Tuesday, September 2, 2008

Where's the pudding??

So it occurs to me that the subtitle of this blog proclaims my search for the perfect bread pudding....and yet....I have not posted about bread pudding. Not even an imperfect one. Well, don't get too excited...I won't be posting about it tonight either. At least not about a particular recipe or the results of a particular recipe. I never really thought about it before, but I guess I think of bread pudding as a fall/winter/cooler weather type of dessert. So, I haven't had any inclination to make it. But as summer comes to a close and we start barreling toward fall, I'm starting to think about it again. And I'm excited!

My interest in bread pudding has as much to do with it's yummy, comforting goodness as it does with the whole challenge of it. Yep, I said challenge. I know, it's eggs and sugar and cream and bread....virtually any day old bread will do....what's the challenge?? The challenge is in the quantity and ratio of ingredients.....do you want gooey or firm? Raisins or no? Chewy artisan bread? Soft, sweet challah? Wonder Bread anyone? The challenge is also in bringing all those different choices of ingredients together to make something your audience will swoon over. Because bread pudding, like a lot of other dishes, is very personal and cultural and everyone has an idea of what it should taste like and feel like. To my Puerto Rican father, it's firm with raisins. (Although he'll eat all types of bread pudding!) Mark remembers a bread pudding brought in by a co-worker when he worked at Jackson Park Hospital, oh...about 15 - 20 years ago. I have yet to recreate that experience for him...CHALLENGE! And more importantly, I haven't yet tried or made a bread pudding that knocks my own socks off. Thus, the quest.

So stay tuned....as the weather turns cool, I'll start posting bread pudding. I welcome tips, comments, recipes you think I should try. Just post it in the comment section. Do you suppose there's a warm weather bread pudding that's light -- maybe fruity somehow?? I'm on the hunt!