Nanner Pudd'n

For Thanksgiving at Mama Diva's, just as it was my job to bring the matersn' okry, it was my job to make the nanner pudd'n. The first time it was suggested I was surprised; I had never associated Thanksgiving with any dessert other than pie. In my grandmother's kitchen, puddings were Sunday supper dishes and the Thanksgiving dessert board was comprised of pies. Mama Diva didn't neglect pie-making at Thanksgiving, but her interpretation of this holiday was influenced by the spirit of community and abundance that was the soul of the buffet flat. As a child of the Western plains, I had never encountered that distinctlive brownstone style of hospitality, but once I participated in its pleasures, I understood its riches.

A typical dessert board at a soul Thanksgiving starts with pie  -- apple, pumpkin, sweet potato, mincemeat, coconut cream. Then an auxiliary dessert appears -- a fluffy pudding in banana or butterscotch, a creamy New York cheesecake topped with cherries or pineapple, a sparkling fruit salad or a delicate ambrosia in a cut glass dish. Because the spread still looks a little skimpy, someone will contribute a loaf of pumpkin- or banana-nut bread, and someone else a tray of bar cookies is tart lemon, sticky date, or silken chocolate. Finally, the centerpiece arrives: a towering layer cake in downy coconut, drowsy caramel or coffee crunch, perched on a milk glass stand to command all of the admiration it deserves.

Mama Diva entrusted making the pudding to me, probably perceiving the wonderful memories I had of my grandmother's toils over a double-boiler in order for those special-occasion desserts to emerge from her western kitchen. Every kid's favorite is supposed to be double-dutch chocolate, but mine was actually butterscotch, with its slightly burnt flavor and pale tan color. She made rice pudding as a treat for winter breakfast, and if we were very lucky and she was in the mood, Indian pudding. And, especially if there was a church supper to get to, she was known for her banana pudding.

Banana pudding is one of those foods that is constant at the American table but displays regionality. In the deep south, it is a warm dish, often served under a plop of whipped cream.  In the north, it is often topped with a baked meringue. In the mid-west, it is typically served parfait style, alterated in stripes between ground up graham crackers or vanilla wafers. Even fancy restaurants have gotten into the act, serving tiny dollops of banana pudding along with the butterscotch pudding that is also trendy but which grandmothers knew about all along. That's what this banana pudding is: your grandmother's, or at least mine, proven by years of making it. It is served the way God, my grandmother and Mama Diva intended: from a square glass dish that has been lined with vanilla wafers and then insulated with slices of fresh bananas.

Banana Pudding

Some will cry foul at the use of banana extract, but my grandmother always had candy-making supplies at hand and did not hesitate to use them for an added push of flavor. Prepare this dish the night before or early on the morning of Thanksgiving.

1 cup granulated sugar

2 teaspoons all-purpose flour

4 large eggs

4 cups whole milk

1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon, plus extra for garnish

1-1/2 teaspoons banana extract

1 box vanilla wafers

2 ripe bananas

Unsalted butter, softened

1. Lightly butter the bottom and sides of a square glass serving dish. Place a hot pad close to the serving dish.
2. Open the box of cookies. Arrange the cookies along the bottom of the baking dish, flat side down, pressing each cookie into the butter. It is okay if there is room between the cookies. Line each side of the dish with cookies, flat-side down.
3. Peel the banana. Use a paring knife to cut the banana into coins approximately ¼ inch thick.
4. Working carefully, arrange the bananas along the bottom of the dish, on top of the layer of cookies.
5. Place a handful of cookies into a zippered food bag. Use a rolling pin or the side of a drinking glass to crush the cookies into crumbs. Set the cookie crumbs aside.
6. Measure sugar , flour and spices into a heavy 3 quart saucepan. Place the saucepan on the stovetop.
7. Measure the milk into a large mixing bowl. Working one at a time, crack an egg into the milk and use a wire whisk to break the egg so that no yellow streaks of yolk or clear streaks of white are visible in the milk.
8. Turn the burner underneath the pan containing the sugar-flour mixture to low.
9. Working carefully, use one hand to whisk the warming sugar-flour mixture as you use the other hand to hold the bowl containing the milk-egg mixture. Slowly drizzle the milk-egg mixture into the sugar-flour mixture, whisking gently but constantly, until all of the milk-egg mixture is in the pan.
10. Continue to whisk the pudding over low heat until it begins to thicken. Continue whisking until small bubbles appear in the pudding and pop open when they surface, approximately five minutes.
11. Turn off the burner and place the pan on the hot pad beside the serving dish. Whisk the banana extract into the pudding.
12. Working carefully, use a heavy spoon to transfer the warm pudding to the serving dish. The pudding should be warm and light, and if you work carefully, you should be able to avoid disturbing the bananas and cookies, but it is okay if not.
13. Once you have transferred most of the pudding to the serving dish, use a silicon spatula to transfer the last bit. Use the spatula to gently smooth out the top of the pudding.
14. Measure a length of plastic wrap to cover the top of the serving dish without disturbing the top surface of the pudding. Measure a second length of plastic wrap and apply that over the first layer.
15. Set the pudding aside to come to room temperature before refrigerating.
16. Before serving, sprinkle the vanilla wafer crumbs with ground cinnamon and shake the bag to combine. Sprinkle the top of the pudding with spiced vanilla wafers and serve.