Ireland: Bread and Butter Pudding with Irish Whiskey (March 9, 2008)

The Irish climate is the kind in which you need comfort food every now and then, and this dessert is one of the best sorts.

Bread and butter pudding has a long association with childhood and the nursery in these islands. A century or so ago, bread and milk was a common suppertime or bedtime dish for children. Eventually someone got the idea of making it a little more special by baking it: and probably someone else later came up with the concept that such a very simple dish might be made more interesting by adding dried fruit, or fruit preparations like jam or marmalade. After that, especially where Irish cooks were concerned, when they started thinking about tinkering with this old favorite from their past, it was probably only a matter of time before the whiskey arrived.

Just a note: probably it's not a good idea to make this with too lightly flavored a whiskey. EuroCuisineGuy (whose specialty is this kind of assessment) recommends Jameson's, Paddy's or Black Bush as whiskeys that would be able to stand up to the other ingredients and the baking process without being too aggressive. Lighter-flavored ones like Powers' or plain Bushmills are more likely to get lost in the shuffle.

Click on "read more" for the recipe.

• 8 slices white bread, buttered

• 3/4 cup sultanas (golden raisins), or mixed dried fruit
• 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 3/4 cup granulated / caster sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 1 1/4 cups single cream
• Scant 2 cups milk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• Light brown sugar for sprinkling

For the whiskey sauce:

• 10 tablespons butter

• 1/2 cup granulated / caster sugar
• 1 egg
• 3 tablespoons Irish whiskey

Preheat oven to 180C / 350F. Remove crusts from bread. Put four slices, buttered side down, in the bottom of an ovenproof dish. Sprinkle with the fruit, half the nutmeg and 1 tablespon sugar.

Place the remaining four slices of bread on top, buttered side down, and sprinkle again with nutmeg and 1 tablespoon sugar.

Beat the eggs lightly. Add cream, milk, vanilla and the remaining sugar. Mix well. Pour this mixture over the bread: sprinkle light brown sugar on top. Bake in the preheated oven for 1 hour, or until liquid is absorbed and pudding is risen and browned.

Make the whiskey sauce: melt the butter in heavy pan, add sugar and dissolve over gentle heat. Remove from heat. Add the egg, whisking vigorously. Then add the whiskey.

Serve the pudding on hot serving plates: pour the whiskey sauce over.

(This recipe is part of the 2008 Festival of Traditional Irish Saint Patrick's Day Recipes at EuropeanCuisines.com. For the rest of the recipes, please check the menu at this page.)

Technorati Tags: Ireland Irish whiskey whisky bread butter pudding dessert recipe