Banana pudding
A dessert of the American South in which the important part happens without the cook: the wafers absorb custard and over four hours turn into a layer with the texture of sponge. Which is why eating it straight away misses the point. Two things decide success: the bananas must be ripe but firm, since overripe ones brown and collapse, and the meringue must touch the sides of the dish, or it shrinks away from the custard into a dome.
Your own work in that: 20 min.
- Custard 25 min
- Assembly 20 min
- Meringue 20 min
- Chilling 240 min
Step by step
0 / 8 doneCook a thick vanilla custard
Heat the milk until almost boiling. Beat the yolks with the sugar, cornflour and salt, temper with the hot milk, pour back into the pan and cook over medium heat 3 minutes past thickening, stirring constantly. The custard must be thick — it has to soften the wafers, and a thin one simply runs to the bottom of the dish.
Ingredients: 750 ml milk · 5 pcs egg yolks · 150 g sugar · 50 g cornflour · 40 g butter · 2 tsp vanilla extract · ½ tsp salt
Thick custard coating the spoon — thin runs to the bottom.Stir in butter and vanilla off the heat
Take off the heat and stir in the butter and two teaspoons of vanilla extract. Two, not one: vanilla is the leading flavour here, and chilling mutes it noticeably.
Ingredients: 750 ml milk · 5 pcs egg yolks · 150 g sugar · 50 g cornflour · 40 g butter · 2 tsp vanilla extract · ½ tsp salt
Toss the bananas with lemon
Cut the bananas into 5 mm slices and toss gently with lemon juice. The acid holds off browning for several hours — without it the banana layer greys before the dessert reaches the table.
Ingredients: 300 g vanilla wafers · 5 pcs bananas · ½ pcs lemon
Stand wafers around the sides
Stand the wafers upright against the sides of an ovenproof glass dish (about 2.5 litres) and lay some across the base — keep the rest for the following layers. Upright wafers against the glass are standard here — they are what makes the layers show so clearly through the side.
Ingredients: 300 g vanilla wafers · 5 pcs bananas · ½ pcs lemon
Upright against the glass — that is where the stripes come from.Build alternating layers
Spread a layer of custard, then bananas, then wafers, and repeat, finishing with custard. Custard on top is essential: meringue laid on bananas will not stick and slides off at the first cut.
Ingredients: 750 ml milk · 5 pcs egg yolks · 150 g sugar · 50 g cornflour · 40 g butter · 2 tsp vanilla extract · ½ tsp salt
Whip the meringue and seal the edges
Whip the whites with a pinch of salt, adding the sugar a spoonful at a time, to stiff peaks, then fold in the cornflour. Spread over the custard, pressing it right to the edges of the dish — meringue that does not touch the sides shrinks and pulls away.
Ingredients: 5 pcs egg whites · 120 g sugar · 1 tsp cornflour · 1 pinch salt
Pressed to the edges — otherwise it shrinks into a dome.Brown the meringue
Pull the meringue into peaks with a spoon and bake 15 minutes at 180°C, until the tips colour. Baking stabilises the meringue — raw, it settles and weeps within an hour in the fridge.
Ingredients: 5 pcs egg whites · 120 g sugar · 1 tsp cornflour · 1 pinch salt
Chill four hours
Cool to room temperature, then chill 4 hours. This is not setting but transformation: the wafers must absorb the custard and lose their crispness. Eaten after an hour it is still custard with biscuits in it.
Ingredients: 300 g vanilla wafers · 5 pcs bananas · ½ pcs lemon
Before you start
The whipped cream version
Many American households make banana pudding with whipped cream instead of meringue — no oven needed and the result is lighter. Meringue is the older version; both are accepted and both have fierce defenders.
Which biscuits
The classic is American Nilla Wafers — round, dry and distinctly vanilla. Elsewhere: Marie biscuits, or sponge fingers snapped in half. What matters is that they are dry — soft biscuits collapse into paste.
Two days, no more
The pudding keeps two days and peaks on the second. By the third the bananas brown despite the lemon and the meringue weeps. It does not freeze — thawed bananas turn to mush.
