Banana Pudding

[pogophiles]

Hope you're referring to Zeb, 'cause I like all of those (if the chitlins are fried) and pimiento cheese, too...

[Zeb A]

You probably don't like collards, chittlin's, pot likker, or red-eye gravy, either.

collards, yes. red-eye gravy, yes. chittlins, nasty. pot likker, please speak English

[Xanthippe]

Can a Yankee add her two cents?

[Varmint]

You probably don't like collards, chittlin's, pot likker, or red-eye gravy, either.

collards, yes. red-eye gravy, yes. chittlins, nasty. pot likker, please speak English

Pot likker -- the "juice" that's left in the bottom of the pot after cooking greens, generally with fat back or some other form of pork. Serve with cornbread or biscuits.

[Varmint]

Can a Yankee add her two cents?

Of course. Remember, X, that I'm a Yankee by birth. I've only lived in the South for half my life.

[Zeb A]

You probably don't like collards, chittlin's, pot likker, or red-eye gravy, either.

collards, yes. red-eye gravy, yes. chittlins, nasty. pot likker, please speak English

Pot likker -- the "juice" that's left in the bottom of the pot after cooking greens, generally with fat back or some other form of pork. Serve with cornbread or biscuits.

OK, that stuff is also good, but I have never heard the term "pot likker" used to describe it.

Are you trying to discretely import some of your Pennsylvania backwoods terminology into the South?

[Varmint]

Do a google search on pot likker. You'll see it's distinctly Southern.

[fifi]

Ummmm... My great-aunt Minnie's version. homemade vanilla pudding, heavy on the eggs and vanilla. The bananas ripe but still firm. Let it set until the Nabisco Vanilla Wafers achieve the proper texture (sort of soft) and the banana flavor infuses. Then she makes her incomparable meringue (the same one she uses on her lemon pies) and bungs it into the oven for a toast. Me and my dad are in heaven. He was a Vanilla Wafer freak. Haven't had a really good one in years.

[elyse]

This is all reminding me of my favorite ice cream. Edy's banana cream pie. Banana ice cream with marshmallow cream to keep it smooth, and nilla wafers through. Man was it yummy. Discontinued now.

[Andrew Fenton]

Damn that sounds good. Are we talking a ribbon of marshmallow cream, or pockets of it?

Maybe it's worth trying to duplicate at home...

[elyse]

Neither. It just had marshmallow to keep it creamy and smooth. It was totally delicious.

[Xanthippe]

Can a Yankee add her two cents?

Of course. Remember, X, that I'm a Yankee by birth. I've only lived in the South for half my life.

That's right, Mr. V, you do indeed hail from YankeeLand. I tend to forget, 'cuz y'all come across so, so Southern! Case in point: you had to tell Mr. Zeb what pot likker is!!

[Xanthippe]

Damn that sounds good.  Are we talking a ribbon of marshmallow cream, or pockets of it? 

Maybe it's worth trying to duplicate at home...

Somebody's gotta try to make the Banana Cream Pie ice cream. Please!! I would, but I'm already trying to create another flavor with my cohort, elyse.

[hershellipow]

I have seen banana pudding with whipped cream topping on occasion and wondered why people stray from the traditional merangue I grew up enjoying in Mississippi. Is there a sub-regional difference in taste?

[Gifted Gourmet]

For many people who lead busy lives, there is probably not much interest in going through the effort of whipping egg whites and then browning the classic meringue when it is quicker and easier and equally attractive to use a topping like Cool Whip (which complements the creaminess of the banana filling) ...

not regional but simplicity probably dictates this method ... nobody is looking to wash another mixing bowl these days ...

[Gifted Gourmet]

Perhaps another interesting question worth asking about classic southern banana pies is who ever got the idea to use Nabisco (or something similar) Vanilla Wafers to the finished product?

Is this how these pies were originally conceived?

What was used before these Vanilla Wafers were invented in southern pies?

[Mayhaw Man]

Welcome to eGullet Hershipillow!

I grew up in the Delta Region of Louisiana and have eaten a boatload of banana pudding, but until I moved to South Louisiana, I never had never seen a topping of any sort on banana pudding (other than extra vanilla wafers and more bananas). Now I don't want it any other way. But it's meringue for me, not cool whip. Never really understood cool whip. How hard is it to whisk heavy cream and a little granulated sugar for a whipped topping or to whisk egg whites for meringue? Especially if you have a mixer with a whip.

I have really come to enjoy making and eating Frank Brigsten's Banana Bread Pudding. This stuff is a knockout and really easy to make (as are most bread puddings). You should give it a try soon. It's great and everybody seems to love it.

[Gifted Gourmet]

Never really understood cool whip. How hard is it to whisk heavy cream and a little granulated sugar for a whipped topping or to whisk egg whites for meringue? Especially if you have a mixer with a whip.

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For many, and I daresay that the producers of the aforementioned Cool Whip will back me up on this, this topping is considerably easier to open and spoon out than chilling bowls and beaters and then whipping the cream and then washing out the bowl and beaters ... simply defrost and go ... and the success of the original Cool Whip led to even more variations: creamier, dietetic, synthetic, flavors, even aerosol ....

[ruthcooks]

Yeah, it's easier...but then you gotta EAT it. Too sweet, too chemical tasting. Similar characteristics with whipped cream? It's white and contains air. I'd rather eat something plain if I can't have real whipped cream.

[ludja]

Perhaps another interesting question worth asking about classic southern banana pies is who ever got the idea to use Nabisco (or something similar) Vanilla Wafers to the finished product?

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Probably Nabisco... and the makers of instant pudding.

Probably similar to Karo Syrup and popular versions of pecan pie. If you look at Karo's website they chronicle their publication of a pecan recipe as part of the syrup label and the ensuing sales and proliferation of recipes using Karo that followed.

Bill Neal credits the original roots of banana pudding to English trifles that were also popular in the South. Seems reasonable.

Found this recipe using home made pudding, vanilla wafers and meringue here

Thanks for bringing this up hershellipow (and welcome). I didn't grow up with the dessert and was only familar with the whipped cream incarnation...

Edited October 2, 2004 by ludja (log)

[joiei]

Welcome Hershellipow, from my upbringing, both of my grandmothers made there banana puddings with meringue. On my mothers side, the heritage is Northwest Florida and on my fathers side, my grandmother was Texas and her mother was Mississippi.

From what I have observed, the coolwhip phenomena came about when grocery stores started adding deli's.

[Squeat Mungry]

Perhaps another interesting question worth asking about classic southern banana pies is who ever got the idea to use Nabisco (or something similar) Vanilla Wafers to the finished product?

Is this how these pies were originally conceived?

What was used before these Vanilla Wafers were invented in southern pies?

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My grandmother on my father's side ("Granny"), used to make a "banana rum pudding", which was basically the vanilla wafer thing with rum, except she used cut up pound cake instead of the vanilla wafers.

Also, there was usually no topping on this except, as Brooks describes, more bananas and pound cake.

Squeat

[fifi]

When great aunt Minnie was visiting, the banana pudding was always topped with her most excellent toasted meringue. When she wasn't around, we would use more vanilla wafers.

She, of course, made her own vanilla pudding. I don't think she would have known how to open a box. I think my mother did too. Now we have to find the recipe. I think this is a good idea for Thanksgiving.

I don't think I have ever had it with whipped cream.

[Suzanne F]

It's served with a TOPPING??? Thirty years ago, eating it in African-American diaspora places in Harlem (125th Street), I never saw it as anything but layers of pudding, banana slices, and vanilla wafers.

[pyrguy]

I never had it with a topping either.

One Grandmother was from North Central Louisiana and made a vanilla pudding to top the wafers and banana slices, as did her sisters and sisters-in-law.

The other grandmother was born on Bayou LaFourche and made banana pudding with "Bouie" (sp) , French for boiled, a custard of boiled milk, sugar, vanilla, and a little corn starch. It's been a while since I've made it and I cannot remember the correct amounts.