Pudim is simply the Portuguese word for pudding. In Brazil it points at one thing: a baked custard turned out of its tin so the dark caramel runs back down the sides and pools around the base. Dhi Ferrari grew up with it in Rio de Janeiro. The Pudim Caramel Flan in our cabinet at The Welder is the version he makes here, built as a single serving.
Are you the one in your circle who picks where everybody goes? Then keep this in your pocket. Most of your guests will not have eaten it before, it costs less than a coffee and a slice together, and it arrives with a story already attached.
Where it parts company with creme caramel
The French creme caramel and the Brazilian pudim start from the same idea. Custard baked over caramel, chilled, then inverted so the syrup becomes the glaze. Texture separates them. A creme caramel is built to wobble. Pudim is built to be dense.
Ours is slow-baked, so the caramel has time to develop its deeper, more complex notes and to set over the outside as a golden syrup. Underneath, the custard is rich and velvety instead of airy. Press a spoon in and the edge stays clean, then the whole spoonful turns smooth on the tongue and goes. The balance is between milky sweetness and the slightly bitter edge of the dark caramel, and the bitterness is the point. Take it away and you are eating one flat note of sweet.
A fair summary of how Dhi thinks: chase flavour instead of sweetness, and invite people to try.
How it sits in the cabinet
Pudim lives with the rest of our mini desserts, every one of them a single serving and none of them something you slice up. At $10 it is the entry point to that shelf. The Lemon Tart, the Black and White Chocolate Mousse, the Romeo and Juliet Cheesecake and the Ferrari Rocher sit along the same run of glass.
Which gives you a reason to come with somebody. Order two different desserts, halve both, swap. A pudim and a Ferrari Rocher between two people cover opposite ends of the cabinet: one cool, milky and caramelised, the other a flourless chocolate and hazelnut cake under a shell of dark chocolate and roasted almonds that cracks audibly under the fork. Alone you have to pick one. With a second person you never do.
What to drink alongside it
Cold caramel and hot espresso are an old pairing, and it holds up here. The heat lifts the burnt edge of the caramel straight off the tongue. Our hot coffee uses the C4 Coffee Co Terra Nova fair trade organic blend from a Christchurch roaster. Want no caffeine late in the day? The Zealong Teapot for One comes from the only tea plantation in New Zealand, up in the Waikato, and the chamomile and lavender are caffeine free. More on that pairing in our piece on coffee and cake in Christchurch.
A word about gluten
The pudim is made with no added gluten. So are the lemon tart, the Romeo and Juliet cheesecake, the Black and White mousse and the Apple Pie. They are grouped in No Added Gluten Cakes and Desserts, and we have written about that range at greater length here. Two caveats, both honest. New Zealand labelling rules mean we can only state that we have not added any gluten-containing ingredients, never make a claim about the finished dessert. And our kitchen is small and without exclusive production areas for all of our different recipes, so traces may occur and nothing we make is guaranteed safe for severe coeliac disease.
Turning up, and taking it home
Cabinet desserts and drinks need no notice at all. Walk into the patisserie, see what is on the shelf that day, take it with a coffee. Want one set aside for certain? Order online instead. The checkout date picker only offers dates the kitchen can actually meet, and most of the range works to a two-day lead time, three days on the larger desserts, seven on petit fours. Small pieces such as the brigadeiro can just be added at the counter.
Everything is collection only, from our patisserie inside The Welder at 20-26 Welles Street in central Christchurch, one block south of the Bus Interchange. Parking sits across the road and behind the building, with bike racks at the side entrance. Doors open 10am to 9pm Tuesday to Saturday. Our piece on why we chose The Welder explains how the building works.
