For the pudding, milk, sugar, rice, butter, cinnamon, cardamom, orange, lemon, and salt boil in a large pot for about an hour before Whitehead adds the egg mixture and cools..
Meanwhile, saffron goes into a pot to create a saffron gelee.
For the gelee, Whitehead first cooks wine, sugar, saffron and salt until wine "loses its 'raw' flavor," she says.
While the saffron mixture boils, Whitehead blooms the gelatin in cold water.
The gelation is stirred until dissolved, then added into the hot wine/saffron. The mixture is then strained into a shallow container lined with plastic wrap..
Once chilled and set, the gelee can be peeled from the plastic and cut into shapes.
Whitehead preps some blood orange for the finished pudding.