Granny
Makes Pudding
 Okay, grandkids, today we are going to make an old-fashioned
banana pudding, grandma’s way, not that new fangled stuff they
make with instant pudding and phony whipped cream. Phooey! Ours
will be made from scratch - real pudding made on the stove and
real meringue on top.
Here’s what we need, a baking dish, a bowl and a large pot.
Let’s make a big one. Banana pudding will not last long.
Measure out 1-1/2 cups of sugar. That’s okay; we can clean up
the spills later. Now we need 4 eggs, and this is the tricky
part; we have to separate the yokes from the whites.
Crack the egg and let the white part run out. Oh, we need the
bowl. Whew, that was close. Now put the yoke in the other half
of the eggshell and separate the rest. See? You try it now.
Crack it carefully, and… Uh oh, the yoke broke. Oh me, the
whites will not beat up fluffy with yellow in them. We will try
and get it out with a spoon.
Put the sugar in the pot, and stir the egg yokes into the dry
sugar. That’s a little grandma trick to make the egg mix in.
Now stir in 2/3-cup flour, and 4 cups of milk. Just add a little
of each at the time and stir it in, so it will mix.
Okay, put the heat on medium and cook. We have to stir it the
whole time or it could burn. While grandma stirs, you can fix
the wafers and bananas. Make a layer of vanilla wafers in the
bottom of the baking dish, and then a layer of sliced bananas.
You did remember to wash your hands first, I hope?
Oh, the pudding is boiling. It’s sticking to the bottom?
Stir! We have to cook it until it boils gets thick and then 2
minutes extra. Why? I don’t know why. Don’t question me now
while I’m busy.
Grandma will take it off the heat, and add 4 tablespoons of
butter and a dash or two of vanilla. As long as it doesn’t
taste scorched, we can still use it. We will pour half over the
wafers and bananas. Yes, I know we are using store-bought
wafers. It is not going to be THAT homemade. Now, make another
layer of wafers and another layer of banana and pudding. Hurry
before the pudding gets cool.
You can lick the pot while grandma makes meringue. See: whip
the egg white with a fourth teaspoon of cream of tartar, another
little grandma secret. When they are fluffy, we will add a
teaspoon of vanilla and 2 tablespoons of sugar for each egg. Why
are they not getting fluffy? It must be that yoke that got in
the mix. What a mess.
Throw it away and get some more eggs out. Grandma doesn’t
remember it being this difficult when she used to make it. We
will beat until peaks form and add the sugar. Now, spread on top
of the pudding. You can use your finger to make peaks in the
meringue. No! Don’t lick you finger first!
Grandma will put it in the oven and let the meringue brown
for 10 or 15 minutes. We can clean up some of this mess while we
wait for it to finish. Let’s check it. Eeek! It’s burning!
Get out of way and let grandma get it out of the oven. I don’t
understand it. It was only in there for 10 minutes. Well, it is
a bit brown, but not too bad. Thank goodness we checked when we
did or it would have been a burnt offering.
When it cools a while, we can eat it. Grandma feels a bit
dizzy. Must be from standing over the heat. Grandma better sit
down for a while before she faints and falls into the pudding.
We have had enough disaster for one day already.
It does look pretty good. Maybe grandma can make a cook out
of you yet. The next time, though, we will just use pudding and
whipped cream. The old way is too much trouble.
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