I grew up to the boxed My-T-Fine chocolate pudding mixes still available today, however, sometime in my childhood Jell-O brand came out with a line of puddings as well, and I tend to find more options in the latter, lately. And then there’s instant pudding, of which, I am not a fan.
Sure, when I was hit by the Amish Friendship Bread whirlwind you would find a box or two of instant puddings in my pantry, but as that phenomena has died down for me, you’d be hard pressed to find a box in my cabinet. Or even cooked pudding mixes… Really.
Way back in tfe early 1970’s, (wow) I found a recipe for scratch pudding, being the pudding snob I am had me giving this a whirl in a Chocolate Cream Pie for some holiday. Everyone loved it-and I’m referring to my parents and siblings. Ever since I prefer to make puddings from scratch,
Funny story, one year as Thanksgiving approached I was at a boyfriend’s house and Thanksgiving desserts came up. I stated I made a scratch chocolate pudding pie and my boyfriend’s father said that was impossible because no one makes real pudding anymore. I respectfully disagreed and promised, and delivered one scratch chocolate pudding pie. He was shocked and perplexed, “why would you go through all that when you could just use the mix?” He asked. I replied that I thought the scratch pudding was much better than the pre-mix. He agreed.
My youngest son will only eat scratch made pudding, and learned how to make it himself, which is fortunate because he now lives in Henderson, NV, which makes for a very long trip to make it for him. Don’t misunderstand-I HAVE ventured out west to see him (and make the pie) but it’s a relief I’m not required to make it an annual trek.
So, I imagine what I make is an English-American sort of pudding. The French make mousse, and now I’ve discovered the Italians make budino (pudding) also. Of course, that now has me wondering if every country, continent, ethnicity (etc) has each their own versions as well. This could turn into a global search for all the kinds of puddings mankind has invented. But I think for now, I’ll stick with the three.
Chocolate budino is an Italian pudding, made with very few ingredients, dark, bittersweet chocolate, and very little sugar to keep the taste on the bittersweet side.
It’s usually made and released from a fancy mold, because, as we all know, your eyes taste first. I’ve only seen photos of unmolded budino and it’s quite impressive, but I couldn’t figure out a decent mold from my cabinets so I passed on the fancy presentation and just went straight for the grown-up taste. I was not disappointed.
The recipe comes courtesy of Recipes from Italy with full instructions and photos! I forget to snap photos during my cooking sprees, although once in a while I get a few “in progress” shots; I’m happy if I remember a “before & after” shot.
Here’s the link to the recipe:
And a photo of a serving I made. I didn’t garnish it, as I was only experimenting-next time I’ll find a mild and garnish with mint or whipped cream, or add some fresh raspberries, strawberries or maybe even cherries!!!
I only used a 60% cacao, and think I will go higher next time!
Until next time-Mangia!
-Aunt Barbara
IJN
