Not all puddings are created equal

A recent visit to the dentist has kept me on a soft-food diet. You don’t realize the variety of foods you eat until they become limited.

I had my share of peanut butter, hazelnut spread, melted cheese, and puddings. None of this is really of great interest as far as this page is concerned. Do you need a recipe to scoop out peanut butter? That said, I reconvened my taste-test panel and tackled instant pudding.

Our panel was about equally split between male and female, with ages ranging from 48 to 16, and were all very interested in how this was going to play out, even though the information I gave to them was limited until after the tasting was over.

Our tasting subject was vanilla instant pudding mix. The variations were what we used for the liquid.

In looking up what makes instant pudding set, I came across a patent for the stuff, which says, in brief “The pudding compositions of the invention are formulated to be mixed with milk which then interacts with the gelling agents to coagulate and form a firm-but-smooth-textured pudding. The term “milk” is defined herein to include any aqueous solution of milk protein such as whole fluid milk, partially skimmed milk, skimmed milk, reconstituted nonfat dry milk, reconstituted casein, and the like.”

The puddings I’ve always made were with whatever milk I had on hand in the fridge, so this time I set out to try different fat ratios of milk. One package was to be made with heavy whipping cream, one with whole milk, one with 2 percent milk, one with skim milk, and for fun, the last one was going to be made with water.

My suspicion was that the level of fats would cause the flavor of the vanilla to become muted. I once made instant pudding with the very thick 40 percent heavy cream you can get at a nearby warehouse store, and it created a tasty thick substance which I suspected could also be used in masonry.

Making all the puddings was fairly straightforward, in that they all smelled the same, incorporated into the liquid nearly the same, and poured into the bowls just fine. However, the water batch seemed very runny all the way through the process, and never set up, even when allowed to sit in the fridge while the remaining batches were made up. The batch with the heavy whipping cream never fully incorporated, despite vigorous whisking, with the final product having occasional “crunchy” bits, likely sugar that hadn’t fully dissolved.

Tasters were unimpressed with the batch made with water. For one thing, it looked like melted butter. Comments included “looks like broth; watery; runny; tasted like pudding; right flavor; vanilla juice; gotta be made with skim milk; and weak and watery.”

Tasters were also unimpressed with the batch made from skim milk. It looked nearly like the water batch, except that it did set up and was scoopable with a spoon. Comments included “looks like is should; thick but kind of runny; buttery; watery; like donut filling; loose; not very rich; thick vanilla juice.”

Two percent milk was the sweet spot for many tasters. It came out with a pleasingly whitish-yellow color. Comments included “creamy and smooth; pretty good; full flavor; almost like frosting; tasted good but almost losing vanilla flavor; not as chalky; more typical of pudding.”

We normally use whole milk in our house, so this was the most familiar pudding for me, and a majority of the tasters agreed that this was their favorite. Comments included “softened creamy butter; thick; more creamy; less flavor but still vanilla; topping; coats tongue; nice aftertaste; like comfort food, good texture; could sit down with a giant bowl of it.”

The heavy whipping cream produced a very interesting product. It is about a 35 percent fat level. Comments included “fluffy; tastes like whipped cream with smidge of vanilla; vanilla aftertaste; indulgent; dip texture; mousse; tastes like cream; super whipped cream with vanilla; heavy cream aftertaste; margarine; too thick and pasty.”

This taste test proved to me that the higher the fat content in milk, the more flavor is muted, at least in pudding. The heavy whipping cream fats carry a lot of thickening ability, which is why I like to use the 40 percent stuff in sauces, in moderation.

The takeaway for me in this was while the package of pudding said to add milk, you will be more satisfied with at least a 2 percent level, if not whole milk. If you want mousse, follow a real mousse recipe, instead of using the heavy cream. I actually prefer a cooked vanilla pudding.

COOKED VANILLA PUDDING

1/3 cup sugar

2 tablespoons cornstarch

1/8 teaspoon salt

2 cups milk

2 large egg yolks, slightly beaten

1 1/2 tablespoons butter

2 teaspoons vanilla

In a two-quart saucepan, mix sugar, cornstarch and salt. Gradually stir in milk. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until mixture thickens and boils. Boil and stir one minute. Stir up to half of the hot mixture by spoonfuls into the egg yolks, then stir back into hot mixture in saucepan. Boil and stir one minute; remove from heat. Stir in butter and vanilla. Pour pudding into dessert dishes. Cover and refrigerate about one hour or until chilled. Store covered in refrigerator.