Roger's View of the World, Love and Seafood Gumbo!
Seize the Day! Put no trust in the morrow! — Horace
I call this my ‘starter kit’ for my bread pudding. I’ll let this sit around in the refrigerator before I go to the day old bakery to find the perfect ‘stale’ bread, cake, and croissants for my bread pudding. The ‘sauce’ I’ll make at the last minute….
Although this dessert descends from humble beginnings, there is nothing humble about this wonderful dish by itself, a la mode or at the conclusion of your dinner.
Can’t wait!
I’ve resisted for as long as I could… actually months! The problem is that real bread pudding is one of my all time favorite desserts! When I first started the evolution of my own recipe, I studied all of the recipes from hundred plus year old cookbooks, restaurants and internet chefs and home chefs. The problem is that in virtually every case… there were unacceptable short cuts.
From the use of butter, eggs, heavy cream, brandy, rum and rye whiskey to the various breads and cakes all topped with an exquisite sauce and various nuts… it is a wonderful holiday treat! Fortunately, I believe everyday is a holiday! 😉 If you really want to make something nice… it takes time, care, quality ingredients and a variety that makes it interesting. BREAD PUDDING
So I have my fruit ( dried blueberries, sultanas and 3 scraped vanilla beans) all soaking in their favorite alcoholic mixture… until I need them…. in a week or so.
One bite is way too much… and a million is not enough!
I have written about the beauty of bread pudding many times because it is certainly one of my favorite desserts! The beauty is that it is different every time you make it, or at least, it should be! The concept of the chefs of old was that you threw everything left over into a bowl which might contain: scraps of cake, muffin, croissants and bread! Personally, I think it is the unintended variety that makes all the difference.
Certainly, adding some dried fruit ( sultanas and blueberries) soaked in Armagnac or brandy for the raisins and rye whiskey for the blueberries is a treat and extracting the natural vanilla flavorings from vanilla beans takes time. By Sunday, my search for all the ingredients will be over and it will be time to bake!
You may ask why I don’t have any leftovers?… well, we are not a big kitchen any more! Now, I have to scour the day old sections of various bakeries.
So what are you making today?
Roger
(click on the picture above for my basic bread pudding recipe)