Ice Cream Pudding

Mid-January. The cookbook proof is going through final editing now — Vy and the production team in New York are doing the last copy review. The book's release date is set: April 4, 2028. Fifteen months out. There will be a launch event at the restaurant. There will be a small book tour — five cities, mostly Texas plus New York, plus possibly Chicago for Grace Okafor's reading. The book's marketing budget is modest but real. The publisher is committed. Vy is staying with the project through publication.

The Tyler-Bobby private cookbook draft is also moving forward. Tyler emailed me his contributions Friday — fifteen recipes, hand-typed, with photographs he has been taking at his Midland smoker compound for the last four months. Tyler's photographs are good. Engineer-precise. The brisket sliced on the cutting board with the bark in focus and the smoke ring at the perfect angle. Tyler has been cooking at a higher level than I realized. The third-generation arc continues with Tyler. The book will be a record of this. I wrote Tyler back: "These are great. I'm drafting my chapters. End of February for the full first draft."

Made phở Sunday with the cookbook's revised technique — the longer roast, the par-boil, the District 4 method Mai brought back from Vietnam. Smokey watched me. He approves of pho-making mornings because the kitchen smells good and there are usually scraps. The broth came out clean and deep. Mai approved at Saturday lunch (we had pre-tasted the test batch). The recipe in the cookbook is the recipe I am now making. The book has changed my own cooking. The book is the curriculum I will follow for the rest of my life.

The small Vietnamese-American community in Houston is the small social-spine. The small Bellaire-area is the small Little Saigon district. The small Hong Kong City Mall is the small Saturday-grocery-trip destination. The small Vietnamese church (Our Lady of Lavang) is the small Sunday-worship. The small community is the small refugee-and-immigrant-descended network that has been Bobby’s small lifelong-place.

Bobby’s parents came over from Vietnam in 1981 as the small boat-people-refugees. The small mother (Bich) lives in the small adjacent neighborhood. The small father (Hung) passed in 2020 from COVID. The small mother-visits are the small Sunday-afternoon-rhythm. The small pho-and-com-and-banh-mi heritage continues through the small mother-cooking-with-Bobby Sunday afternoons.

The small Houston Restaurant Supply sales-job continues to be the small post-shrimp-boat career. The small fifteen-years-on-the-Galveston-Bay shrimp-boat had ended in 2018 when the small back went out and the small bending-and-hauling work became the small impossibility. The small restaurant-supply role is the small forty-hour-week-with-benefits the small post-shrimping life rests on.

The three kids are now adults. Tyler is the small oldest, Emma is the small middle, Lily is the small youngest. The small divorce in 2015 (after Bobby’s affair) had been the small marriage-end. The small kids have been the small slow-rebuild of the small father-trust. The small Linh (Bobby’s older-sister, the small pediatrician in Houston) has been the small adult-presence the small kids look to.

The small backyard grill is the small Houston-cooking-engine. The small Vietnamese-grilled-pork (thit nuong), the small grilled-shrimp (the small irony of the small ex-shrimper still grilling shrimp), the small bo nuong (grilled-beef), the small ga nuong (grilled-chicken). The small charcoal-grill in the small backyard of the small Bellaire-bungalow runs almost every weekend.

The small Houston-summer-heat-and-humidity is the small weather-reality. The small grill outdoors at five-AM-on-the-weekend trick is the small same trick the small Phoenix-firefighter Marcus uses but for different climate-reasons. The small Texas-Gulf-coast humidity is the small constant. The small Vietnamese-summer-cooking traditions are the small adaptation.

After Sunday pho-making — the long roast, the par-boil, the District 4 broth that Mai approved and Smokey supervised — my mother Bich always wants something cold and sweet to close things out. She has made this ice cream pudding for as long as I can remember, longer than I can trace, and it is the dessert that appears on the table after every big kitchen day. With the cookbook now real enough to have a release date on the calendar and Tyler’s photographs already sharper than mine ever were, it felt right to write this one down too — the thing that comes after the pho, the thing that has always been there.

Prep Time: 15 min | Cook Time: 0 min (plus 4 hrs freezing) | Total Time: 4 hrs 15 min | Servings: 8

Ingredients

2 cups vanilla ice cream, softened to room temperature
1 package (3.4 oz) instant vanilla pudding mix
1 1/2 cups whole milk, cold
1 cup frozen whipped topping, thawed
1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs (about 10 full crackers)
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
2 tablespoons granulated sugar
1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt
Shaved chocolate or crushed cookies, for topping (optional)

Instructions

Make the crust. In a medium bowl, combine the graham cracker crumbs, melted butter, sugar, and salt. Stir until the crumbs are evenly moistened. Press the mixture firmly and evenly into the bottom of a 9x9-inch baking dish. Freeze for 10 minutes while you prepare the filling.
Whisk the pudding base. In a large bowl, whisk the instant pudding mix into the cold milk for about 2 minutes, until slightly thickened. Let stand for 3 minutes to set up.
Fold in the ice cream. Add the softened vanilla ice cream to the pudding base in three additions, folding gently with a rubber spatula until smooth and fully incorporated. Do not overmix — some streaks are fine.
Fold in the whipped topping. Add the thawed whipped topping and fold gently until just combined. The mixture should be light and creamy.
Assemble. Pour the filling over the chilled crust and spread evenly with a spatula. Tap the dish gently on the counter to release any air bubbles.
Freeze and set. Cover the dish tightly with plastic wrap and freeze for at least 4 hours, or overnight, until fully firm throughout.
Serve. Remove from the freezer 5 to 8 minutes before serving to soften slightly. Slice into squares and top with shaved chocolate or crushed cookies if desired. Serve immediately.

Nutrition (per serving)

Ice Cream Pudding — The Sweet End to a Sunday That Felt Like a Milestone