Sounds absurd, I know. But I’ve just been introduced (through her tell-all article on Bon Appètit) to , a former pro pastry chef who now takes advantage of any and all shortcuts she can, to make baking easier and excellent outcomes more certain…
Whipped Cream stabilized by addition of Instant Pudding powder:
View dozens of recipe ideas at Yumly.com!
“Only a few years ago, I was a pastry cook working in some fine and fancy New York City restaurants, making things like candied olive dust and liquefied cookies,” Iskokovic recalls. “If you told me then that one day I’d write an ode to a boxed mix, I would have blanched. What a fool I was!”
Definitely, the voice of the converted. Maybe even the fanatic. But I think her newfound adoration for Instant Pudding Mix is far from crazy – maybe even crazy smart!
She’s not the only one
In fact, Iskokovic reveals that her secret ingredient is also the ‘magic’ behind many no-melt, no-wilt commercial and neighbourhood bake shops’ creations. If you are a resto-pro pastry chef at a fancy restaurant, your creations will probably be consumed within hours of their consummation. But bake shop and supermarket pastries must often hold up for days, waiting to be taken home. If you’ve ever wondered how they do it, read on…
Custard is the crux
As most of our regular readers will know, custard is the basis of many baked goods fillings and toppings. It’s basically the result of cooking eggs and milk together while whisking them furiously. The eggs thicken the milk and yo9u get what is essentially plain pudding. Just add vanilla. But it’s also the basis of pastry cream (the filling in Cream Puffs and a key layer in Tiramisu), and dozens of other dishes: Quiche filing is a custard just as Chocolate Pudding is a custard. From there it’s just a short hop to Chocolate Pie, and Chocolate Mousse. And what about Bread Pudding? That’s just bread cubes soaked in simple custard and baked until the custard sets. I could go on and on. But you get the idea.
Now… What if you want to short-circuit the custard step? You can use a powdered thickener like corn starch, instead. But it still requires cooking. Where do you go from there?
Instant Pudding saves the day
Instant Pudding mix is based on modified corn starch – starch that has been treated to amplify some of its beneficial traits and eliminate some of its undesirable qualities. One of the desirable traits is the ability to thicken stuff. The modified corn starch in instant pudding mix does that without cooking, in cold liquids. The result isn’t exactly the same as you’d get with a regular cooked-corn starch pudding. But millions of users and their families swear by it.
Broadening your horizons
Iskokovic maintains you can substitute modified corn starch in many corn starch-thickened recipes and add it to others to improve thickness, and stability.
In her post she describes how to make ‘valiant’ whipped cream which stays fluffy in the face of any adversary, by simply adding a level tablespoon of plain Instant Pudding mix to each cup of whipping cream. Likewise, she offers tweaked recipes for ‘Instant’ Pastry Cream and Zabaglione.
The key to success, here, is experimentation. You’ll undoubtedly find more ways to use Instant Pudding Mix in your fave recipes to make them easier, quicker and more reliable to prepare!
Wary of the word ‘modified’?
Iskokovic has the last word: “Haters will say, ‘Oh, but modified anything must be bad for you,” to which I volley with the acknowledgment that nothing ultra-processed is inherently good for you, but a box or two once in a while ain’t about to kill ya.”
~ Maggie J.