bbq,
This is your lucky day. Here's a recipe from a lady named Nathalie Dupree. She is an old southern cook who resides just outside Atlanta. She used to have a cooking show on TV and has written several cook books. (If you're into southern cooking, go on to
amazon.com and check out some of her books) I have my grandmother's recipe but after trying Mrs. Dupree's, I have converted to it. It's wonderful .... better than my grandmother's and that's saying a lot. Here goes:
1 Cp sugar
1/4 cp plain flour
pinch salt
3 Cps milk (whole)
8 egg yolks
1 Tbs vanilla
1 12 oz box vanilla wafers (Nabisco)
8 bananas sliced
8 egg whites
2 Tbs sugar
To make the custard, mix 1 Cp sugar, the flour and salt in a bowl. Pour the milk into a heavy sauce pan and add dry ingredients. Heat. Beat the egg yolks. Pour some of the mixture into the egg yolks and beat briefly, then add the egg yolk mixture to the base mixture in the pan. Bring to boil over low heat, stirring constantly and cook slowly until just thick enough to coat the back of a spoon. Be careful not to scorch. (Some people use a double boiler for this ... it's safer.) Add the vanilla and remove from heat. Cover with plastic wrap to prevent skim from forming on the top.
Line the bottom and sides of a 9 1/2" X 12 1/2" baking pan (Pyrex) with vanilla wafers. Put a layer of bananas then a layer of wafers into the dish repeating the layers until you have used up the bananas and wafers. Then pour in the custard, completely covering the bananas and wafers.
Preheat the oven to 375*. Beat the egg whites until they form soft peaks. Add 2 Tbs of sugar and beat to stiff peaks. Spread the meringue fully over the top of the pudding, then bake until browned, about 10-15 min.
I've lived in the south (NC, Ga and now Fl.) all my life, except for a couple stints over seas and I have to tell you this is the mother of all banana pudding recipes (IMHO). Enjoy!
