Mi2Sweets – The Sweet Blog

01/18: Proof is in the puddin’

I was watching the mildly entertaining film “New in Town” the other night–I say mildly because while I love all the actors in the film (big J.K. Simmons fan) the film itself wasn’t up to par–and had to chuckle at a scene in a Minnesota shopping mall where Lucy (Renee Zellweger) and Blanche (Siobhan Falon) are testing marketing their latest creation. It’s a tapioca pudding cup made from Blanche’s secret recipe which they’re trying to pass off a healthy “energy” snack. As Blanche, in all that gosh darn Minnesotan earnest, proclaims the creamy sweet concoction as being chockful of vitamins and minerals, the kids greedily lap it up, completely oblivious to its health benefits. Soon the pudding is flying off the shelves and the town’s only manufacturing plant is saved.

Yes, the story is silly. But I love the idea of pudding saving the day. A good pudding has certain made my day on countless occasions. I don’t use the term loosely. When I say pudding, I mean the rich and creamy variety–sort like Blanche’s tapioca. I made the mistake when I was in England a long time ago of ordering the “pudding” special at a restaurant and getting a dense cake-like substance. In England pretty much all desserts are referred to as a “pudding” regardless of texture. When I was little my mom would do her version of pudding, which was more like a very thick sweet soup, made with everything from very finely ground almonds (sieved several times for extra smoothness) or black sesame, to red bean. It was very tasty, but it lacked the mouthfeel, the heavy silken quality of chocolate pudding, something I discovered when I was about seven. Mom had decided to give Jello instant pudding a whirl. I was hooked.

It took years before I ventured into the homemade variety. But once I did, it was hard to go back to the packaged stuff. At first it was only the smooth stuff, with the occasional foray into tapioca. Then, I got into rice pudding–though my version is more like a risotto (made with Carnaroli or Arborio) baked in a custard, then cooled and folded with whipped cream. At last I moved onto bread pudding, something I really didn’t get into until I discovered that bread pudding didn’t have to resemble a dense baked french toast, which had been the case with most of the bread puddings I’d thus eaten. My feeling is, if you’re gonna call something a pudding, there had damn well better be plenty of it. One of the biggest pet peeve of mine, relating to desserts, is when there is more “bread” than pudding. Such was the case recently with a flavorful yet awfully dense “cornbread pudding” I had at a popular Italian restaurant. I almost felt like screaming, like the lady in the infamous Wendy’s “where’s the beef?” commercial, “where’s my pudding!?”

A well-made pudding is a thing to behold. It can save the day…or in my case save the meal.

Posted January 18th, 2009 | Leave a Comment