Why is my pudding lumpy?

[mamadelbosque]

So I just made pudding from scratch yesterday for the first time, and it turned out OK - tastes fine that is, but theres all these little lumps in it and I have no idea why... I whisked it hard core for a long time, and then switched to a spoon. Should I have whisked it the WHOLE time? Or only just enough to get lumps out initially?? What makes pudding lumpy?

[Youngfrankenstein]

I think it's normal. If you temper the egg yolks, it will really cut down on the lumps. My best recipe has you run the warm pudding through a fine-mesh strainer to get rid of lumps....you could try that.

[cristeen]

Depends on the recipe, but the lumps could be scrambled eggs or they could be cornstarch. Either way, you need to continue whisking the entire time. Once you add the eggs, the mixture has to keep moving the entire time it's on the fire. My favorite pudding recipe says something like after adding the egg whisk it rapidly until you feel like your arm is gonna fall off.

Usually I just make tapioca though, and nobody's going to notice if that's a little lumpy.

[WeasleyMum]

If you were whisking, then my bet is that the egg yolks curdled/ over-cooked a bit, which makes for lumps. Does your recipe call for tempering the yolks by adding a little bit of the hot milk to them while whisking, then adding a little more, then adding that mixture back into the rest of the hot milk? Doing that will generally prevent the yolks from overcooking because it controls how quickly they get hot.

You can also just pour the whole mixture, once it's done but before it's cooled, through a sieve. That will take care of any stray lumpiness.