If you think that untouched bread would become a waste, you’re absolutely wrong! Filipinos are known for being “madiskarte” and innovative when it involves their culinary skills. So in the case of untouched bread, a dish could be made out of it – and that is Masbate City’s pudding dessert.
In Masbate City, pudding is considered a classic dessert made by using day-old bread as a primary ingredient.
Jose Cokie Medina is among the numerous people who makes pudding in Masbate. His recipe, however, greatly differs from the others because of the way he cooks it.
“Unlike ‘yung ibang pudding na ino-oven, [yung] pudding [namin] steamed yan so yun ang kaibahan nya lang from other pudding,” Medina said in an interview with Bicol.PH.
There is no restriction in the quantity of each ingredient estimated for the recipe. With regard to taste, you can make a bland version of it or even make it sweet or sweeter! Or even put the right amount of sweetener for just the right amount of sweet. You do you! Just make sure you will not waste the food.
Similarly, Medina learned how to make pudding just by watching his grandmother work years back when he was still a little boy.
“Itong recipe na ito ay sa lola ko. It’s made of day-old bread or mas matagal na bread na mas magandang gawing pudding,” Medina explained.
Medina seemed to perfect his grandmother’s lovingly prepared recipe as his pudding dessert is offered in Rendezvous Resort found in the outskirts of the city. Medina’s pudding is always sold out whenever he posts the product online too.
Although he acknowledged that their pudding recipe is the result of constant product innovation, Medina still treats his pudding recipe as not just a simple recipe. He considers it a family legacy – a tradition that is passed on generation to generation in his family that he will forever treasure.
Pudding dessert is generally served during special occasions. But you can also eat it on normal days as chilled pudding can last for over a month. | Aaron John Baluis
Photos: Renato Jao