Dishes · A classic of Norman · The Pays d'Auge and the Calvados coast
Teurgoule
Also Terrinée, Normandy rice pudding
Rice baked for hours in milk with sugar and cinnamon, in a wide earthenware bowl, until creamy underneath and dark brown on top.
What makes it teurgoule
Short-grain rice, whole milk, sugar and cinnamon — no eggs, no cream.
Baked very low for five hours or more.
A thick, dark, almost burnt skin on top.
Where it comes from
The name is usually explained as Norman dialect for twist the mouth — from the cinnamon, or from eating it too hot. Cinnamon is a surprise in a dairy region, and it's often said to have come through Norman ports such as Honfleur, though that's hard to pin down.
It was traditionally baked in the bread oven as it cooled, and it's served with a slice of fallue, a Norman brioche. A brotherhood in Houlgate on the coast keeps it.