Vanilla cornstarch pudding

Mix the cornstarch, sugar and salt together thoroughly. The starch particles disperse through the sugar, which stops them clumping when they hit the milk and means no starch slurry is needed.

Two cups of milk into the pot.

Slice the vanilla pod in half, scrape out the pulp inside and drop it in the pot.

Whisk the milk as the dry ingredients are poured in.

Turn the heat on and whisk as it comes to a boil, two or three minutes.

The moment the starch is hot enough to gelatinize it goes from looking like milk to looking like loose pudding. That is done; it thickens a lot more as it cools. Heat off.

Melt in a sliver of butter off the heat. It softens the starch matrix so the chilled dessert tastes less like a solid pie filling.

Cover it once it stops steaming to keep a skin from forming, or leave it uncovered for the skin.

Chill a few hours until solid.