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I observe Custard powder and pudding mix is same just combine it with milk, cook to thicken, and you have custard or pudding.Can they use as a replacement of one another?

ushna saeed
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1 Answers1

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Sometimes it is, sometimes it isn't. Depends on what the manufacturer put inside.

The term "pudding" is somewhat broadly defined. It can include eggs, or starch, or both, or even be applied to kinds of dessert which are not made from thickened milk. "Custard" is somewhat more specific, I would insist that a custard is always egg thickened, and that the most typical custard is yolk thickened - but it can include starch sometimes.

Manufacturers of powders who write "pudding" will almost always use starch (although sometimes they use modified starch, which ends up tasting differently than homemade pudding), and sometimes also powdered egg. Manufacturers of powders with the label "custard" might use pure egg powder, or a combination of a starch and egg, but they could also just decide to label it "custard" even if it doesn't include egg.

So, I would expect that they are in principle different, because a "pudding" sachet is very likely to contain starch and no egg, and a "custard" sachet is very likely to contain an egg, and no starch, or little starch. But due to inconsistent labelling, if you just grab a package of each from a random brand, you can end up with the opposite case, or with two packages containing the same thickener.

rumtscho
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    I know this use of *pudding* makes the question American, but on my side of the Atlantic [*custard powder*](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bird's_Custard) usually refers to a product without any egg, but with starch. – Chris H Dec 04 '18 at 17:27
  • @ChrisH Interesting. You linked to something which Wikipedia calls "imitation custard". Is it that custard in the UK never has eggs, or just that the producers of powder frequently use the word despite there being no egg in it? – rumtscho Dec 04 '18 at 17:31
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    I'm not sure for anyone under 40, but in the UK if you say 'custard' then Bird's [or a copy] is exactly what they will think of. You'd have to qualify as 'egg custard' for people to even consider the alternative. Actually, similarly for 'pudding' - which is anything you can put custard on. – Tetsujin Dec 04 '18 at 17:33
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    Unqualified, *custard* means starch-based over here. We'd either say *egg custard* or use the French term (in a reversal of the usual situation where French cooking terms are more likely to be used in American English). A *custard tart*, however, would normally contain a solid egg custard. – Chris H Dec 04 '18 at 17:41
  • @Tetsujin unless of course it's a steak and kidney pudding! – Chris H Dec 04 '18 at 17:41
  • @ChrisH - hmm... indeed ;-) I think a lot of the British terminology comes from school dinners & the post-war years, where no-one had 'lunch' they had 'dinner' served by 'dinner ladies' & after 'dinner' comes 'pudding'... whatever it was made from. – Tetsujin Dec 04 '18 at 17:47
  • @ChrisH what would be the French term, creme patisserie? – rumtscho Dec 04 '18 at 17:48
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    @rumtscho, or creme anglaise! Depending on the type of custard or its consistency. – Chris H Dec 04 '18 at 17:49
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    hahaha "creme anglaise" is french for "english creme"....british people using that term is a kinda' awesome full circle – chaqke Dec 04 '18 at 18:41
  • @rumtscho If there is agreement on customary usage difference between US and UK, maybe custard and possibly pudding should be in the internation similar but different conical question https://cooking.stackexchange.com/questions/16076/what-international-cooking-terms-sound-similar-but-have-different-meanings ? – dlb Dec 04 '18 at 23:00
  • @dlb everybody (including you) is welcome to edit that post! – rumtscho Dec 04 '18 at 23:12
  • Except my writing skill suck. ;) Conical answers I find better from someone with better polish than me. – dlb Dec 05 '18 at 13:38