Where We Make Tapioca

Okay, so the plan was to make tapioca. I remember tapioca from when I was a kid and it was a favorite. It's been years since I made any and the other day when I was in the Food Mill on MacArthur Blvd in Oakland, I bought some from the bulk bins. It was pretty white pearl tapioca, larger than I seem to remember, but the sign said tapioca. It was a whole 74¢ for the bag and I thought, "What a deal."

So, last night I figured we could do a channeled recipe. And, I began channeling. Except, right away I'm thinking, "This doesn't sound right". So, I went online and all the recipes said: Stir for 2 hours. Oh, crap. Like I'm going to stand over the stove stirring for 2 hours. I'm sort of bummed out by that, but upon further searching I found a recipe by Alton Brown who said to use a slow cooker.

So, that's what we did.

I've linked to his recipe above and written what we finally ended up doing below. It isn't exactly a channeled recipe, but the guides where right there with me as I cooked, so I figure I can include it here with no qualms at all.

Tapioca Pudding based on Alton Brown's Recipe

1 ¼ cup of pearl tapioca (not the quick cooking stuff in the box)

Soak in 4 or 5 cups of cold water overnight

In the morning drain the water away from the little tapiocas and put them into your slow cooker. Stir in a cup of heavy cream, 5 cups of whole milk and a pinch of salt. Cook on high for 2 hours stirring occasionally.

Whisk together 2 egg yolks and 2/3 cup of sugar. It's going to be all clumped up. Start stirring and spooning in the tapioca mixture a little bit at a time into the egg and sugar mixture until you've gotten a good cup in there. Once that's nicely stirred together mix it all back into the slow cooker with the rest of the tapioca. Add the zest of one lemon and a tsp of vanilla. Let it cook another 15 minutes.

Eat some and put the rest of it in a container in the refrigerator. This stuff is absolutely fabulous.