MAYA ANGELOU: COOKBOOK
I'm sure I posted this one somewhere else before, so sorry if it's a repeat for some folks, but I realized it fits in to this whole current NaNoWriMo theme of gaffling other authors' styles.
Anyway. Maya Angelou has an honest dang cookbook out there, and Oprah's favorite recipe out of it is apparently the banana pudding.
Here is Maya Angelou's recipe for banana pudding:
Ingredients:
* 3/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon sugar
* 1/3 cup cornstarch
* Pinch of salt
* 3 cups milk
* 8 eggs, separated
* 3 tablespoons butter
* 1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
* 3 cups vanilla wafers
* 4 ripe bananas, thinly sliced
* 1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar
Preheat oven to 350°F. In a large saucepan, combine 1/3 cup sugar, cornstarch and salt; stir until blended. Mix in milk. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly until thickened and boiling. Boil 1 minute, then remove from heat.
In a small bowl, whisk egg yolks, then whisk in about 1/2 cup of hot custard until blended. Pour yolk mixture back into saucepan of custard; cook over medium heat, stirring, 2 minutes. Stir in butter and vanilla until blended.
Place vanilla wafers on bottom of a shallow 2-quart casserole dish. Top with layers of banana slices and custard. Repeat layering, ending with custard.
In a large mixing bowl, beat egg whites and 1/4 cup sugar at low speed until frothy. Add cream of tartar; increase speed to medium and gradually beat in remaining sugar. Beat until egg whites hold stiff peaks.
Spoon meringue over hot custard immediately, making sure that meringue touches baking dish on all sides (this prevents it from shrinking). Transfer to oven and bake until golden, about 20 minutes. Remove pudding from oven and cool 1 hour. Refrigerate at least 4 hours before serving.
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Sounds good, doesn't it? But it's a little clinical, I thought, especially for something that's coming from Maya Angelou.
I would think that if Maya Angelou wrote a recipe it would go something like this:
In a large saucepan
as wide as the sky
I put my sugar
the cornstarch and salt
I stir until blended,
with powerful thrusts
and turns of my spoon.
I mix in the milk,
and cook until thickened
and boiling like the fire
that resides between my hips.
I touch my mixture to the heat
and draw back quickly.
In a bowl that's small,
like the voice of somebody
lost at sea in a raging storm,
whisk egg yolks
and hot custard
then bring it all together.
Let it all come together
over the fire.
The creamy white butter
and the rich, dark vanilla
together in the heat.
Into the depths of my casserole dish
plunge vanilla wafers
and building up in layers
alternating resentment and redemption
the banana and the custard.
And in the end, the custard
crowning, triumphant.
Let a light meringue
of egg whites, cream of tartar and sugar
fall over the whole
as though an angel's blessing.
Anyway. Maya Angelou has an honest dang cookbook out there, and Oprah's favorite recipe out of it is apparently the banana pudding.
Here is Maya Angelou's recipe for banana pudding:
Ingredients:
* 3/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon sugar
* 1/3 cup cornstarch
* Pinch of salt
* 3 cups milk
* 8 eggs, separated
* 3 tablespoons butter
* 1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
* 3 cups vanilla wafers
* 4 ripe bananas, thinly sliced
* 1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar
Preheat oven to 350°F. In a large saucepan, combine 1/3 cup sugar, cornstarch and salt; stir until blended. Mix in milk. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly until thickened and boiling. Boil 1 minute, then remove from heat.
In a small bowl, whisk egg yolks, then whisk in about 1/2 cup of hot custard until blended. Pour yolk mixture back into saucepan of custard; cook over medium heat, stirring, 2 minutes. Stir in butter and vanilla until blended.
Place vanilla wafers on bottom of a shallow 2-quart casserole dish. Top with layers of banana slices and custard. Repeat layering, ending with custard.
In a large mixing bowl, beat egg whites and 1/4 cup sugar at low speed until frothy. Add cream of tartar; increase speed to medium and gradually beat in remaining sugar. Beat until egg whites hold stiff peaks.
Spoon meringue over hot custard immediately, making sure that meringue touches baking dish on all sides (this prevents it from shrinking). Transfer to oven and bake until golden, about 20 minutes. Remove pudding from oven and cool 1 hour. Refrigerate at least 4 hours before serving.
------
Sounds good, doesn't it? But it's a little clinical, I thought, especially for something that's coming from Maya Angelou.
I would think that if Maya Angelou wrote a recipe it would go something like this:
In a large saucepan
as wide as the sky
I put my sugar
the cornstarch and salt
I stir until blended,
with powerful thrusts
and turns of my spoon.
I mix in the milk,
and cook until thickened
and boiling like the fire
that resides between my hips.
I touch my mixture to the heat
and draw back quickly.
In a bowl that's small,
like the voice of somebody
lost at sea in a raging storm,
whisk egg yolks
and hot custard
then bring it all together.
Let it all come together
over the fire.
The creamy white butter
and the rich, dark vanilla
together in the heat.
Into the depths of my casserole dish
plunge vanilla wafers
and building up in layers
alternating resentment and redemption
the banana and the custard.
And in the end, the custard
crowning, triumphant.
Let a light meringue
of egg whites, cream of tartar and sugar
fall over the whole
as though an angel's blessing.