European Republic: Banana Pudding

A sticker that says "I brake for banana pudding" should grace my car bumper, because it's no secret that I love the stuff. A reader alerted me a while back* that European Republic in Old City has banana pudding on their menu.

What? Land of twenty-plus wraps and Belgian frites with twenty-plus dipping sauces?

Curious as to how good banana pudding could be at such a place (I had strong doubts), I hopped on over one afternoon for a midday snack.
Out of the cooler came a filled-to-the-top plastic container of banana pudding with banana-flavored pudding instead of vanilla pudding, and no banana slices. Wrong and wrong! The Nilla wafers were soft, but this is the norm unless the dessert is eaten immediately after assembling, or there is ingenious staking of wafers to avoid pudding-soak.
Even with bad banana pudding, I'm not yet discounting the European Republic for a quick lunch. Banana pudding is not their mainstay, after all. Maybe one day I'll get back for a wrap and frites. I just won't be braking for their banana pudding.

*Thanks to all who take the time to share through blog comments, email, and Twitter. It may take eons before I get around to places, but they do go on to my to-do list.

European Republic
213 Chestnut St., Philadelphia, PA 19106
215-627-5500

Bebe's Banana Pudding

Update: no longer open.

This is just a reminder that the banana pudding at Bebe's is yummy yums. While this take-out container of warm pudding chock full of banana slices and softened Nilla Wafers may not be food porn-tastic, it tastes authentically down home Southern. Topped with toasted meringue, the large pan of banana pudding is a bit prettier before being heaped into a take-out container. And time your visit as to how you like your pudding — go early for soft wafers with a little crunch left in the center; late in the day for soft, almost disintegrated wafers.

Bebe's Barbecue
1017 South 9th St., Philadelphia, PA 19147
267-519-8791

Gingerbread Pudding Cake

In an attempt to clean out clutter, last week I went through a huge stack of cooking magazines, ripping out pages of recipes dog-eared as promising (and then completely forgotten about for years), and I happened upon a recipe for Gingerbread Pudding Cake from the December 2007 issue of Bon Appetit that sounded like the perfect dessert for a brisk Autumn evening at home.

Oh, and it was! This spice heavy ginger cake with a bottom layer of ginger pudding (I prefer to call it goo) is so good and perfectly homey, I think I'm going to make it again this weekend for a relaxed dinner at a friend's house.
First you make the batter, and pour in into a baking dish. Then you top the batter with brown sugar. Then...
you pour a mixture of water and melted butter on top of the brown sugar-topped batter, and shove it in the oven. Crazy! Kind of scary, too. But, fret not. It bakes up with a crackly cakey top and a gooey bottom. The goo is the best part. Whipped cream would be a heavenly accompaniment, but I had none. I would say I was sad about not having whipped cream, but I wasn't; the self-saucing cake is fabulous enough on it's own.Gingerbread Pudding Cake
adapted from Bon Appetit
serves 8

I used sorghum syrup in place of light molasses, because I have sorghum to burn in my pantry. Also, I have no allspice, so added 1/4 teaspoon more of each cinnamon and ginger.

1 1/4 cup all purpose flour
1 1/4 teaspoons ground ginger
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup butter, room temperature
1/4 cup sugar
2 tablespoons beaten egg (from 1 egg)
1/2 cup sorghum syrup
1/2 cup water
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1 1/2 cups hot water
5 tablespoon butter, melted

• Butter a 2-quart baking dish and preheat oven to 350 degrees.
  
• Mix flour, ginger, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, and salt in a medium bowl.
• In a large bowl, cream together 1/4 cup butter and 1/4 cup sugar. Beat in egg.
  
• Stir sorghum and 1/2 cup water in a measuring cup.
• Alternately add flour mixture and sorghum mixture to butter mixture, mixing to blend between additions.
• Pour batter into the buttered baking dish, and sprinkle brown sugar evenly over the top of the batter.
• Stir 1 1/2 cups hot water and melted butter in a small bowl. Gently poor over top of batter.
• Bake at 350 degrees for about 45 minutes, or until top is cracked and toothpick inserted in to center comes out clean.
  

Nestle KitKat Mango Pudding

At a grocery store in Kyoto, I bought what I thought would be a bag of mango pudding KitKats, but I forgot to read the front. If I had, then I would have known that this bag was half regular chocolate, half mango. It was kind of a let down when I got home.

But in any case, this KitKat has been reviewed a few different places (Japanese Snack Reviews and Jen's KitKat Blog, for example), but I thought I might as well throw my opinion into the pile as well.


The KitKat has a strong mango smell and it reminded me of mango sherbet. The flavor was very bold and fruity, and definitely mango. It was sour and tart, but it still went pretty well with the white chocolate.

It was different from other KitKats I have tried in the past, and definitely one of the best fruity KitKats I've ever tried. It was very sweet, but I am a big fan of mango, and the flavor was fairly authentic overall (for a KitKat).

B+

KitKat website

Nestle Custard Purin KitKat

My husband loves purin. It's probably the number one Japanese treat he wishes was he could find more easily in the US. So, whenever we go to a Japanese market, he always wants some. This time, we found it in KitKat form!

White chocolate KitKats have a reputation for being too sweet, so I tend to prefer them in the miniature size. Luckily, that's how these Custard Purin KitKats came. In the past, I tried a Caramel Purin KitKat that I didn't care for, so I tried not to let that influence my opinion on this one.


The bars smelled a bit gross, like a fake caramel. However, they tasted better than they smelled. The chocolate was buttery and smooth, and very creamy. The flavor had a hint of caramel, as well as a nice custard taste.

Of course, my husband and I agreed that it wasn't as good as real purin, and it was a little too sweet. However, the custard flavor was really tasty, so I wasn't too upset about the sweetness. It was much better than the last purin KitKat I tried.

B+

KitKat Website (Japanese)

Banana Pudding

Like I was seriously not going to follow up that last post with a recipe for banana pudding?

Banana pudding is a very simple, homey, and classic Southern dessert. There are really only two ways to make it -- the right way and the wrong way. There's no futzing with the ingredients or the preparation. Futz, and you have something different.

• The right way: make a simple, homemade pudding on the stove top.
• The wrong way: make instant pudding.
  

• The right way: keep your pudding vanilla flavored. No squished bananas, no spices, no nothin'.
• The wrong way: make banana flavored, or any other flavored pudding.
  

• The right way: use ripe, but not overly ripe, sliced bananas
• The wrong way: use green or overly ripe bananas that you've squished, chopped, or cooked.
  

• The right way: use Nilla Wafers.
  
• The wrong way: use homemade or any store bought cookie other than a Nilla Wafer.
  

• The right way: alternately layer the three main components - cookies, bananas, pudding in that order. Repeat if necessary.
• The wrong way: not getting at least one layer of bananas and cookies underneath the pudding.
  

Let me take you step by step:
Make pudding from scratch (recipe is at end).Cover the bottom -- and sides if you like -- of a serving dish with vanilla wafers. If you want to get fancy with individual servings in martini glasses or canning jars, that's fine. Use ripe bananas -- not too green and not too brown.
Layer sliced bananas on top of vanilla wafers.
I got excited and forgot to photograph the pudding layer that comes next, but you can see it underneath the second layer of vanilla wafers. So, that's pudding layer, then repeat, starting with vanilla wafers again.
Second banana layer!
Second pudding layer!
More often than not, there is a decorative top layer, be it more vanilla wafers, meringue, or homemade whipped cream. All three of these toppings are totally legit. I've always gone with more wafers. Banana Pudding
makes about 6 servings

As this dessert sits, the wafers soften and the bananas start to turn brown. In my opinion, the optimum time to eat banana pudding is about 30 minutes to 3 hours after being made, because the wafers and bananas have softened a bit from the warm pudding. I usually can't help myself and eat some the second it's made while the wafers are still a little crunchy. If you want soft and crunchy wafers, decorate the top with wafers right before serving. At around 12-18 hours the bananas start to get brown and ugly, i.e. do not make this dessert a day ahead! It won't hang around a day any way.

1/3 cup flour
2/3 cup sugar
2 cups milk
3 egg yolks, beaten
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoons vanilla
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 package Nilla Wafers (may not use all)
3-5 bananas, sliced (may not use all)

• Combine flour and sugar in a sauce pan. Gradually stir in milk. Then add egg yolks and salt.
• Cook over medium heat until thickened (about 8-10 minutes, but thickening will take place almost suddenly and you will know when this occurs), stirring constantly (very important). Remove from heat and add vanilla and butter (butter can be skipped if you want to make the dish ever so slightly healthier), stirring to incorporate.
• Layer vanilla wafers, then bananas, and then one-half of the pudding in a deep dish. Repeat layers. Finally, top with a decorative layer of vanilla wafers.
  
• Serve warm or chilled.

Glico Brazillian Pudding Pocky

I don't really understand why Pocky is so popular. I've been to some anime conventions, and there seems to be a frenzy over Pocky. Although it seems to have subsided a bit recently, it's still way more popular than it deserves to be. I'm pointing my finger at regular Pocky; it's mediocre at best, especially compared to other Japanese snacks (Toppo, KitKat, etc.).

However, limited edition Pocky is a different story. Although I love the mousse and dessert Pockys best, I'll try any candy or snack in a limited edition flavor. This Brazilian Pudding Pocky was given to me by my sister.


The tropical box is cute, and the stripes on the Pocky itself are quite pretty. As far as taste, it has a slight creamy caramel flavor which is pleasant, but not amazing. I'm not really sure what's Brazilian about it, but I suppose Brazilian Pudding sounds better than Exotic Purin. It just tastes like normal flan/purin to me.

Although it wasn't fantastic, it was a good light snack, and better than regular Pocky. The taste was very mild, but I suppose flan is a mild dessert, so it makes sense. This Pocky was also reviewed at Japanese Snack Food Reviews.

B

Glico Website (Japanese)

Banana Pudding Smackdown

Thanks to cooking with my Nanny (grandmother, not sitter) when I was young, banana pudding is one of my top favorite desserts. She made banana pudding by making pudding on the stove top first, and then pouring the pudding over layers of Nilla Wafers and sliced bananas. The homemade pudding is the key!

I rarely find banana pudding on dessert menus, and I only make banana pudding about once a year, so when I do find banana pudding, I'm all over it.

I ran into banana pudding at a bbq joint, a restaurant, and a grocery store while in Charleston, SC. Styles and tastes ran the gamut. Who won?A quick stop into Bessinger's Bar-B-Q on Hwy 17 to pick up some mustard bbq sauce, and I couldn't resist a container of banana pudding from their cooler. I enjoyed the dessert on the beach, because...what? pudding isn't a beach snack?

The banana flavored Jell-0-esque pudding is not ideal (the only banana flavoring in banana pudding should come from the bananas), but fills that cheap, junk food craving.
Fat Hen restaurant on John's Island has really good food...and a good wait to get in the door. There aren't a lot of veggie options, but what I did have was awesome. I quized our server on the banana pudding prep. Pudding homemade? Not banana flavored? Yup. Yup.

Awesome!! Just like homemade. I can't believe it didn't come in a larger mason jar (isn't that cute), and I had to share it with three other people. I hate sharing.
What's that? Banana pudding in the cooler at Piggly Wiggly? Got it. Lets go! You'd be suprised at how nice Piggly Wiggly is now a days. The ghetto Piggly Wiggly we shopped at for the first eleven years of my life was just that -- ghetto.

The pudding is Jell-O pudding-like. But it's not banana flavored, which is a big up. They also do this little trick of layering a bunch of wafers on the bottom so not all of the wafers get super soggy. Some one was thinking! Piggly Wiggly has a really good fast food version of banana pudding.

Recap:
Bessinger's - Not really
Fat Hen - Hells yes
Piggly Wiggly - Yes