World's Best Rice Pudding

Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Heat butter in a 4 quart saucepan. When frothy add rice and cook for a minute. Slowly add milk, pinch salt, sugar, vanilla, cranberries and bring to under a boil. Transfer to a 9 inch square baking pan and set in oven. Bake uncovered for 1 1/2 hours stirring every 15 minutes, then bake without stirring for 30 minutes. Stir in cranberries, stir and bake for another half hour (for a total of 2 1/2 hours). Variations: Add 1/2 cup cream in the last half hour of baking. If you want a crusty topping, take 1/2 cup dark brown sugar mix with 2 tablespoons butter, reduce sugar to 1/4 cup. Once out of oven, crumble brown sugar and butter mix, over rice pudding and run the pudding under the broiler until melted and bubbly.