MY SIGNATURE DESSERT is bread pudding. I don't make it too often because it's as unhealthy as most desserts, but occasionally I get the craving. Any sort of white bread or rolls will do, torn up and soaked in milk, add some vanilla, nutmeg, ginger, cinnamon, a couple of lightly beaten eggs, a bit of sugar. Then comes the key to it all: a can of pie filling. I've used cherry, blueberry, apple, lemon, you name it. Swirl it all in, pour it into a Pyrex baking dish, and give it about thirty minutes at 350 degrees. It is wonderful still warm from the oven, but I prefer it cold. Spritz a little whipped cream on top and you've got yourself a delicious little treat, the ultimate comfort food. “The proof is in the pudding,” wrote Miguel de Cervantes, and I take that to mean that, in the baking dish, it's nothing, no flavor, no taste, until you spoon some into your mouth, savoring the aroma, and when it hits your tongue, you get that sensation of a soft, flavorful bit of oven-baked wonder known as bread pudding. Geez, now I want some…
Hello HenryM.
You make your bread pudding sound delicious. However, you also prefix it with the reminder of ‘memories'.
It seems that I have been permanently put off bread puddings because of a single incident which happened way back in my infant's school:
The cooks used to regularly make bread puddings which were quite enjoyable. However, one day I took one whiff at this dish and immediately threw-up, as I was/am ultra sensitive to the smell of sour milk. ( I think the milk was left-overs from the free school milk we used to have as children, but it often got left out in the sunshine before being used so I never used to drink that either).
The teachers sent me home as ‘being sick', so I never did get to actually eat the meal.
The next day, the whole school was closed due to serious food poisoning and I was so internally thankful that I had avoided that fate because of my sensitivity to sour milk.
That incident put me off eating bread pudding, as I now only have to look at it and these memories come flooding back. I think that this reaction might, in today's parlance, be called PTSD.
Nonetheless, it's good to think that all our tastes are not the same!
Best wishes
Bill
I'm not sure I've ever had bread pudding. 🤔 I'm a big fan of banana pudding with Nilla wafers though. 😋
Gosh, Bill, I'm so sorry to have prompted your PTSD over a childhood bread pudding incident. I don't quite know what to say... But I do now recall having a bad incident in elementary school over a guava jelly and peanut butter sandwich, but I'll spare you the details.
Henry M: I too love bread and butter pudding. Once I came across a recipe for Louisiana bread and butter pudding. I butter the bread slices, arrange them in a dish, sprinkle with mixed dried fruit, then pour over the custard, to which has been added some bourbon. We were having a Weber barbecue and the coals were still hot so I put the B&B pudding into the Weber to bake. Heavenly! I always keep bourbon in the cupboard in case I get the urge to make one. One of our guests had been given bread and butter pudding at school and vowed never to eat it again, but she was a convert after tasting this version.
