Much as I love tea, I have to admit new love for that super-sweet Cuban coffee. A Cuban restaurant opened in the town nearest our farm recently, and I had the great pleasure of trying it there just this past week. WOW! I'm going to try reproducing it at home, using strong espresso.
Isn't it fun to discover new things -- and to rediscover the old? |
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walrissa
Farmgirl in Training
30 Posts
Larissa
Anchorage
AK
30 Posts |
Posted - Jan 15 2007 : 11:18:07 AM
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This sounds delicious. I had rice pudding empanadas at a Mexican place in Park Slope, Brooklyn a few years ago that was h e a v e n l y.
I'll especially have to try it since it reminds Trina of Finnish food. I was going to make nisu today or pannukakku for breakfast but we still have bread from yesterday so I got lazy. I should browse through my my Finnish cookbooks today. I know we all have many things to thank Martin Luther King Jr. for but I just have to say a small thanks for a three day weekend.
http://web.mac.com/lwrightelson/iWeb/Cormac%27s%20World/Welcome.html |
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Farm Kitchen: Riz au Lait du Cafe Laugel |
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Riz au Lait du Cafe Laugel
