Cheese Pudding

Go-Go’s Cheese Pudding:

(This is a recipe that my grandmother made for us at all major family gatherings.  Actually, the source of the recipe is not her, but I didn’t even know *that* until my Aunt told me just a couple of years ago.  Besides, what my grandmother had written as the recipe was *not* what she cooked every time, and if she caught you watching her to see what she was doing, she would change it.  Between my dedicated Aunt and myself, we have managed to reconstruct this recipe, mostly due to her watching my grandmother surreptitiously, and realizing that when the original recipe included “onions” that we had never had it with onions in it in our lives.

Cheese pudding

9 slices of ordinary white bread

1 stick melted unsalted butter

2 cups warm whole milk

3 eggs, separated

8 oz medium cheddar, grated

4 oz sharp cheddar, grated

1 tsp salt

1 tsp dry mustard

½ tsp cayenne pepper

Drying bread

Set out the white bread slices to get stiff and dry (preferably overnight but a few hours will do), then tear/crumble/chop into pieces the size of your pinky toe or so in a mixing bowl.

Pour the warm milk and the melted butter into the bread.

Mixing it up

Beat the yolks of the 3 eggs and add to mixture

Cheese

Stir in the grated cheese

Add the salt, dry mustard, and cayenne and mix well.

Whip the egg whites until stiff and carefully fold into the mixture.

Whipped egg whites

Pour into large flat glass or ceramic (not metal) pan(s), no more than 1 inch thick, cover, and let sit in refrigerator (min 1 hour, preferably overnight)

Gloop

Bake at 350 degrees for 30-40 minutes, when it will be golden in the middle and just starting to get nice brown bits on the edges.  Keeps for days, reheat and serve as necessary, or eat cold with a sandwich.

Cheese pudding

Yes, I know that the name of the dish is off-putting for some, but there you go.  And it’s not a souffle, really, and not a casserole or any of several other things.  But the best thing about the name is when people at the buffet pass up the dish, because that means the rest of us get more…

Tags: Cheese pudding, Cook, Cooking, North Carolina, Orange County, Recipes, Southern