Reply To: Masters of Song-Fu
Do you have British-style measuring containers, Ceph? By which I guess I mean American-style containers — measuring cups and teaspoon measures & so on? Because if you do, you can try one of the recipes at the site that Rob just posted and see what you think. Otherwise, you can compare the ingredients with ones in metric cookbooks and see if you can find a doable version.
One of the things that was funny about Jeff’s song, though, was that in general, pudding is NOT really thought of as a delectable dessert. It’s considered more of a sort of pedestrian dessert — the kind you’d serve the kids, because it’s sweet and milky and relatively wholesome. You would most likely not see it on the menu at an upscale restaurant unless that restaurant had a kind of retro ambience. But it’s real comfort food, and you’d be hardpressed to find an American who hadn’t eaten and enjoyed it at some time in his/her life.
I looked at some of the other recipes on Rob’s Alton Brown website — they include one that’s a more refined version of chocolate pudding which includes milk, milk powder AND two cups of heavy cream, as well as egg yolks and several types of chocolate. As you can imagine, something with that many rich sources of delicious fat would in all likelihood be quite yummy, but look at the science quotient in its instructions:
In a nonreactive saucepan, combine 2 cups milk and sugar. Bring the liquid up to a boil to dissolve the sugar, reduce to a simmer. Whisk in the chocolate pieces and whisk until the chocolate is completely melted. In a small bowl, whisk the yolks together.
Temper the yolks into the chocolate mixture. In another small bowl, whisk the remaining milk and cornstarch together for a slurry. Slowly add the slurry into hot chocolate mixture and mix thoroughly. Bring the liquid up to a boil and cook, stirring constantly until the mixture is thick. Remove from the heat and stir in the vanilla and butter.
Not something the average person would just throw together on a whim.