Try this Southern Banana Pudding recipe, or contribute your own.
- Carbohydrate 261.073101679358 g
- Cholesterol 3012.55000062319 mg
- Fat 253.408723501641 g
- Fiber 6.72441666666667 g
- Protein 56.0970050093252 g
- Saturated Fat 119.432733438103 g
- Serving Size 1 1 recipe (1083g)
- Sodium 43146.299453816 mg
- Sugar 254.348685012691 g
- Trans Fat 12.3794513420125 g
- Calories 3553 calories
Step-by-step
- Twist the vanilla bean but don’t scrape it and then add it to a medium pot with the milk and 1 cup of the cream.
- Heat slowly until almost simmering and then cover, remove from heat and allow to steep for 20 minutes.
- Put the egg yolks in a bowl and whisk in the sugar, then the flour and salt.
- Whisk until completely smooth and make sure there are no lumps hiding in there.
- Remove the vanilla bean from the milk and add a little of the milk to the egg yolks to temper the yolks. Stir slowly.
- Slowly add the rest of the milk to the egg yolks, stirring gently.
- Pour the egg mixture back into the saucepan and cook over medium-high heat until the custard thickens, whisking constantly. This should take 3-5 minutes. The custard should be very thick and will start to boil.
- Be sure you scrape the bottom and sides of the pan.
- After the custard begins to boil, cook for one minute longer and then remove it from the heat. The custard will be very thick.
- Strain through a fine-meshed sieve into a large bowl.
- Immediately whisk in the remaining 1 cup of cream and the three teaspoons of vanilla.
- Continue whisking until the cream is completely mixed in.
- Spoon a thin layer of warm custard on the bottom of the dish, and cover with a layer of vanilla wafers.
- I like to crush some of the wafers and leave some whole.
- Add a layer of sliced bananas and then start over with the custard.
- Continue until you run out of wafers and bananas, and finish with a layer of custard, then crumble a few vanilla wafers over the top.
- I like to serve the banana pudding while it's still warm, and usually don't even bother to add a topping. However, if you like you can add a meringue or a whippedcream topping.
- To make the whipped cream topping, have your bowl and beaters in the fridge for a bit and then take them out and add the cream.
- Beat with electric mixer until cream starts to get a little stiff, then add the sugarand vanilla.
- Continue beating at high speed until cream holds peaks.
- Do not over-mix or it will curdle.
- You can make this a little bit ahead of time. Serve a dollop of cream on top of each serving of the banana pudding or spread across the top before crumbling the wafers.
Did the eggs just scramble into bits? That disaster happens when hot milk hits cold yolks too fast. Achieving a smooth pastry cream requires deliberate temperature control and proper technique.
- Temper the twelve egg yolks slowly by streaming in only a few tablespoons of the hot, steeped dairy while whisking constantly.
- Cook the mixture over medium-high heat for three to five minutes, whisking continuously and scraping the bottom so the flour does not scorch.
- Boil the custard for exactly one minute after it thickens to cook out the raw starch flavor from the one-third cup of flour.
- Strain the hot mixture through a fine-meshed sieve immediately to catch any stray coagulated egg bits.
- Chill mixing bowls and beaters in the refrigerator before whipping the heavy cream to stiff peaks, ensuring the fat stays cold enough to hold its structure.
Using a split vanilla bean infuses the dairy with complex aromatic oils that bottled extract cannot replicate. Ripe bananas sliced a quarter to a half-inch thick maintain their structural integrity against the dense custard better than paper-thin slices.
