Although the term "pudding" is broad and encompasses a variety of both savory and sweet foods, we are focusing on custard-style desserts. Custards contain milk (or cream) bound by eggs, and they may be cooked gently on the stove-top or baked slowly in the oven to achieve a silky consistency.

Stove-Top Pudding

1. Stove-top pudding requires little more than a heavy saucepan, a whisk, a rubber spatula, and a little plastic wrap to prepare.

2. Most stove-top custard recipes combine dry ingredients, such as sugar and starch. This prevents the starch from clumping when it's added to the hot milk. Separately combine eggs with a bit of milk or cream. Eggs serve a dual purpose in the custard. Of course, they bind or thicken the liquid, but they're often used to enrich the pudding, as well. For the most part, we use yolks, which have fat to lend the pudding a rich, smooth texture.

3. Tempering is a process that combines a hot liquid with a cool one, protecting the delicate eggs from coagulating too quickly. This technique ensures the eggs reach the desired temperature gradually, and it protects them from coagulating immediately upon contact with the boiling liquid.

4. The pudding is thick enough if it coats the back of a spoon.

5. Butter enriches the flavor and texture of pudding. Add it and other ingredients, such as flavor extracts, that may suffer from exposure to heat after the custard cooks.

6. Unless you're planning to serve the pudding warm, chill it as quickly as possible after cooking. Do this by spooning the pudding into a bowl and nesting the bowl in another ice-filled bowl, stirring occasionally until the pudding cools. Finally, cover the surface of the pudding directly with plastic wrap, and chill it. The plastic must come in contact with the pudding, or an unpleasant rubbery skin will form on the top. Store the covered pudding in the refrigerator until you're ready to serve—it will keep up to three days.

Baked Pudding

Baked custards contain many of the same ingredients as stove-top varieties and rely on the same principles since they, too, are basically milk bound by eggs. Delicate baked custards such as crème brûlée and flan account for one variety. But here we focus on the more forgiving baked puddings, such as bread pudding and Indian pudding. Instead of cornstarch, these recipes include bread cubes or other starchy ingredients to soak up the creamy custard and help stabilize the delicate egg-based mixture as it bakes.

Our custard recipes instruct you to bake the custard at a low temperature. The combination of the low temperature and the starchy ingredients insulates the custard and allows you to skip the step of tempering the eggs.

• Baked puddings don't require specialty equipment. You'll need a mixing bowl, wooden spoon, and baking dish in an appropriate size.

• With these baked puddings you simply mix all of the ingredients together, stir, and bake at a low temperature.