Cuna’s Callebaut chocolate and port pot de creme with black peppercorn wafer. (Photo by Leah A. Zeldes.)
Delicious by any name
Kendal Duque
What it is: The word pudding refers to a variety of sweet and savory foods, from dense, cake-like. boiled flour concoctions to custards to kugels and other casseroles to mixtures of rice, tapioca, cornmeal or bread to popovers to sausages. In Great Britain, pudding just means any kind of dessert.
In the U.S., however, we most often consider pudding to mean a smooth and creamy treat, typically rich and sweet and gooey. Some purists distinguish between starch-thickened puddings and custards, made with eggs, but I think that’s quibbling. They’re all pudding.
Where it comes from: Custard-like dishes were served in ancient Roman times and the traditional baked egg custard probably was developed in the Middle Ages. The milk-based creamy pudding America is most accustomed to likely dates from the 19th century. Jell-O first introduced a chocolate pudding dessert mix in 1904.
What to do with it: Pudding, as any 4-year-old knows, is for eating with a spoon, maybe dressed up with a dollop of whipped cream, if you wan to be fancy. However, pudding also makes many other desserts. You can layer it with fruit or whipped cream for parfaits, put it into a pie shell, use it as filling for cake or freeze into pudding pops.
Cuna’s chocolate and port ‘pots de creme’
with black peppercorn wafers
Chef Kendal Duque
Technically, pots de creme are baked French custards, cooked and served in little covered pots or ramekins, but the decadently rich, port-infused chocolate pudding Chef Kendal Duque recently served at Lakeview’s new Cuna restaurant deserves a fanciful moniker. It’s a perfect dessert for Valentine’s Day!
Pudding:
1/2 cup port
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 cinnamon stick
1/2 pound dark chocolate, chopped
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
1/2 cup milk
3/4 cup whipping cream
2 egg yolksPort cream:
1/4 cup port
1/2 cup sour cream
1/4 teaspoon powdered sugar (or to taste)
Make the pudding: In a saucepan, simmer the port with the sugar and cinnamon stick until reduced by 2/3 and let cool. Meanwhile, melt the chocolate and butter together over barely simmering water in a double boiler.
In another saucepan, combine the cream and milk, bring to simmering. Remove from the heat.
Remove the melted chocolate from the heat and add the port syrup. Whisk a little of this mixture into the egg yolks to temper them and then slowly add the yolks to the chocolate mixture. Whisk in the cream mixture.
Pour into serving glasses and chill in refrigerator overnight.
Make the port cream: In a saucepan, simmer the port until reduced by 2/3 and let cool. Whisk into sour cream and sugar and refrigerate.
When ready to serve, top serving glasses filled with chocolate with a dollop of port-sour cream mixture and garnish with black peppercorn wafers (recipe follows). 4 servings.
Black peppercorn wafers
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/8 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1-1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 egg
3/4 teaspoon fresh cracked black pepper
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
With an electric mixer, beat all ingredients together. Roll out the dough into a 1/4-inch-thick rectangle.
Cut into strips about 1 inch thick and 3 inches long. Place on a baking sheet and bake for 10 to 15 minutes, until lightly golden. Let cool on wire racks. 8 to 10 cookies.
