Banana Pudding

When I first moved to Kentucky I took a road trip with one of my professors to Whittaker's Guns in Owensboro. It is a huge gunstore with very cheap prices. I didn't buy anything but I was amazed at the selection - certainly the most guns I have ever seen in one place at one time along with a healthy selection of knives.

After the store we went to a famous bar-b-que in Owensboro called Moonlite bar-b-que. It is a huge family restaurant that has a bar-b-que buffet, served trough style. They have all kinds of different smoked meat and like 100 different side dishes. The smoked meat was less than impressive except for the goat. I'll get to that in a minute. The sides were incredible and too numerous to count. The best thing in the whole restaurant is the banana pudding. They have a cookbook for sale at the restaurant but the recipe for banana pudding in it is incorrect. It kindof makes banana pudding but they added way too much corn starch. I modified their recipe to make a workable recipe.

As for the smoked goat it is actually mutton. A big thing in Kentucky is bar-b-qued mutton. It is such a huge tradition that politicians are separated into groups of mutton-eaters and non-eaters. I think it is mostly done in large batches at church bar-b-ques and political rallies. Moonlite is particularly famous for their mutton. I like it better to say it is goat. People get a funny look on their face when you talk about bar-b-qued goat. At any rate I really liked the smoked mutton. I can't say I would put it in my smoker but I'll eat it if its put in front of me.

Banana Pudding from Moonlite Bar-B-Que

2 bananas
graham crackers
3 cups milk
6 egg yolks
1 cup sugar
1 T butter
1 t vanilla
1/2 t salt
2 T corn starch

Meringue
6 egg whites
1/4 t cream of tartar
5 T sugar

Preheat your oven to 375. To a saucepan add sugar, egg yolks, milk, salt and corn starch. Heat over medium heat stirring constantly until it comes to a boil and thickens to pudding consistency. Remove from heat and stir in butter and vanilla.

Lay graham crackers on the bottom of a baking dish. Top with sliced bananas. Put on another layer of crackers. It should look like this:
Pour the pudding over everything. To make the meringue, beat everything with a mixer until it is very stiff like a meringue. Spread it over the top of the pudding. Bake in the oven until it is brown like this:
Put it in the fridge to cool.