Southern Bread Pudding With Rum Sauce Recipe
Bread Pudding, a southern tradition, makes its way at the Louisiana Cajun Mansion Bed & Breakfast as one of its signature dishes. Although there are many variations, not all bread puddings are worthy of the name. The perfect bread pudding would be exceptionally moist with an “over the top” Rum Sauce.
Well.. In my opinion, you can’t get any better than Emeril Lagasse’s rum sauce and I don’t serve my succulent bread pudding without it. I’ve included the recipe below with a link directly to the recipe.
I remember growing up with my Moma and GrandMa making bread pudding, but they always added those nasty raisins and I really disliked raisins! Therefore growing up and eating bread pudding was totally off my list of foods until just recently.
Coming from a good line of cooks, I asked one of my Besties (Cindy North) if she could share a good bread pudding recipe. I wanted a bread pudding that I would be proud to serve in my Bed & Breakfast. She put this big ole smile on her face and started spouting off ” a lil bit of this and a sprinkle of that”. I looked at her and said….. “Wait….WHAT??? Don’t you have a Recipe that’s written down?” She rolled her eyes and laughed again and said “Oh no, it’s whatever we have on hand”. Go figure, isn’t that the way our ole fat grand mothers used to do it?
Well I finally was able to sit Cindy down and she come up with measurements. After tweaking and adjusting the ingredients to mimic the awesome recipe she and her grand mothers used over the years she got it down pat. Without a doubt, this is the best bread pudding you will ever put in your mouth; especially when you pour Emeril’s Rum Sauce on top of it. Why use any other sauce, when this recipe works best; THANKS EMERIL!
Bread Pudding Recipe
Bread Pudding Ingredients:
- Very large bowl
- 2 Stale French breads
- 3 cans carnation milk
- 1 can crushed pineapple
- 1 can Fruit Cocktail
- 1 can Diced Peaches
- 3/4 bag cranberries – Small Bag
- 1.5 cup sugar
- 6 eggs
- 1 Stick Butter
- 1 cup toasted pecans – Chopped
- 2 Tablespoon Cinnamon – Heaping TableSpoon
- 2 Tablespoon vanilla extract
Bread Pudding Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Wash your hands thoroughly; you will use your hands as the mixing spoon during this process. In a really large bowl, add pieces of stale bread that have been pinched off (ping pong ball sizes). Add the milk and TOSS (not squeeze) the stale bread with your hands until well saturated with milk.
Chop pecans and place in oven on 350 until the pieces of pecans turn a little brown; being careful not to burn them or brown them too much. Microwave the butter until runny in a separate dish.
In a separate bowl, beat eggs with sugar until thick and pale. Then stir in the vanilla, cinnamon, diced pecans, 1/2 stick butter, fruit and cranberries to the egg mixture. (The other half of the butter will be used later).
Combine the soaked bread crumbs to the egg mixture and stir everything together very well. Let stand for 60 minutes. Continue tossing occasionally for about an hour. The trick is to let the bread completely soak up the milk on its own and produces a fabulous VERY MOIST bread pudding. Note… Allow the milk mixture to soak into the bread and DON’T RUSH IT. NOTE…It is very important to allow enough time for the bread to absorb the egg mixture or the bread crumbs will float to the top during baking, leaving a layer of custard on the bottom of the dish.
Transfer the mixture to a very large greased baking dish. Then poke holes on the top (I use my CLEAN pointer finger) and pour the other 1/2 stick of butter over the top and in the holes. Bake until firm, or until a knife inserted in the middle comes out clean, about 50 to 60 minutes. Let it slightly cool in the dish and it is ready to serve.
Buttery Rum Sauce By Emeril Lagasse:
Rum Sauce Ingredients:
- 8 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
- 3/4 cup heavy cream
- 1 cup sugar
- 2 egg yolks, beaten lightly
- 1/3 to 1/2 cup rum, to taste
Rum Sauce Directions:
In a heavy, nonreactive saucepan combine all ingredients except the rum and cook over medium-low heat, whisking constantly, until the sauce is thickened and coats the back of a spoon. Remove from the heat immediately; do not allow the sauce to boil. Add the rum, stir to combine, and allow to cool slightly. Serve warm with Banana Walnut Bread Pudding. (The sauce can be made up to 1 week in advance and stored, refrigerated, in an airtight container. Warm gently before serving.)
Yield: 2 1/4 cups Recipe courtesy of Emeril Lagasse, 2005
Cooking Tip
This recipe freezes very well, therefore I recommend cutting your pieces in your pan and freezing it in zip lock bags. Then to serve… I allow time to thaw, then I steam the pieces. I usually wrap it in foil and place it in my little steamer; this keeps it moist OR you can microwave for just a few seconds until steamy.
You can have the best recipe ever, but if you didn’t mix enough butter and carnation milk, your bread pudding will not come out moist. To cut to the chase, all GOOD bread puddings must consist of a lot of butter, carnation milk and sugar; plus the consistency (prior to baking) should be lumpy with a lot of juice. Skimping on this TIP will result in a dry bread pudding.
More recipes from the Louisiana Cajun Mansion Bed & Breakfast.