By Isabella Brady
Budino may be the Italian word for ‘pudding’, however, one can never confuse the culinary delight with its American counterpart. Beginning as a medieval form of sausage, the ancient treat rapidly transformed into a sweet custard traced to exposure of Iberian cuisine introduced by Sephardic exiles. The key difference in traditional ingredients lies in the exchange of cornstarch for flour, egg yolks, and high quality chocolate (Italy didn’t have cornstarch in the 17th century). Today, budino is commonplace in Italian celebrations and holidays –its thick, smooth texture is simply irresistible. Above all, the dessert proves unparalleled to chocolate lovers–think rich, pure chocolate bliss–sorry Jello, ya basic.
Salted caramel, butterscotch, vanilla–if chocolate isn’t your thing, the elite Italian recipe knows many flavors, I recommend trying different variations of the classic dessert. Overall, I implore readers to pursue the following:
- Try it!
- Use high quality ingredients
- Think small… it’s delicious, but very rich
- Prepare to never see store bought pudding the same way
Chocolate Budino
Ingredients:
- 1 cup heavy cream
- 1 cup whole milk
- 4 egg yolks
- 1/4 cup sugar
- 8 oz chocolate (Marrari prefers Valrhona Araguani chocolate)
Method:
- Mix the cream and milk in a saucepot and bring to a boil.
- Add the egg yolks and sugar to a bowl and whisk to combine. Gradually add the milk-cream mixture and cook for 1 minute to make a crème anglaise.
- Pour the crème anglaise into a separate container and use a hand mixer to integrate fully.
- Melt the chocolate and slowly mix it into the crème anglaise until smooth.
- Pour half of the mixture into a half-sphere mold and the other half into a donut mold.
- Freeze the molds until solid and dip the dome into a pâte à glacer. Serve alongside a scoop of gelato (Marrari recommends pistachio gelato).
