Poesje mauw, kom er eens gauw
Ik heb lekkere melk voor jou
En voor mij rijstebrij
Oh, wat heerlijk smullen wij
In English, roughly: “Kitty meow, come quickly, I have tasty milk for you. And for me, rice porridge. Oh, how deliciously we will eat!” And if you don't know the song, you could always take a cue from adorable two-year-old Corinna Konijnenburg from Pernis, who sang it like this, sitting on Dorus's lap in 1967. How cute is that?
What is it?
Rijstebrij is a traditional Dutch rice-and-milk dish, closely related to rijstepap, or rice porridge. The distinction between the two has never been entirely solidified, but traditionally, rijstebrij is described as the thicker version, with relatively more rice and little or no sugar cooked into it, whereas rijstepap is generally thinner and is sweetened during cooking. In modern Dutch, however, the two names are often used interchangeably, so I wouldn't get too hung up on the distinction.
In 1799, the Nederduitsch Taalkundig Woordenboek defined rijstebrij simply as “a mixture of rice and milk.” Interestingly, the dictionary also gives the then-popular Frisian term rijstepotmerg (literally something like “rice-pot marrow”) emphasizing the particular place this dish held, and still holds, in Frisian food culture.
And Friesland does indeed have a special relationship with rijstebrij, also known as dikke rijst, thick rice. The dish was not only served as a dessert but could also appear as a substantial meal, accompanied by sugar, syrup, and a generous knob of butter: essentially a thick, comforting rice porridge, perfect for feeding large families, and providing plenty of fuel for physical labor. Nowadays, dikke rijst is generally served as a dessert.
Where did the rice come from?
Rice was imported into the Netherlands from Italy as early as the late Middle Ages, and was considered both a delicacy as well as a restorative food for the sick. By the sixteenth century, Italian rice was already being husked before export. Later, rice imports from the Dutch East Indies increased, while rice also arrived from the Carolinas in the southern United States, but this rice needed to be husked. Amsterdam became an important center for rice milling, processing much of the unhusked rice before it was sold. After about 1850, the rice-milling industry shifted largely to the Zaan region, with steam milling factories such as the Hollandia, De Unie en Kamphuys.
Recipe
