Why Stirring Pudding May Actually Ruin It - Tasting Table (2024)

FAQs

Why Stirring Pudding May Actually Ruin It - Tasting Table? ›

While cooking, over-mixing will result in a watery texture, while not whisking enough will create lumps, so stop stirring the second your pudding starts to look thick and luscious.

Resist the urge to stir

Once your pudding is set and chilling in the fridge, you're done stirring. Nope, don't even give it a swirl before serving up in dessert dishes. Extra stirring after the fact will loosen up the rich texture of the pudding that you worked so hard to create.

But just how much should you mix your pudding? The answer is not so easy. Baking Kneads points out that if you mix your pudding too much, it can also become watery. However, if you don't mix it enough, you will have the other extreme where your ingredients were not properly combined.

Answer: Weeping or curdling occurs when egg mixtures are cooked too fast or too long. The proteins over coagulate, then separate from each other leaving little Miss Muffet's curds and whey. To fix custard with lumps, use an immersion blender.

Pudding is usually runny because it has been stored in the refrigerator for too long or in an open space. Another cause could be due to improper cooking methods.

The Stir-Up traditions:

Christmas pudding would traditionally contain 13 ingredients to represent Jesus and his disciples. It is traditionally stirred (while making a wish) by each member of the family from East to West, to resemble the Wise Men that visited Jesus in the Nativity Story.

My personal all time favorite is to add chunks or slices of bananas into the pudding and adding either whole or crushed vanilla wafer cookies. It adds texture and flavor. You could also add chunks of or shaved chocolate, to imitate the flavor of chocolate covered bananas.

For these basins we suggest steaming initially for 3 hours, and then for a further 3 hours before eating. As steaming is a very gentle form of cooking it is difficult to overcook the puddings, so the same steaming time for both size basins is fine.

Once the pudding cooled and the fat solidified, any bits that hadn't been thoroughly broken down came across as grainy on the tongue. Vigorously whisking the pudding—or any custard with a generous amount of butter—breaks down the fat into tiny droplets that are too small to detect once the mixture cools.

So go for a handheld immersion blender or an electric whisk to smooth out the pudding. Strain:Use a fine-mesh sieve to strain out the undesired lumps for a silky and creamy end result. This should take you a total of 5 to 10 minutes, depending on the quantity you've cooked.

Can you cook a pudding too long? ›

Steaming a smaller pudding for longer is not going to spoil it. We have steamed 1lb puddings for 8 hours many times.

TASTE AND TEXTURE:

The taste of the cooked pudding is much richer and more complex than the instant. It's got a structure to the texture that isn't limp or watery. It feels as though a much more substantial transformation has occurred in the cooked pudding than in the instant. It's thick and slightly lumpy.

If your almond milk-based instant pudding isn't setting properly for your pie, you can try these quick solutions: gently heat and stir the mixture on the stovetop, add a small amount of cornstarch or gelatin, mix in a bit more instant pudding mix, or let it set in the refrigerator for more time.

Cover the surface of the pudding with a round piece of parchment and refrigerate until the pudding reaches 45 degrees F, approximately 2 hours.

To make pudding: Combine 2 cups of milk with ½ cup of the instant pudding mix in a medium saucepan over high heat, whisking constantly. Bring to a boil, and then immediately reduce the heat to a simmer and continue whisking until the mixture thickens and coats the back of a spoon (about 3 to 5 minutes).

By tradition the pudding mixture is stirred from East to West in honor of the three wise men who visited the baby Jesus. In some households, silver coins are added to the pudding mix. It is believed that finding a coin brings good luck.