Sunday, January 17, 2010

Let's Make Bread Pudding


The history of bread pudding dates back to the early 11th century, as kitchens looked for ways to use stale, leftover bread instead of letting it go to waste.
Today, it's much more than leftover bread, it is now a comfort food and is a served in trendy restaurants everywhere.
Did you know that bread puddings were even made by the Romans.
Ancient versions of bread pudding include Om Ali, an Egyptian dessert made from bread, milk or cream, raisins and almonds; Eish es Serny, a Middle Eastern dish made from dried bread, sugar, honey syrup, rosewater and caramel; and Shahi Tukra, an Indian dish made from bread, ghee, saffron, sugar, rosewater and almonds.
Bread pudding is popular the southern states, in the United Kingdom, Mexico, Argentina, Puerto Rico, Belgium and France.
There are countless ways to make bread pudding, everyone has a favorite recipe, but we wanted to show you the basics before you ventured out on your own.
We looked around for a basic presentation on how to make bread pudding, and we found this no frills video.
This video really is basic, a little rough around the edges and at times forgetful, a double boiler method is used here, which may or may not be necessary when using a glass dish, but the end result looks very tasty.
You can enjoy bread pudding with ice cream, whipped cream or with your favorite sauce.
We like a Bourbon sauce (recipe below) but the creamy sauce we see here in the video looks like fun too.

Here's a recipe for Bourbon Sauce:
1/2 cup butter
1 cup granulated sugar
1 egg, lightly beaten
2 tablespoons bourbon (whiskey) or to your taste

In a medium-size saucepan over low heat, melt butter; add sugar and beaten egg, whisking to blend well. Cook, stirring constantly, until mixture thickens. Remove from heat and whisk in bourbon to taste; let cool. Whisk and reheat before serving. The sauce should be soft, creamy, and smooth.

Well, here it is, our video choice for the basic bread pudding: