Can black pudding be stored long-term?

Question

A local restaurateur and friend of mine is making black puddings, and I am trading him a christmas pudding for one of his black puddings. I was considering saving it for a month or two.

Can I freeze it? Is it shelf stable like a hard sausage or bologna would be?

Answer

Black pudding freezes very well and should keep for a couple of months easily. It is not cured like salamis or other hard sausages, it's just boiled in the skin, so it does not keep as well at ambient temperatures.

When you do cook it, try it with pork tenderloin, mashed potato and fresh apple sauce. Just fry half-inch slices. Fantastic.

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Can I substitute agar-agar for gelatin in pudding?

Question

Can china grass (agar-agar) be substituted in place of gelatin when making pudding? Or is there any other ingredient i could use as a substitute that could give me better results?

Answer

Agar is not a good choice for pudding because it makes a brittle gel and it won't melt in your mouth at body temperature. What you want for pudding is a starch based thickener. What we call pudding in the US at least is typically thickened with cornstarch. Modified starches like Ultra-Tex 3 can also work well. Are you thinking of something more along the lines of panna cotta, which does normally have gelatin in it? If so, you might try carageenan instead of agar. Here's a recipe that looks promising: http://irishherault.wordpress.com/2009/12/24/vegetarian-panna-cotta/

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How do I keep my bread pudding from collapsing?

Question

I'm using my mom's bread pudding recipe which is:

• 2 1/2 Cups of Bread Bits
• 2 Eggs
• 1 Cup of Milk
• 1 Tsp of Vanilla
• 1 Tsp of Cinnamon
• 1/2 Cup of Sugar

I doubled the recipe and put it into two pans and baked it for 45 minutes. It rose quite a bit, but as soon as I pulled it out of the oven it collapsed like a dying star.

Is there anyway to keep it from collapsing?

Answer

A souffle by any other name will fall as quick.

(Sorry, I couldn't resist). But this is absolutely normal, there is nothing in this recipe to support the structural integrity of cooling air bubbles. You can reduce the amount of rising, which will result in a smaller collapse. To do this, beat the mixture less (prepare it by hand instead with a mixer to be sure) and ensure slower, more even heating in the oven. But of course, the collapse will occur.

There is some advice floating around which is supposed to reduce the falling rate of souffles. You could try following it even if your recipe doesn't involve whipping the eggwhites. It involves things like not crowding the oven and carefully buttering the form, usually with layers of butter and sugar (or parmesan for savory souffles). It won't hurt to use them. But don't expect a risen pudding after it has cooled.

Update. I read Charlotte Farley's answer and thought that it would be great if it works. I had a hunch that it might not, but it would be so awesome if it helps! So I made the experiment.

I made the bread pudding exactly per the recipe given here. I didn't separate the eggs, but took care to whip them for a long time before adding the milk, to ensure a good rise. I baked it in silicon muffin cups, exactly 5 gram of bread and 45 gram of egg mixture per cup. After 45 min at 150°C, I quickly removed three cups from the oven and left the remaining three cups there for another 45 min. As a control, I used a simple cheese souffle (basically a mornay sauche with whipped egg whites) and repeated the procedures, using 50 g mixture per cup and baking for 20 min at 175°C.

The results:

These are the bread puddings. The directly removed are in the lower row, the ones which remained in the oven are in the upper row. I didn't measure them, but they are nearly the same height. In the oven, all had risen maybe 1 cm over the cup edges, so they all lost ~50% of their oven height. The first group collapsed the second they were out of the oven, the others deflated slowly in the oven, but were already low when I took them out.

I weighed both groups after cooling. The "direct from the oven group" weighed 116 g, or 11.3 g average moisture loss per pudding. The "left in oven group" weighed 101 g, or 16.3 g average moisture loss per pudding. When I tried them, I liked the moister ones better, but both groups were OK. Neither was unacceptably dry or egg-white-rubbery.

These are the cheese soufflés. They rose more in the oven, to maybe 2.5-3 cm above the cup edges. Again, directly removed ones are in the bottom row, the oven cooled ones are in the top row. There is no visible difference, they all seem deflated to the same size. The weight results are similar as in the bread pudding case: 122 g for the three directly removed souffles, 109 g for the oven cooled ones. Again, I felt that the moister ones tasted better, but this could be a subjective preference. I wouldn't consider the oven-cooled ones "bad" on their own.

Conclusion: The slow oven cooling doesn't work :(

Estimated 5000 calories worth of egg dishes plus a small package of American bread (opened) available for free, collect in person only.

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fat-free pudding

Question

I would like to make fat-free pudding like Jello fat-free pudding mix, but I don't want to use a box mix. Is there a way to make fat-free pudding from scratch?

For example, chocolate pudding recipes tend to include both cocoa powder and milk, so I don't see any obvious fat-free substitutions.

Answer

A very common type of pudding is a pudding made from liquid thickened with starch. It is usually made with milk, but you can use other liquids as you see fit. Fruit juice will probably work best. For starch, use plain potato, corn or wheat starch. The "absolutely no fat" condition is very detrimental to the taste. A trick to make it taste richer would be to include some whey powder. Any sweetener will work - sugar, baking sweeteners like honey or agave syrup, or artificial sweeteners (keep in mind the max temp for artificials). You can enhance the flavor wit the usual suspects - vanila, cinnamon and other spices - and/or serve with syrup poured over. Adding food coloring is also a good option, as it affects the perceived taste too.

To prepare the pudding, use a base ratio of 1 part starch to 10 parts liquid (you can change that later, depending on your preference for firmness). Mix the dry ingredients (sugar, cinnamon) with the starch in a small bowl. Stir in some cold liquid, around 1 tbsp per 25g starch, until you have a slurry. Bring the remaining liquid to a boil. Remove from the heat and quickly stir in the slurry. Return to the (reduced) heat and let simmer for some minutes, stirring contantly. Stir in the liquid ingredients (e. g. honey, molten caramel). Pour into the form(s) and leave it to cool, at best overnight. It will set and should be firm enough to slice. Alternatively, it can be eaten warm (and still soft) from bowls.

You mention Jello. I don't consider gelatine jellies to be a "pudding", but maybe this is a language problem on my part. You can make a gelatine "pudding" with powdered gelatine, just follow the instructions on the package. Gelatine itself is pure protein and does not contain fat.

It is also possible to use modern thickening agents to thicken a juice or another liquid to a more or less pudding-like consistency, but this is unusual in home cooking. If you are interested, look up guar gum or xanthan gum. There is a free e-book oh hydrocolloids often linked here on SA, but it probably goes much beyond what you need. Still, you can search for it if interested.

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