1. Rinse a heavy saucepan with cold water; leave wet. Place 4 cups of the milk, the sugar, salt and vanilla bean in the pan (if using vanilla extract, do not add it now). Cover and bring slowly to a boil. Stir in the rice with a large fork. Cover and simmer gently, stirring occasionally, until the rice is quite tender, about 40 minutes. Remove the vanilla bean; scrape the seeds into the rice mixture and stir in. 2. Preheat the oven to 400 F, with a rack in the center. Butter a 12-inch oval pudding or gratin dish or other large shallow baking dish. In a bowl, beat the egg, egg yolks and the remaining 2 cups milk until combined (if you are using vanilla extract, add it now). Add this mixture and the raisins to the rice and stir to combine. Pour into the prepared baking dish. Set the baking dish in a roasting pan, and place in the oven. Pour enough hot tap water into the roasting pan to reach about halfway up the sides of the baking dish. 3. Bake for 25 minutes. Stir the pudding gently with a fork to redistribute the rice. Bake for another 25 minutes. Stir again; lightly sprinkle the surface of the pudding with the cinnamon. Bake until the top of the pudding has crusted over lightly and is spotted with gold; the pudding should still be slightly liquid, another 25 minutes. (The total baking time is about 1 1/4 hours. The timing can vary based on the depth and size of the baking dish; do not overbake.) 4. Remove the pudding from the water bath and cool on a wire rack. Serve lukewarm or slightly chilled. Both recipes are from _Classic Home Desserts_ by Richard Sax. Posted to EAT-L Digest 28 Aug 96 From: Felicia Pickering Date: Thu, 29 Aug 1996 18:25:30 EDT