Joe Friday, chef/owner of Via Vai and organizer of the Underground Chef Battle, is exactly the kind of guy you want at a house party. He’s chatty and gregarious and full of epic stories, including the one attached to his family recipe for banana pudding.
“My grandfather was the first African-American Italian chef in North Carolina. He washed dishes in Italy for 15 years before they let him peel a potato. Then they put him on gnocchi duty, and he made gnocchi for five years. He saved every penny, came back to North Carolina and opened his first restaurant, Brooklyn Pizzeria, when he was 50.”
Friday’s grandfather gave his recipe for classic banana pudding to his son, who made it for the young Joe growing up. Now, when Friday (himself now an Italian chef) whips up his own, he uses a healthy helping of mascarpone in honour of his grandpa.
Banana Pudding
- 3 cups milk or evaporated milk
- ¼ cup all-purpose flour
- 1 cup sugar
- ½ cup mascarpone
- ½ cup cream
- ½ cup sugar
- 3 eggs, separated
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 box vanilla wafers
- 6-7 ripe bananas, sliced
Preheat oven to 350°F.
Separate eggs. Set the whites aside for later use in the meringue.
Put the milk in a medium saucepan. Place over low heat on your stovetop.
Slowly add flour, whisking continually to avoid lumps.
Slowly stir in sugar, whisking continually until fully dissolved.
Use a fork to break up the egg yolks and slowly add them to the saucepan, whisking continually to avoid making scrambled eggs. (It’s very important to stay with the cooking process at this point. Keep stirring.)
Increase the heat gradually to about medium as you constantly whisk the pudding mixture.
Using a candy thermometer, bring the mixture to 170°F. Continue to stir constantly as it thickens. When it reaches 170°, remove from heat but continue to stir.
Add vanilla extract and continue to stir off and on as it cools. The mixture must be cool before you begin to assemble the banana pudding.
Whip cream in mixer with whisk attachment, add mascarpone and set aside use for layering.
When fairly cool, spread a light layer of the pudding in a casserole dish.
Add a layer of vanilla wafers. Reserve 5 or 6 wafers for topping later.
Add a layer of sliced bananas.
Add a layer of pudding mixture, spreading it out to the edges of the dish.
Repeat layering process, alternating layers of pudding and mascarpone/whipped cream mix. Finish with a layer of the pudding mixture on top.
Crumble the 5 or 6 reserved wafers and sprinkle on top. If you’re not adding the meringue, bake this at 350°F for 10 to 15 minutes. Let cool and serve.
Meringue
(Optional – “Hopefully you’ll try it”)
- 3 egg whites
- 1⁄8 tsp cream of tartar
- ¼ cup sugar
Place the room-temperature egg whites in a glass or metal mixing bowl.
Using a mixer or whisk, beat them until frothy in texture.
Add about 1⁄8 tsp cream of tartar.
Increase mixer speed and beat until the egg whites form soft peaks.
Add the sugar. Continue to whip, increasing speed as needed until the egg whites thicken and form firm peaks. Do not overwork the egg whites, as they will lose volume.
Use a spatula to gently spread meringue over the pudding mixture.
Gently dab the spatula up and down in the meringue to form small swirls and peaks.
Place the dish in a preheated 350°F oven and bake for 10 to 15 minutes. Watch it carefully so the meringue doesn’t burn. It needs to be slightly toasted and browned.
Remove from oven, let cool, refrigerate until cold and serve.
