Macaroni Pudding

jwjmummy, Jul 16, 5:08am
When I was growing up in the 70's one of the puddings my mum made regularly was Macaroni Pudding. I would love it if somebody could pass on a recipe. It was a milky pudding and was baked in the oven to finish but I don't know if the macaroni was pre-cooked.
245sam, Jul 16, 5:57am
jwjmummy, I'm guessing that the macaroni pudding that you recall was a baked egg custard with added macaroni. Am I correct? My Mum used to make that pudding too and so did I many years ago. I simply used the ratio of 1 egg + 1 tbsp sugar (raw sugar for preference) to 150ml milk (full cream for preference, otherwise blue top). I can't recall how much macaroni I used but I know that which pasta varied - sometimes macaroni elbows, or if we (Mum and myself) had them we used alphabet pasta - as children I recall trying to pick out from the baked pudding the pasta letters, which we hoped to find intact! Irrespective of whichever kind of pasta was used, it was pre-cooked but care needed to be taken to ensure that it was only almost cooked and definitely not overcooked.
I sprinkled the top with freshly grated nutmeg before putting the pudding into the oven and as I did with plain baked egg custard, I always cooked the macaroni pudding bain-marie style.
Hope that helps. :-))
uli, Jul 16, 4:18pm
You can cook it in a crockpot just like rice pudding, just substitite some small pasta for the rice. It is just milk, pasta, a bit of sugar and if you want to be extravagant use some grated lemon rind for more flavour or some cinnamon and sugar over the top once it is cooked.

If you have leftovers then you can mix them cold the next day with an egg or two and some raisins and bake it in the oven for another version.
jwjmummy, Jul 16, 4:37pm
Thank you 245sam and uli. It is one of those things you remember from childhood and wish you had asked Mum!
glenn-ellyn, Jul 16, 5:53pm
Although I am now in my 70's I still remember when I was about 4 years old and our lovely neighbours would yell out over the fence for me to go over and share their macaroni pudding.
jwjmummy, Jul 16, 6:43pm
Lovely memory glenn-elleyn. I remember hoping nobody wanted seconds because if there was any left over, I was allowed to scrape out all the crusty bits and have it cold for breakfast the next morning. I don't think that would be quite as appealing to my adult tastebuds!
jbsouthland, Jul 16, 6:52pm
Isn't it funny what you guys all love I detested . Anything custardy , baked , steamed , puddings made from milk were all blerk to me. As was junket , sago , bread and butter, rice pudding .
Though I love steamed rice and pasta !
jwjmummy, Jul 16, 7:06pm
We had a pudding most nights whereas they are a treat in our household now. Nobody was overweight so it must have been because we played outside and burned off all the extra calories.
snapperheadrkp, Jul 16, 7:27pm
When milk was 4 pence a pint (3.3 cents for 600 ml) our family of 8, had milk puddings frequently (often with home preserved fruit) Rice,(normal and flaked) Sago, Tapioca, Macaroni, (both elbows and spaghetti style which we called worms) Custard, Seameal Custard, Junket, Blancmange,,plus Bread and Butter Pudding.
Also a milk pudding mix that came in a packet from the Rawleigh's man ?
jwjmummy, Jul 16, 9:26pm
I had forgotten about seameal custard and haven't seen it in the shops for ages - I don't suppose you can get it now. I also remember a pudding mix from the Rawleigh's Man. One of my big brothers put me off it by saying it had worm medicine in it which mum was trying to sneak into us - all the more for him if I didn't eat it.
uli, Jul 16, 10:43pm
Yes you can buy seameal custard. It is just vanilla custard thickened with seaweed (agar agar) instead of starch.
uli, Jul 16, 10:45pm
Gee when was that?
In the 1980's milk was already over 40c for a pint! Still in the lovely bottles.
happymullen, Jul 18, 1:54am
I remember when milk was 4 pence! a bottle. We used to bundle up the 4 pennies into a wad of newpaper, stick it in the neck of the bottle and leave the bottles at the letterbox. In the winter the tinfoil tops would bulge with frozen milk.
This was in Karori, Wellington. There were several times when collecting the milk, where I slipped over on the steep driveway, slippery with frost, amazing skinned knees and even more amazing that I didn't seriously cut myself on the broken bottles!
I also remember my brother nicking the pennies from neighbours bottles on the way to school! What a walloping he got!
eastie3, Mar 3, 11:03am
I recently made a macaroni custard for my 6yo grandson who isn't that keen on milk as a drink. He has enjoyed baked rice custard before but was highly suspicious of eating pasta in this form. Because he loves dried fruit I added some sultanas, a dash of cream and cinnamon, and he grated the fresh nutmeg over the top with only a tiny piece of fingernail included. Hardly worth mentioning. Baked in a bain-marie and he enjoyed it so much he ate 2/3 of the dish leaving very little for us, then asked if I would save the rest for his breakfast.