Custard rice pudding (Pierre Hermé's method)

Bring a small pan of water to the boil for blanching the rice.

In the large saucepan, put all the milk, all the sugar and the vanilla: split the pod, scrape out the seeds with a knife, and add both pod and seeds.

Over medium heat, very slowly bring the milk almost to the boil.

Rinse the rice under cold water, then boil it in the boiling water for two minutes and drain.

Add the drained rice to the warm milk and mix well.

On a very small burner, cook at an absolute simmer, said as 30 to 35 minutes; the rice was cooked and creamy after 45 minutes.

Turn the heat off and immediately remove the vanilla pods.

Stir in 30 g cold butter until melted, to bring the temperature down enough for the yolks and add creaminess.

Add two, or up to three, egg yolks and keep the mixture moving so the egg does not cook too much, until it turns a light yellow custard.

Pour onto a tray to cool quickly, then put in the fridge or briefly the freezer to cool rapidly before serving.