Over the years, I have published a number of seafood recipes that make your mouth water. I am not a big sweet eater, but I felt it was time to share my mom's Bread Pudding Recipe with you. There is nothing like eating a good ole mess of Bread Pudding with a sweet Whiskey Sauce. My mother got this recipe from her Grandmother who was born in New Iberia back in 1860's. I hope you enjoy re-making a culinary piece of history. You family will love it.
Take the stale French Bread and break it down to bite size pieces. Put it in a bowl and pour 1 cup of milk on top to moisten it or to let it start soaking up. In another medium size bowl, crack your eggs, add your sugar, cinnamon, vanilla, salt, and mix thoroughly. Add remaining three cups of milk and your raisins into the bowl and continue stirring until mixed well. (option: you can soak your raisins overnight before making this recipe in a bowl of water to rehydrate - remember to pour the water off before adding to mixture)
Pour the remaining mixture over the bread and gently stir together until all of the French Bread is saturated well. Pour the wet bread mixture into the baking dish. It will look like a big mush, but be careful not to tear down the integrity of the bread texture. Leaving the bread in chunks will help give the pudding texture and fluffiness.
Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.
Now here is the secret that nobody will tell you about. This is how my mom did it and the results are wonderful. Have a larger baking dish (at least 1 to 2 inches wider than the one with the pudding in it) filled about 1/4 way with water to set your 2 quart baking dish into. That's right. You don't want to have so much water in the second baking pan where it will boil over and let water run into your bread pudding. Look at it and adjust accordingly so water will not run over the top when you put the second dish inside the other. It is like a double boiler method that will keep your bread pudding from drying out and becoming crusty or hard around the edges.
Cook for about 45 minutes uncovered. Depending on your altitude and oven, you might cook for a total of 1 hour. The key to knowing if it is ready is to place a clean silver looking butter knife into the center of the pan and insert it. Remove the knife. If the blade is clean, it is ready to remove from oven.
Now, Whiskey Sauce is what makes the Bread Pudding kick. It's kind of like icing on the cake. You may also substitute a dark rum if you choose. Either way, it gives bread pudding it's amazing flavor.
In a small pot, pour in cold water and cornstarch and mix well. Turn eye of stove on medium heat to begin cooking and thickening this mixture. Add the butter and heat until butter melts. Add your brown sugar, apple or peach juice or whatever juice you like and stir well. Add the whiskey and simmer on low heat for about 10 to 15 minutes.
The whiskey sauce should be drizzled over the top of your bread pudding as desired.
We hope you enjoy this authentic Alabama style bread pudding recipe.