When my editortweeted a pitch for casseroles, I lapsed into snark mode.
I was raised on soul food, I muttered.
Casseroles are not soul food.
My favorite dessertbanana puddingis a quintessential soul food dessert.
It is also a casserole both in method and receptacle.
The method involves combining various foods, often in layers, to be cooked in a slow oven.
The receptacle is the casserolea French word that made its way into English by 1708,scholarssay.
But the puddingislayered with vanilla wafers, pudding, and banana slices.
Some people define it by the container… that classic Pyrex bowl, he says.
But to me, its any kind of layered, baked dish especially that has a cream element.
Miller mentions a couple of iconic soul food dishes that could be considered casseroles.
Mashed sweet potatoes would qualify if topped with brown sugar, marshmallows and walnuts.
Oven-baked macaroni and cheese is another casserole, and soul food staple, he notes.
While researching his book, Miller came across numerous casserole recipes in cookbooks by and for African Americans.
But Miller says casserole recipes appeared earlier than the 1940s.
As early as the 1910s, you see casserole recipes, he says.
Ive seen them as late as the 1990s.
So why did I think casseroles were #SoWhite?
I fell for a stereotype: that soul food is the sole food of African American cuisine.
Miller and other food scholars point out that soul food is a relatively recent moniker for African American food.
Just as people talked about soul music, they talked about soul food.
She wrote the The Jemima Code: Two Centuries of African American Cooking.
The book, which won a James Beard Foundation award in 2016.
We have totally forgotten there were people who were trained professionally to be the plantation cook, Tipton-Martin says.
Such cooks would have had a repertoire of dishes and techniques to draw from.
The Jemima Code is an anthology of Tipton-Martins collection of African-American cookbooks.
They date to 1827, and shes found numerous references to casseroles as food and cookware.
My recipe is inspired by ladies from my church.
Originally, the dessert called for homemade boiled custard, but all my church ladies use instant banana pudding.
My compromise came from the international foods aisle of my local Walmart.
I foundFoster Clarks custard powder, an unsweetened base made with cornstarch.
It lets me control the amount of sugar, without worrying about making custard in a double-boiler.
If Foster Clarks isnt available, use cook-and-serve vanilla pudding.
Add banana extract to taste.
Many traditional recipes top the dessert with a meringue.
Its not a personal favorite, so I used fresh strawberries.
The recipe below yields four hearty servings.
Pour in four tablespoons half and half, and whisk thoroughly until mixture resembles a smooth gravy.
Mix sugar and remaining half-and-half in a saucepan.
Heat, stirring constantly, until small bubbles form in the liquid.
Pour the hot liquid into the custard mixture, whisking to prevent lumps.
Pour the custard mixture in the saucepan and return to the heat.
Whisk constantly until the custard thickens, about two or three minutes.
Take off heat and whisk banana extract into the custard.
(*If using cook-and-serve pudding, prepare according to package directions, using half and half.
Add banana extract and proceed with recipe.)
Pour a thin layer of custard in a casserole dish.
Top the final layer of custard with wafers and bananas.
Slice strawberries lengthwise into quarters.
Garnish the pudding as desired.
Dust lightly with cinnamon.
Cover and refrigerate until set.
Spread meringue on top of cooled pudding, spreading to the edges of the dish.
Use the back of a spoon to make small decorations.
Bake for 15 minutes in a 350-degree oven, until edges of meringue brown.
Serve warm or at room temperature.
