I make a pretty good scratch pudding:  whole milk, vanilla bean, real whipped cream.  But I’m looking for any special tricks to REALLY elevate it.  Ideas?

The best I have had my wife’s cousin cooked . When I asked what was different the cousin said that the bananas were puréed in with the pudding.

Real banana pudding is made with a Meringue topping which is browned in the broiler (old school southern ladies likely never saw a culinary torch).

Had a family friend who used homemade pound cake instead of vanilla wafers in their banana pudding recipe, not traditional but it was really good.

Thanks all.

Carla Hall has a good BP video on YouTube.  Check it out.

I sprinkle a light dusting of cinnamon between layers.

Ask wife, honey can you please make another batch of your banana pudding?

The bananas need to be really ripe.

I use my grandmother recipe. I made a coworker cry over it.  I looked over and these big damned crocodile tears were running down his cheeks. “This tastes just like my grand momma made it.  I thought after she died I would never have this again.”

Let me try to summarize it here.
4 eggs separated.  Put the whites IN A CLEAN GLASS BOWL ONLY. Set aside for meringue to come later.
I once tried beating the egg whites in a plastic bowl.  It won’t happen if the bowl has ever been used because it holds oils no matter how well you clean it.

In a double boiler I drop in the egg yolks and 1 can of evaporated milk and a can of whole milk.
Once it starts to heat up I have a mixing bowl with my dry mix that I start introducing and stirring in.
Dry mix is (from memory) 1.5 cups of sugar and 4 heaping table spoons of flour. Also a pinch of salt is added.

This is the part that takes forever. Your letting it thicken into a custard. Keep stirring and scraping the sides of the double boiler. You don’t want it too thick. Just add more whole milk if it’s too thick. Yes, you’re still stirring and scraping, just keep doing it.    Once this is ready, set it aside to slightly cool some.  After about 10 min I add in something like a 1/4 teaspoon of vanilla extract.  Stir well.

Layer the bottom of a glass bowl with Nilla Wafers and a layer of fresh, not over ripe banana slices.  Spoon on a layer of the custard.  
Repeat this like you’re building a lasagna.  Layer after layer.  I line the sides of the dish with wafers as well.  

Meringue time.  
Take your glass bowl of egg whites and about a 1/4 cup of sugar and about 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon of Cream of Tartar and start beating the whites with a hand mixer on very high speed. Slowly mix in the sugar and cream of tartar.   You’ll know when it’s about there.  A squirt of lemon juice is added just before you’re done.
Layer on top of pudding, toss in the oven set on broil to give it just some browning color.  Remove immediately, cover and put in the fridge for a MINIMUM OF 24 HOURS.  This is where the magic starts. All the flavors start infusing, wafers get soft, bananas start ripening from the heat of the warm custard poured over them.  

This is the real deal banana pudding made in the south.  It cannot be replicated with a box of powder by Jello with bananas and wafers tossed in.  That’s an insult to southern heritage.

Yep that is it! Remembering from when my mom and grandma use to make it.

Yum. Legit recipe here, kudos.

I take my nanner puddin very seriously.

This. The riper you let the banana's get, the more flavor they have. When they look like you don't want to eat them they are just about right.