If you grew up eating the kind of Jamaican cornmeal pudding I did, you already know there is one part of the pudding everybody secretly hopes ends up on their slice.

The slush.

That thick, soft, rich, almost custardy layer sitting on top of the firmer cornmeal pudding underneath.

It jiggles slightly when the pudding is still warm. It is buttery and deeply flavored with coconut, vanilla, cinnamon and nutmeg. And when you get a forkful containing some of the soft top and the firmer pudding underneath, the contrast is absolutely beautiful.

That is the cornmeal pudding I remember.

And this recipe brought it right back.

This is a flourless Jamaican cornmeal pudding made with cornmeal, coconut milk, butter, sugar and plenty of warm spices. More importantly, I don’t make a separate mixture and pour it over the pudding to manufacture the soft topping.

The slush forms naturally as the pudding bakes.

After years of remembering how my mother, grandmother and other Jamaicans around me made pudding—and after later learning a very different approach in culinary school—I finally went back to the old method.

Mix it.

Pour it.

Bake it.

Don’t let the cornmeal sit around soaking.

Don’t repeatedly stir the batter.

Don’t precook it.

And don’t melt that butter trying to make everything perfectly uniform.

The result was the pudding you see here: a beautiful golden cornmeal base with a thick, soft layer on top.

And the taste?

Calling it delicious almost feels inadequate.

What Makes This Jamaican Cornmeal Pudding Different?

There are plenty of Jamaican cornmeal pudding recipes around, and Jamaicans certainly don’t all make pudding exactly the same way.

This one, however, recreates the style I knew growing up.

Here is what makes it different:

• There is no flour. Cornmeal provides the body of the pudding.
• The batter isn’t left to soak before baking.
• The pudding mixture isn’t precooked.
• The butter isn’t melted first.
• There is no separately mixed topping poured over the pudding.
• The batter goes into the oven shortly after it is mixed.
• The finished pudding has two noticeably different textures: a firmer cornmeal base and a thick, soft top.

That last one is especially important.

I am not trying to produce a perfectly uniform yellow block from top to bottom.

For this pudding, the difference in texture is part of what makes it special.

What Is the “Slush” on Jamaican Cornmeal Pudding?

If you have never eaten this style of Jamaican cornmeal pudding, the word slush may sound strange.

It isn’t icy and it isn’t watery.

The slush is the soft, moist layer that forms at the top of the pudding while it bakes.

The lower portion becomes firm enough to cut into substantial slices. The upper portion remains much softer, richer and almost custard-like.

When the pudding is warm, that top can have a noticeable jiggle.

As the pudding cools, it firms somewhat, but it remains visibly and texturally different from the cornmeal base underneath.

For me, that contrast is one of the defining pleasures of a really good cornmeal pudding.

And it wasn’t something I discovered recently.

It is something I remember from childhood.

The Jamaican Cornmeal Pudding I Grew Up Eating

My memory of this pudding doesn’t come from watching one person make it once.

I saw it repeatedly.

My mother made cornmeal pudding.

My grandmother—my father’s mother—made it too. That distinction matters because my grandmother wasn’t simply following a recipe she had learned from my mother.

I saw pudding made by people at church.

I saw it at functions.

I saw people from different churches prepare it.

I saw it during camps and other community gatherings.

And there was a consistency to what I remember.

That soft top was there.

Nobody around me appeared to be treating it like a baking defect that needed to be eliminated.

Quite the opposite.

It was the good part.

I Remember Buying It Hot Before School

One of my strongest cornmeal pudding memories comes from primary school.

When I was somewhere around grades three through six, there was a woman who used to come early in the morning selling pudding.

And you didn’t want to miss her.

The pudding arrived hot.

She would cut it directly from the pudding pan and sell pieces to us.

I can still remember that soft layer on top.

It had that same thick, slightly jiggly texture I knew from the pudding at home.

The pudding underneath was firmer, while the top was soft and rich.

I wasn’t standing in this woman’s kitchen watching her recipe, so I can’t tell you every ingredient she used.

What I can say is that the finished pudding tasted and behaved like the cornmeal pudding I already knew.

And that soft top was unmistakable.

Years later, when I started seeing very uniform cornmeal puddings without it, I knew something was different.

Then I Went to Culinary School

Culinary school teaches you to think differently about food.

You learn technique.

Consistency.

Hydration.

Ingredient distribution.

Temperature control.

You learn to ask why something works instead of simply doing it because your mother did it that way.

That education has tremendous value.

But sometimes professional technique can also make you overthink food that generations of home cooks already knew how to make.

Cornmeal pudding became one of those foods for me.

One method I learned involved allowing the cornmeal mixture to sit.

The idea makes perfect culinary sense.

Cornmeal is granular. Allowing it to sit in liquid gives those grains time to absorb moisture and soften.

There could also be repeated mixing.

Let it sit.

Mix it again.

Allow it to sit some more.

Mix again.

Other approaches involve heating the mixture before baking or melting the butter so that the fat becomes evenly incorporated throughout the batter.

If your objective is a beautifully homogeneous mixture, those techniques make sense.

But I eventually realized something.

The more uniform I made the mixture, the less it resembled the pudding I remembered.

What Happened to the Slush?

The pudding still tasted like cornmeal pudding.

It could still be soft.

There might even be a thin softer layer at the top.

But that thick, luscious slush I remembered?

Almost gone.

Instead, the pudding became much more uniform from top to bottom.

And eventually I began thinking about what I had actually watched people do before culinary school reorganized the process in my head.

They weren’t standing around obsessively hydrating the cornmeal.

They weren’t continually remixing it.

They weren’t trying to make every ingredient disappear perfectly into every other ingredient.

They mixed the pudding and cooked it.

So I decided to do the same.

I Went Back to the Old Way

For this pudding, I deliberately stopped trying to make the batter perfect.

I mixed my ingredients.

I added my water.

I added my spices.

I added the butter without melting it.

Then I poured the mixture into the pan and baked it.

I did not leave the finished batter sitting around to soak.

And there it was.

The slush.

A proper thick layer of it.

Not a little soft film.

Not something I had to prepare separately and pour over the top.

The pudding produced it during baking.

That was the moment everything came back together for me.

Why Baking the Pudding Immediately Matters

I want to be careful about separating observation from laboratory science here.

I have not conducted controlled food-science experiments measuring exactly what is happening to every component of this pudding during baking.

What I do have is repeated experience.

I watched this style of pudding being made in different Jamaican homes and community settings growing up. I experienced the more controlled culinary-school approach later. And I have now gone back and successfully reproduced the thick soft top myself.

Cornmeal absorbs water.

That much isn’t controversial.

If cornmeal sits in liquid, its grains begin taking up moisture.

So when the finished pudding mixture is allowed to sit before baking, those grains have additional time to hydrate.

Repeatedly stirring the mixture redistributes everything again.

Heating the batter accelerates the cooking and hydration process even further.

That can be useful if the objective is an evenly hydrated pudding.

But an evenly hydrated pudding isn’t exactly what I am trying to create.

With my method, the batter goes into the oven while it is still relatively loose.

As it bakes, the cornmeal settles and cooks into the firmer lower portion while the richer liquid portion contributes to that softer upper layer.

That is what I consistently see in the finished pudding.

And for me, the evidence that matters most is sitting right there on the plate.

The Butter Is Supposed to Look Like That

Another place where it is tempting to “fix” the recipe is the butter.

Don’t.

I use 150 grams of butter, but I don’t melt it first.

I roughly cut it into pieces and put those pieces directly into the pudding mixture.

Yes, you may see butter floating around.

Yes, it looks less refined than beautifully emulsifying melted butter into the batter.

That is fine.

The oven will melt it.

As the butter melts during baking, that richness becomes part of the pudding.

The coconut milk also brings its own fat and richness.

I don’t need to homogenize everything before the pudding enters the oven.

For this recipe, I would rather let some of that magic happen during baking.

Why There Is No Flour in My Cornmeal Pudding

This recipe contains no flour whatsoever.

And it doesn’t need it.

I have seen recipes described as Jamaican cornmeal pudding that include flour. That may be how some families and cooks prepare theirs.

It isn’t how I make mine.

More importantly, it isn’t the cornmeal pudding I remember repeatedly encountering growing up.

My mother’s pudding didn’t need flour.

My grandmother’s didn’t need flour.

The traditional style I knew didn’t depend on flour to give it structure.

Cornmeal itself provides plenty of body once it hydrates and cooks.

Just look at the finished slices.

The pudding holds.

You can cut it.

You can lift it.

You can serve a substantial square of it.

And underneath that soft slush is a firm cornmeal base that holds everything together beautifully.

Adding flour simply isn’t necessary for the pudding I am trying to make.

Authentic Jamaican Cornmeal Pudding Recipe

This makes a large, rich pudding with a firm cornmeal base and soft traditional slush on top.

Ingredients

• 1 lb cornmeal
• 3 cups granulated sugar
• 3 packets coconut milk powder, about 150 grams total
• About 8 cups water
• 150 grams butter, roughly cut into pieces — do not melt
• 1½ teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1½ teaspoons ground nutmeg
• ¼ cup vanilla
• 1 teaspoon salt, or to taste

A Quick Note About the Water

The 8 cups of water is an approximate measurement.

When I originally made this pudding, I wasn’t standing there measuring every cup of water precisely. I already knew approximately what I wanted the mixture to look like.

Afterward, I went back and reverse-engineered the quantity as closely as possible so that someone following this recipe would have a useful measurement.

It came out to approximately 8 cups.

Use that as your guide, but also pay attention to your mixture.

Cornmeal can vary in how much liquid it absorbs.

The batter for this pudding should be quite loose and pourable.

Don’t see a thin mixture and immediately panic and start throwing extra cornmeal into it.

Remember: we need enough liquid for the cornmeal to cook properly and for that soft upper layer to develop.

How to Make Jamaican Cornmeal Pudding

1. Preheat the Oven and Prepare Your Pan

Preheat your oven before you start putting the final batter together.

This is important because once the pudding is mixed, I don’t want it sitting around waiting for the oven to get hot.

Prepare a sufficiently large baking pan.

You can line it with parchment paper to make removing pieces easier.

Make sure the pan has enough depth.

This pudding can bubble quite dramatically while baking, and you don’t want an overfilled pan spilling sugary cornmeal mixture all over the bottom of your oven.

2. Combine the Cornmeal and Sugar

Add 1 pound of cornmeal to a large mixing bowl.

Add 3 cups of sugar.

Mix the dry ingredients together.

Three cups of sugar may initially sound like a lot, but remember that this is a large pudding with approximately 8 cups of water, a full pound of cornmeal and plenty of coconut.

This is also dessert.

Jamaican cornmeal pudding isn’t supposed to taste like breakfast porridge.

3. Add the Coconut Milk Powder

Add approximately 150 grams of coconut milk powder.

I used three packets.

Coconut is one of the flavors that makes this pudding what it is.

The coconut milk contributes richness and works beautifully with cornmeal, cinnamon, nutmeg and vanilla.

It also contributes fat to that rich pudding mixture.

4. Add the Water

Begin adding the water while mixing.

You are aiming for approximately 8 cups total.

Mix sufficiently to remove large dry pockets of cornmeal and distribute the ingredients.

The mixture should be loose.

Much looser than cake batter.

If you are making this for the first time, that can feel wrong.

Trust the process.

Cornmeal absorbs a tremendous amount of liquid as it cooks.

5. Add Plenty of Cinnamon and Nutmeg

Add:

1½ teaspoons cinnamon

and

1½ teaspoons nutmeg.

This isn’t a pudding where I want the spices to be so timid that I have to concentrate to detect them.

The spices are noticeable.

And they should be.

That combination of cornmeal, coconut, vanilla, cinnamon and nutmeg produces an incredible aroma once the pudding begins baking.

6. Add the Vanilla

Pour in ¼ cup vanilla.

Again, this is a large pudding.

The vanilla isn’t supposed to disappear.

It joins the coconut and warm spices and gives the finished pudding a deep, fragrant flavor.

7. Add the Salt

Add 1 teaspoon salt, or adjust according to taste.

Don’t skip it simply because the pudding is sweet.

Salt helps balance the sugar and makes the other flavors taste fuller.

8. Add the Butter — But Don’t Melt It

Cut 150 grams of butter roughly into pieces.

Drop those pieces directly into the pudding mixture.

Do not stand there trying to make the butter disappear.

Do not melt it first.

Some pieces may float.

That’s okay.

The oven knows what to do with butter.

9. Mix It and Stop

Give everything enough mixing to combine it properly.

Then stop.

This step may be more important than it sounds.

Don’t leave the batter for 20 minutes and return to stir it.

Don’t decide that the cornmeal needs an hour to soften.

Don’t keep remixing it.

Don’t put the whole thing on the stove and heat it.

The oven should already be ready.

10. Pour the Batter Into the Pan Immediately

Pour the mixture into your prepared baking pan.

You may notice the batter isn’t perfectly homogeneous.

Again, that doesn’t frighten me.

Get it into the oven.

The pudding will begin doing exactly what I want it to do there.

11. Bake Until the Bottom Is Properly Set

My pudding took approximately 1 hour 30 minutes to 1 hour 45 minutes to bake.

Your exact time may vary depending on:

• The size of your pan
• The depth of the pudding
• Your oven
• The material of the baking pan
• The exact amount of water used

Don’t judge the pudding only by the clock.

You are looking for the lower cornmeal portion to be properly cooked and set while retaining that softer layer at the top.

12. Don’t Panic When You See the Pudding Bubbling

Cornmeal pudding can look quite dramatic in the oven.

Mine certainly did.

The surface can bubble vigorously as the pudding cooks.

Don’t immediately assume something has gone wrong.

You have water, sugar, coconut, butter and cornmeal all cooking together in a deep pan.

There is a lot happening in there.

As long as the pudding isn’t overflowing or burning, let it cook.

13. Let the Pudding Set Before Cutting

This is probably the hardest instruction in the entire recipe.

Because the smell coming from the oven is going to make you want to cut it immediately.

Give it some time.

The cornmeal base continues firming as the pudding cools.

The slush also thickens somewhat while remaining noticeably softer than the pudding underneath.

Cutting too early can make the whole thing look much looser than it eventually will.

And while I absolutely understand the appeal of eating hot cornmeal pudding—I grew up buying it that way—giving a fresh pan some setting time makes serving much easier.

How to Know When Jamaican Cornmeal Pudding Is Done

This is where people can accidentally bake away the very thing they want.

If you expect the entire pudding to have the texture of a cake, the slush may convince you that it isn’t finished.

The soft top is not supposed to become identical to the bottom.

Check the structure of the pudding underneath.

The lower cornmeal layer should be cooked and firm enough to hold once it has had time to settle.

The surface should no longer look like raw batter.

The edges should look cooked.

And the pudding should smell deeply toasted, buttery and spiced.

Then remember that cooling does part of the final setting.

Don’t keep baking simply because you are determined to make the center and top completely firm.

You may end up with dry pudding and no slush.

Why Your Cornmeal Pudding Doesn’t Have a Thick Slush

If you have been making cornmeal pudding and wondering why you can’t get that thick soft top, look at your method before blaming your ingredients.

You Let the Batter Soak

This is the first thing I would change.

If the cornmeal sits in all that liquid before baking, it begins absorbing it.

The longer it sits, the more hydration takes place before the pudding ever reaches the oven.

For some pudding styles, that may be exactly what you want.

For this one, I don’t do it.

Mix and bake.

You Keep Stirring the Batter

Once everything is properly combined, leave it alone.

Constantly remixing the pudding keeps redistributing the cornmeal and liquid.

I don’t need perfect uniformity.

I actually want the cooking process to create different textures.

You Precooked or Heated the Mixture

Heating the pudding mixture before baking begins the cooking and hydration process early.

Again, this can create a smooth, uniform pudding.

But that is not the result I am chasing here.

You Melted the Butter

Melting the butter and thoroughly distributing it throughout the mixture creates more uniform fat distribution.

I prefer adding mine in pieces and allowing it to melt during baking.

Your Batter Was Too Thick

If there isn’t enough liquid available, the cornmeal can absorb what is there and leave you with a much firmer pudding.

The batter for this recipe should look loose.

You Baked Away the Soft Top

This is a big one.

If you continue baking until the entire pudding has exactly the same firmness, you may simply be removing the moisture that creates the texture you wanted.

The bottom needs to set.

The top can remain soft.

You Expected the Slush to Look Like a Separate Custard

The traditional slush I am talking about isn’t a second dessert poured onto the first one.

It develops from the pudding itself.

Its appearance may therefore vary slightly from batch to batch.

That is part of traditional cooking.

What the Finished Pudding Should Look Like

Once cut, you should be able to see a clear textural difference.

The bottom: golden, substantial, moist and firm enough to hold its shape.

The top: softer, richer, glossier and almost custard-like.

When warm, the top may jiggle.

When cooled, it becomes more stable but should still remain noticeably softer than the base.

The photographs of this pudding show exactly what I was hoping to achieve.

That is my slush.

And Then I Tasted It

This deserves its own section because I wasn’t prepared for just how good this batch tasted.

The first bite was almost difficult to describe.

The cornmeal gives the pudding that unmistakable body and texture.

Then comes the coconut.

Butter.

Vanilla.

Cinnamon.

Nutmeg.

Sugar.

Salt balancing everything in the background.

But then you get the texture.

The firmer cornmeal pudding hits first, followed by that rich, soft topping.

Or, if you are smart, you make sure your fork gets some of both.

It is buttery.

Coconutty.

Warmly spiced.

Moist.

Comforting.

Rich.

And when it is still slightly warm, that soft top is something else entirely.

I know saying a dessert tastes heavenly can sound like something written simply to make a recipe sound exciting.

I don’t need to manufacture excitement for this one.

This pudding was outrageous.

The Traditional Charcoal Method I Remember Growing Up

Cornmeal pudding didn’t begin with electric ovens.

One of my strongest memories is seeing pudding cooked using charcoal, with heat both underneath and above the pan.

My mother was careful with the amount of heat underneath.

There would be very little coal at the bottom and considerably more on top.

That makes sense when you think about the thickness of the pudding.

Too much intense heat directly underneath could burn the bottom long before the center finishes cooking.

The stronger heat above helps surround the pudding and cook it more evenly.

My mother’s pudding could take around two hours using that method.

But I also saw something very different at a church function.

They were running out of food and needed something else quickly.

Someone decided to make pudding.

I remember being surprised because I didn’t think of cornmeal pudding as something you could suddenly decide to whip up when people were waiting for food.

But that is exactly what they did.

They mixed the pudding.

Got the charcoal arranged.

Put heat underneath and on top.

And got that pudding cooked.

That memory stayed with me because it reinforced something I had seen repeatedly:

Cornmeal pudding did not need an elaborate pre-cooking ritual.

People mixed it and cooked it.

Can I Make the Slush Separately?

Yes, there are methods that create a separate rich mixture and pour it over the pudding.

That can certainly produce a soft topping.

It can also be useful for cooks who struggle to get the top they want naturally.

But I didn’t use that method here.

I didn’t need to.

The slush in these photographs developed from the original pudding mixture.

For me, that is part of the beauty of returning to this method.

The top isn’t something added afterward to imitate the texture.

It is the pudding.

Can I Add Raisins?

Absolutely, if you like them.

Raisins appear in plenty of Jamaican puddings, and different families have their own preferences.

I didn’t use raisins in this batch.

I wanted the cornmeal, coconut, butter and spices to stand on their own and to reproduce the particular pudding I remembered.

If raisins belong in your cornmeal pudding memory, add them.

Traditional Jamaican cooking has never depended on every household doing everything identically.

Why Is My Cornmeal Pudding Too Hard?

A hard pudding can result from several things.

Too little water: Cornmeal absorbs a considerable amount of liquid.

Too much cornmeal: Even a little extra can substantially change the final texture in a large recipe.

Overbaking: Continue removing moisture long enough and eventually the pudding will become dry.

A shallow pan: A thinner pudding may cook and lose moisture faster.

Remember that cornmeal pudding also becomes firmer as it cools.

You don’t need it rock-solid while it is still inside the oven.

Why Is My Cornmeal Pudding Too Soft?

First determine which part is soft.

If the top is soft but the lower section is properly cooked and holds after cooling, congratulations.

That is what we are trying to achieve.

If the entire pudding remains loose after adequate baking and cooling, however, you may have used too much water or the pudding may simply need more cooking time.

Pan depth can also make a substantial difference.

A very deep pudding takes longer for heat to penetrate.

Can I Make This With Fresh Coconut Milk?

Yes.

In fact, fresh coconut milk would take this even closer to old-fashioned Jamaican home cooking.

But you will need to account for the liquid already present in fresh coconut milk.

This recipe uses coconut milk powder plus water, which means I can control the overall liquid separately.

If substituting liquid coconut milk, don’t simply add it plus the entire 8 cups of water without adjusting anything.

You could end up with far too much liquid.

Can I Reduce the Sugar?

You can adjust sweetness to your preference.

Just remember that sugar contributes more than sweetness.

It also affects moisture and texture.

If you dramatically change the amount, your finished pudding may behave differently from mine.

For the pudding shown here, I used the full 3 cups.

How to Store Jamaican Cornmeal Pudding

Once the pudding has cooled sufficiently, cover leftovers and refrigerate them.

Because this pudding is moist and rich, I prefer refrigeration rather than leaving leftovers sitting at room temperature for long periods.

The pudding will become considerably firmer when cold.

That doesn’t mean it has dried out.

The butter and other fats firm in the refrigerator too.

Warm it gently and that lovely texture begins returning.

How to Reheat Cornmeal Pudding Without Drying It Out

For an individual piece, the microwave is convenient.

Warm it in short intervals.

You aren’t trying to cook the pudding again.

You simply want to remove the refrigerator chill and soften it.

You can also warm larger portions gently in the oven.

Avoid overheating.

That soft, moist texture is valuable.

Don’t sacrifice it in the name of making the pudding piping hot.

8 Rules for Getting That Beautiful Slush on Top

If you remember nothing else from this recipe, remember these:

1. Don’t add flour just to make the pudding set.

The cornmeal can provide plenty of structure on its own.

2. Don’t let the finished batter sit around soaking.

Once it is mixed, get it cooking.

3. Don’t repeatedly remix it.

Combine the ingredients properly, then stop interfering.

4. Don’t precook the entire batter.

Let the cooking happen in the oven.

5. Don’t melt the butter.

Cut it into pieces and let it melt while the pudding bakes.

6. Keep the batter sufficiently loose.

Cornmeal needs plenty of liquid.

7. Don’t expect the top and bottom to have identical textures.

They shouldn’t.

8. Don’t bake the slush out of your pudding.

A soft top is not automatically a sign that your pudding has failed.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does authentic Jamaican cornmeal pudding contain flour?

Some Jamaican recipes use flour and some don’t.

The traditional cornmeal pudding I personally grew up eating and watching people make did not depend on flour, and this recipe contains none.

Cornmeal provides enough structure to produce a pudding that slices beautifully once properly cooked and set.

What makes the top of cornmeal pudding soft?

In this recipe, the soft layer develops naturally while the pudding bakes.

I believe the loose batter, sufficient liquid, coconut richness, unmelted butter and immediate baking all contribute to the result I repeatedly see.

What I can say with certainty is that allowing my mixture to soak or using methods that make the batter more uniform has not produced the same thick slush for me.

Should I soak cornmeal before making pudding?

Not for this recipe.

There are recipes where soaking cornmeal is useful.

When I am specifically trying to create this traditional soft-topped pudding, I mix the batter and bake it without a long soaking period.

Should cornmeal pudding jiggle when it comes out of the oven?

The soft upper portion can have some movement while hot.

The lower section should be cooked, and the entire pudding will continue firming as it cools.

Don’t mistake the intentional soft top for an entirely raw pudding.

Why did my cornmeal pudding come out yellow all the way through?

You may simply have made a more uniformly hydrated style of pudding.

Long soaking, repeated mixing, precooking the batter, insufficient liquid or baking until everything becomes equally firm can all move the pudding toward a more uniform texture.

Can I make Jamaican cornmeal pudding without an oven?

Traditionally, yes.

I grew up seeing pudding cooked with charcoal using heat underneath and above the pan.

Replicating that safely requires experience managing charcoal and suitable outdoor cooking equipment, so for this recipe I use a conventional oven.

Is the soft top raw cornmeal?

It shouldn’t be.

The slush is soft, but it is still part of the cooked pudding.

The goal is not raw batter sitting on top of a cooked base.

The pudding needs adequate baking time for the cornmeal to cook while retaining the textural difference between the layers.

Sometimes the Old Way Really Is the Better Way

Making this pudding brought two versions of my cooking experience together.

There is what I learned professionally.

And there is what I learned simply by growing up and watching Jamaican people cook.

Both have value.

Culinary school taught me to think about what ingredients are doing.

It taught me technique and consistency.

But my mother, grandmother and the other cooks I watched taught me something equally valuable:

Don’t improve a traditional food until you have understood what you’re about to improve out of it.

In trying to hydrate every cornmeal granule perfectly, distribute every bit of butter evenly and create a beautifully uniform pudding, I had moved away from one of the things I loved most about the pudding in the first place.

That imperfect separation was not a problem.

It was the prize.

So this time I trusted what I remembered.

I mixed the pudding.

I left the butter in pieces.

I didn’t let the batter sit around soaking.

I didn’t keep remixing it.

I put it in the oven.

And when I finally cut that first piece, there was the firm golden cornmeal pudding underneath and that thick, soft, jiggly slush sitting beautifully on top.

It looked like the pudding I remembered.

It behaved like the pudding I remembered.

And when I tasted it?

There was no question.

This was the one.