Teurgoule
Ingredients
- 1 litre milk (2% or higher)
- 100 g light brown sugar
- 20 g cinnamon sticks, or 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- 65 g arborio or other short-grain rice
- Pinch of salt
Cinnamon reached Normandy through the port of Le Havre in the seventeenth century, and teurgoule is what the region did with it: rice, milk and sugar baked uncovered in a deep earthenware dish for three and a half hours at a very low temperature. Nothing is stirred and nothing is added. The milk reduces slowly into the rice while the surface darkens into a thick brown crust that has to be broken to reach the cream underneath. The name is local dialect for 'twists the mouth', a joke about eating it too hot.
Method
Heat the oven to 150°C (300°F).
Bring the milk, sugar and cinnamon sticks to a simmer in a saucepan, then take it off the heat and remove the cinnamon sticks.
Put the rice into a deep earthenware dish and pour the hot milk over it.
Add a pinch of salt and stir gently once.
Bake for 3½ hours, until a thick crust has formed on top.
Take it out and let it cool to room temperature before serving.
