(no subject)

[which_chick]

Meme time. It's the cooking thing I mentioned a couple of days ago. I tell you to make something and if you've already made it, you get to tell me something to make back. If that's the case, hit me with a comment. (Suggestions can ping-pong until we run into something that hasn't been done. The whole point here is to try something new.) Of course, report back (on your LJ or whatever) with how it went and what (if anything) you learned about the process. A couple of other riders -- don't pick stuff with difficult, expensive, or arcane ingredients or techniques. I am not going to expect anyone to have a piping kit (like for making frosting decorations) or green cardamom pods or white truffles. That's not fair. Also, please do not suggest that I make things that hinge upon fish or aquatic (lobster, clams, oysters, shrimp, shark, octopus, etc.) beasties as I don't eat them.

Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to make cornstarch pudding from scratch. Jell-O or other box pudding does not count. You can make vanilla or chocolate or butterscotch or whatever flavor you can find directions for, but the whole thing here is that there will be a recipe and ingredients. There will not be a prepackaged mix.

If the NYT didn't keep running stupid articles like this and the WaPo didn't also write crap like this, I wouldn't feel so moved to get people to actually try stuff in the kitchen.

Comments

[not-your-real.livejournal.com]

Wow, this is pathetic:

"We're always hearing that eating dinner together is the cure for obesity, learning disorders, drugs, divorce and every kind of problem we have in society," she said. "But what no one tells you is how to do all that cooking."

I'd sort of like to do this meme, but... cornstarch pudding? Even assuming that it tastes better than it sounds, it doesn't sound very nutritious.

*sigh* I'm probably just stalling here.

[wootsauce.livejournal.com]

Yeah, my first reaction was "ew, pudding."
I'll have to think really hard to come up with something to challenge back. My repertoire isn't exactly rich and varied.

[which-chick.livejournal.com]

Whatever you challenge back doesn't have to be something you can cook. That's not a requirement. While I would like for suggestions to remain in the realm of the feasible, I won't object to stuff you haven't done yourself.

[which-chick.livejournal.com]

*sheesh* It tastes like chocolate pudding because that is what it is. For puddings that do not contain eggs (and would more properly be called custards), cornstarch is a popular method of thickening without rigidity. If you have ever in your life had honest-to-dog not-a-box chocolate pudding, this is odds-on favorite for what you had. And, as it happens, the primary ingredient is milk so it's not hideously bad for you.

Recipe (Joy of Cooking):
1/2 cup sugar
1/3 cup plus one tablespoon cocoa
1/3 cup warm water
1 3/4 cups milk (it *says* half and half but just use milk)
3 Tbsp cornstarch blended with 1/4 cup milk
1 1/2 teasp vanilla

If you use skim milk, it's damn near fat free.

[not-your-real.livejournal.com]

Fat free is a downside.

I am really tempted to go find something more interesting than plain ol' pudding to make in a pudding-y chocolate way. There is a lot of as-yet unexplored territory in The New Best Recipe, which I got Eric for Xmas. I bet they have something interesting in there.

However, I've been meaning to make brownies for days (weeks), and tomorrow is another Furrow Budget Meeting, so I think it's going to be brownies.

[brni.livejournal.com]

hmm.. i dunno if i can make pudding - every time i hear the word anymore, i think of this:

http://www.candyboots.com/wwcards/fluffymackpudding.html

[wootsauce.livejournal.com]

I'm so glad I waited until after I made my pudding to click on that link. Yuck.

[brni.livejournal.com]

if only i were so fortunate....

[electroweak.livejournal.com]

Ivy never cleans her own pots and pans, and therefore is disallowed from entering this constest. Not valid in Alaska, Hawaii, or Guam. Package may have settled in shipment. Do not taunt Happy Fun Ball.

[which-chick.livejournal.com]

I hate to have to point this out, but I am not the person that you need to tell about being allowed or not being allowed.

[electroweak.livejournal.com]

Out of cheese error. Humor failed to initialize. Redo from start.

[cousin-sue.livejournal.com]

There's not any more pots and pans from this than from a cake.

Really!

[cousin-sue.livejournal.com]

Well, I have already done this in my life...back at our first house. It seems so long ago.

Chocolate pudding, tasted just like the kind from the box, which disappointed me.

Not complaining, just commenting.

I shall make cornstarch pudding as soon as the next paycheck arrives, and will try to make something interesting.

[which-chick.livejournal.com]

It tastes less chemical-y to me, but I'm kind of picky about that sort of thing. Box Jell-O (the cooked kind) is better than Box Jell-O (the instant kind) but I really like the scratch kind better than both.

[cousin-sue.livejournal.com]

I meant box jello pudding the cooked kind.

I have never made the instant kind...

I was just glad I didn't have any lumps in it...but otherwise it tasted much like the cooked boxed kind.