New Orleans Bread Pudding – Recipe

Recently I posted a recipe for a delicious hot lemon sauce that should be served alongside this dessert. I believe to be 100% authentic, one should serve it with bourbon sauce but my friend said to use this lemon sauce and pretty much what that does is elevate the dish to something quite special.

It’s a cross between lemon meringue pie and bread & butter pudding, somehow.. So here’s how you do it:

1 loaf good quality French bread, at least a day old, cut into 1-inch squares (about 6-7 cups)
4c milk
3 eggs, lightly beaten
2 c sugar
2 T vanilla
1 c raisins (soaked overnight in 1/4c bourbon)
1/4 t allspice
1/4 to 1/2 t cinnamon
3 T unsalted butter, melted

Preheat oven to 350°F / 180° C

In a large mixing bowl, soak the bread in milk .. Smoosh it with your hands until well mixed and all the milk is absorbed. In a separate bowl, beat the 3 eggs, sugar, vanilla, and spices together. Add in the 2 egg yolks from the meringue (see below).

Gently stir into the bread mixture then stir the raisins into the mixture.

Normally, you’d use buttered bread to make this so don’t panic about the fact you’re about to pour butter into the pudding now k! Slug the melted butter into the base of a 9×13 inch baking pan. Coat the bottom and the sides of the pan well with the butter.

Pour in the bread mix and bake at 350°F for 35-45 minutes, until set. The pudding is cooked when the edges start getting a bit brown and pull away from the edge of the pan.

For the Meringue topping: 

Beat 2 egg whites until stiff and add 4T of sugar – slowly.

Top the already baked pudding with it – making swirly peaks as opposed to smoothing it down. Bake again at 300° F  until a golden brown.

Serve with the lemon sauce on the side; or ladle it over the top to taste.

Makes 8-10 servings.