Best Ever Bread Pudding

The crawfish are back. Year seven of boiling and writing and the cycle that turns like a roux: spring, summer, fall, winter, spring again. The crawfish return and I return and the family returns to the driveway and the newspaper and the cayenne. Rémy boiled. The neighborhood gathered. Carl brought his Abita. Twenty-five people. The same. Always the same. And the sameness is not a prison. The sameness is a poem. The same words, spoken every year, meaning something different each time because the speaker is different and the listener is different and the crawfish are the same but the hands that peel them have grown and the mouths that eat them have changed and the years that hold them are numbered and the numbers are the poetry.

Made an étouffée from the leftovers — Rémy's roux, my technique, Mama's recipe from the journal, Colette's plating (she arranged the rice in a mound with the étouffée ladled around it and a sprig of parsley on top because "presentation matters, Papa"). Three generations, four voices, one dish. The étouffée was the family. The family was the étouffée. Everything in the pot. Everything at the table. Everything held by the roux.

After twenty-five people and a driveway full of shells and Abita bottles and the smell of cayenne still in everyone’s hair, Colette asked what was for dessert — because of course she did, because presentation matters and so does the ending. This bread pudding is the ending. It is the thing that holds the meal the way the roux holds the étouchée: everything soaked through, everything soft, everything tasting like it was always meant to be together. Mama’s journal didn’t have a bread pudding recipe, but if it did, it would have tasted exactly like this.

Prep Time: 20 minutes | Cook Time: 50 minutes | Total Time: 1 hour 10 minutes | Servings: 12

Ingredients

1 loaf (about 1 lb) day-old French bread, cut into 1-inch cubes
3 cups whole milk
1 cup heavy cream
4 large eggs
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 cup raisins (optional)
For the whiskey sauce:
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter
1 cup powdered sugar, sifted
1 large egg, beaten
2–3 tablespoons bourbon or whiskey (to taste)

Instructions

Soak the bread. Place bread cubes in a large mixing bowl. Pour milk and heavy cream over the bread and press gently so every piece absorbs the liquid. Let sit for 20 minutes until thoroughly soaked.
Make the custard. In a separate bowl, whisk together eggs, sugar, melted butter, vanilla, cinnamon, and nutmeg until smooth and fully combined.
Combine. Pour the egg custard over the soaked bread and fold gently until evenly coated. Fold in raisins if using. The mixture should look wet and custardy throughout.
Bake. Preheat oven to 350°F. Butter a 9x13-inch baking dish generously. Pour the bread mixture in and spread evenly. Bake for 45–50 minutes until the top is golden brown and the center is just set with a slight jiggle.
Make the whiskey sauce. While the pudding bakes, melt butter in a small saucepan over low heat. Remove from heat and whisk in powdered sugar until smooth. Whisk in the beaten egg quickly (the residual heat will cook it gently). Stir in bourbon one tablespoon at a time until it reaches your preferred strength. Keep warm.
Serve. Spoon the warm bread pudding into bowls and ladle whiskey sauce generously over the top. Serve immediately. Leftovers reheat beautifully the next morning.

Nutrition (per serving)

Best Ever Bread Pudding — What the Table Holds After the Boil