New Orleans Bread Pudding w/ Whiskey Sauce
Deborah Kirwan
Here is my favorite New Orleans bread pudding recipe (from La Bouche
Creole by Leon E. Soniat, Jr, but also almost exactly the same as the
recipe that I asked for--and they gave me--at the Bon Ton Cafe in New
Orleans). I find that you can use almost any kind of white or wheat
bread, but a good homemade bread or french bread works best--one that has
some substance, not the typical marshmallow texture from the store.
Raisin bread should be good. This recipe calls for apples, though I should
mention that I don't use them (and neither does the Bon Ton).
BREAD PUDDING
1 loaf stale bread (the more stale the better)
1 qt. milk
4 eggs
2 cups sugar (see note below)
2 tbsp vanilla extract
1 cup seedless raisins
2 apples, peeled, cored and sliced
1/4 cup butter
Crush the bread into the milk and mix well. Beat the eggs and add to the
bread and milk, together with the sugar, vanilla, raisins, and apples.
Mix well. Melt the butter and pour into the pan in which you're going to
bake the pudding, then pour in the rest of the ingredients.
Bake about 50 minutes in a peheated 350-degree oven (until the pudding is
firm). This can be served when cool as is, or with the whiskey sauce.
(Now, if you're going to eat it plain, use real vanilla (2 *tbsp* is not
a typo). Also use the butter, and if you like, you can sprinkle on a
little cinnamon, though this is not a New Orleans flavor for BP.
However, if you are going to serve it with the wickedly delicious whiskey
sauce (which makes this the absolutely best dessert in the world), you
can get away with skim milk in the pudding, leave out the butter (there's
plenty in the sauce), and even use an egg substitute! I prefer to save my
calories for the sauce. Oh yes, I only use 1 cup of sugar, no matter how
I plan to serve it; two cups is *way* too much. Use a glass 9x13 pan.
WHISKEY SAUCE
1/2 cup melted butter
1 cup sugar
1 egg, beaten
a jigger or two of whiskey (bourbon)
Cream the butter and sugar in a double boiler. Add the egg and stir
rapidly, so the egg doesn't curdle. When well mixed, allow to cool. Add
whiskey to taste.
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