New-Fashioned Corn Pudding Recipe on Food52 (2024)

FAQs

What's the difference between cornbread and corn pudding? ›

Cornbread is a classic semi-sweet Southern quick bread made with yellow cornmeal. Cornbread pudding is made with whole corn, creamed corn, and cornbread mix to create a softer, more souffle-like cake with more moisture content than cornbread.

If your corn pudding is runny, try adding a little extra cornstarch. If you don't have any cornstarch on hand, you can substitute it with flour or arrowroot powder. You'll need some type of thickening agent otherwise, your corn pudding will wind up watery.

Corn pudding should have a soft, soufflé-like texture. It should not be dry and firm like cornbread. When finished baking, it should be golden brown around the edges and slightly jiggly in the center. Test for doneness by inserting a knife into the center of the pudding—it should come out clean.

The main difference is the texture. Corn pudding has a similar gelatinous texture to dessert pudding, hence its name, so it's creamy and loose. In comparison, corn casserole has a thicker consistency and holds its shape better than the pudding because it uses thickening agents like instant cornbread mix.

Another thing to love about corn pudding is that it can be served alongside almost any main dish—roast chicken, grilled steaks, holiday hams, you name it. It's a fantastic potluck dish for this reason.

If you want to try to fix it, you can try dissolving a little bit of cornstarch in water and adding that in. Then try using a handheld or stand mixer to whip the pudding up until is starts to thicken. It will probably never set up completely, though, but it may help a little.

Your best bet would be to mix a tablespoon of cornstarch and a teaspoon of sugar with some of the beverage and add it to the warm pudding. Heat it to a bubble and stir until it thickens.

A key ingredient in instant pudding is gelatinized starch, a dried instant starch that readily absorbs liquids, which causes the pudding to gel when mixed with milk. Additional ingredients sometimes used as a thickener include gums that are soluble in cold water, such as carrageenans and alginates.

Corn pudding is the offspring of the marriage of traditional Native American foods and a variation of English savory-custard pudding. Corn puddings have been prepared and served, with few changes in ingredients or culinary technique, for centuries.

Is corn pudding the same as creamed corn? ›

Sometimes the dish was referred to as spoonbread or hoppy glop, but corn pudding seems to be the name that's held on throughout generations. Today, it's commonly served across the southern United States. Its core ingredients are creamed corn (usually canned), corn kernels, milk, sugar, butter, and eggs.

When English settlers started to embellish on the basic Indian recipe for corn pudding, they added eggs, milk, cream and butter. The dish began to resemble the more classic European notion of a custard, which the British call pudding. (The British call almost any dish that is baked or steamed a pudding.)

It will jiggle slightly, but should not look soupy. Does corn pudding reheat well? Yes! I suggest reheating it in an oven set to about 250 degrees F for the best results.

The simple answer is no. I don't recommend leaving your corn casserole out overnight. Room temperature is the stage where bacterial growth can occur, leading to food poisoning. To ensure the safety and quality of your corn casserole, proper storage is key.

CREAMED CORN SUBSTITUTE

Put all the corn + 1/3 of the liquid in the can + 1 tbsp flour into a bowl. Then blitz with hand blender (or use blender) until you can't see whole corn kernels anymore but there are still corn chunks (don't to puree). Use all of it in place of canned creamed corn in this recipe.

That made cornbread a popular recipe during the American Civil War when resources were scarce. This is also how grits came into being. Corn casserole is a dish that mixes cornbread with whole kernel corn, sour cream, butter, and cheese, along with some creamed corn to form a new dish that has cornbread as its base.

The main difference between the two is texture. Corn pudding has a gelatinous consistency similar to dessert pudding; the casserole is thicker and can hold its shape. Despite the textural difference between corn casserole and pudding, the ingredients are similar.

Corn pudding is a creamy side made with stewed corn, butter, and milk. It often features a thickening agent, such as cornstarch, to make the dish extra decadent. Corn pudding originated in the American South and can be served all year long, but it's frequently associated with Thanksgiving.

Corn casserole and corn pudding are essentially the same thing. However, as the name suggests, corn pudding has a slightly looser texture than corn casserole. Corn casserole is like a moist and creamy version of cornbread, but it's still sturdy enough to hold its shape.