Celebrate Jon Hamm’s Birthday With This Rice Pudding

By Cassie Murdoch March 10, 2011

It’s grey and gloomy outside, but who cares because you know what? It’s Jon Hamm’s 40th birthday!!! That’s right, today our own personal superhero is one year older! So what can we do to celebrate the man who brought sexy-in-a-suit back and saved us all from a nation of Dockers-wearing schlubs? (OK, so that last bit hasn’t quite come true yet, but I have high hopes that the men of America will catch on eventually…) I’ll tell you what we can do: we can make the amazing rice pudding that I was already planning to make today before I remembered that it was his birthday! Except we’ll call it Hamm Pudding, and we’ll sing him a song before we eat it. Won’t you join me in hosting your very own Hamm Pudding Party? Of course you will, because nobody — not one single lady on Earth — can resist Don Draper’s charms.

I swear, you guys, this pudding is so delicious. It’s so rich and creamy, and vanilla-y, and comforting — kind of like Jon Hamm, now that I think about it. Anyway, Hamm Pudding is also wonderful because it only takes a little while to make and is almost impossible to screw up; so you’ll have plenty of time left in the day for looking at these and watching this. OK, let’s get this party started.

Here’s what you’ll need:

-8 cups whole milk (Even if you are the kind of person who is scared of fat, I beg you to please use whole milk. C’mon, just do it, live in the moment, etc.)

-1 cup white rice (I used Jasmine today, but Basmati is also good, or really anything you have on hand.)

-1 cup sugar

-2 tablespoons butter

-2 teaspoons vanilla extract

-1/4 teaspoon salt

-1 cup heavy cream (See above note about going whole-hog with the full-fat dairy.)

-Cinnamon for sprinkling

-Optional: raisins and/or nuts (I’m a purist, but if you like these things and want them in your pudding, feel free to add them!)

Here’s what to do:

-Put the milk, rice, sugar, butter, vanilla extract, and salt into a large saucepan. (I wouldn’t use anything smaller than a 4-quart pan.)

-Put the pan over high heat and bring the milk to a boil. Watch it somewhat closely because if it hits a full-on boil, it will bubble up like crazy and go all over your stove if you’re not careful. So as soon as it hits a boil, turn the heat down to low and get the milk to a gentle simmer.

-Simmer and stir (every 10 minutes or so) for anywhere from 45 minutes to an hour, until the rice is super tender. It’s pretty hard to overcook, so err on the side of having too-tender rice, because this is not a situation where al dente is desirable…

-Take the pan off the heat, and stir in the cup of heavy cream.

-Pour the whole mess into a big serving dish. (It can be a 13×9 pan or you can use a round salad bowl-type of thing like I did.) I’ve found this to be an especially splattery process, so try to do it slowly if you want to minimize the mess. If you’re using fruit/nuts, stir them in now.

-Cover the dish and chill the pudding in the fridge for 3 to 4 hours.

-Check to see if a skin has formed on top of the pudding. If it has, just pull as much of it off as you can with a spoon. Then stir up the chilled pudding, and sprinkle the top of the pudding with cinnamon. (Alternatively, you can spoon out the pudding first and then sprinkle cinnamon on top of each individual dish.)