[Sca-cooks] Resubscribed & Bread Pudding

[Chip]

>>She's riding a sugar buzz from the latest marzipan batch, I'd wager.

> Heyhey!  Has everyone forgotten that I not only *don't eat*
> marzipan!

I was thinking more along the lines on skin absorption.  "Warning:
prolonged contact may cause twitching, rapid-fire interrogation and a
faint almond odor."

> And I don't do junk food either!

Oh, then you'll love this:
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,54280,00.html



ObFood:  In a near-shameless attempt at reverse-documenting, I have a
query.  I recently whipped up a bread pudding which I thought good
enough to share.  I accidently left out the vanilla & it was still
quite tasty.  That left only period ingredients.  The wheels started
turning.  Its origins in America, as I understand it, are French
Creole (New Orleans, est. 1718).  How far back does it go?  Is there
anything in the corpus that resembles it?  I'd gladly bring my version
into line with a historically correct one.


Accidentally Peri-oid Bread Pudding
(With apologies for lack of proper measures.  I play with amounts
until I find what works, then set the measurements for consistency's
sake.  I'm still playing.)
------------------------------------------------------------------
1 loaf french bread, day old
4 eggs
1 stick butter, melted
about 1 cup brown sugar
3-4 cups milk
about 1 cup raisins
cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg to taste
1 omitted dash of vanilla

In a large mixing bowl, add the butter, beat in the eggs, add the
milk, the seasonings, dissolve the brown sugar, forget the vanilla,
throw in the raisins.  Adjust for sweetness/spiciness as you see fit.

Cut the french bread into cubes.  Day-old bread is just easier to
cube.  If you didn't buy a loaf the day before and the bakery doesn't
have any, don't worry.  I used a fresh, soft loaf and the dish turned
out fine.  I did have to use a serrated bread knife to keep from
squishing the loaf, however.

Teach the cubes to swim.  If your bowl is big enough, you can do it
all at once.  I had to do it in batches with the assistance of Señor
Slotted Spoon.  Soak the cubes, remove from bowl, put in a low, wide
lasagna dish/cake pan sized vessel.  Once all the cubes have had a
turn in the pool, regard your leftover liquid.  You'll pour this over
the cubes.  If you don't have enough liquid, add more milk to the mix.
The idea is to have enough that the cubes don't dry out, but not so
much that it turns to soup.

Banish it to a 350 degree oven and forget about it for half an hour.
Then start to keep an eye it.  It will rise.  When the uppermost
cube-tips turn dark brown, the top should be toasty enough.

Unless you have a napalm fetish, let it sit for a while.  It will
un-rise a bit.

When the dish is done, it should be not quite sopping-sponge wet, but
definitely squishy, with a crispy/crusty layer on top.

If you've made it this far, thanks.  So, does this bear any
resemblance to a known period dish?  Perhaps a better question would
be:  Is there a period dish that has the particular charms of flavor
and texture that this dish provides?



"Care for some gopher?"
"No thank you, Delmar. A third of a gopher'd only arouse my appetite
without beddin' her back down."
--O Brother, Where Art Thou?
_____________________________________________________________________
Iyad ibn al-Thu'ban ibn Bisharo
Easaraigh, Meridies   www.easaraigh.org