Bread Pudding for Camping!

[Sultana]

Hey folks, I'm gonna be going camping in a few weeks, and I thought it would be cool to bring a bread pudding to share. I was hoping I could acquire here a recipie particularly suited to cooking ahead and transporting. Someone else will be responsible for the group kitchen, so I don't really know what equipment will be available for reheating and such.

It would also be nice if I could also have recipies for nice sauces, lemon or brandy (is that what is usually used for bread pudding, brandy sauce?). Or if there's a source to buy it pre-made, I'm definitely not too proud to "jar it" for a camping trip--I'm concerned that anything homemade with a butter base might not hold up well to the rigours of travel, eh?

Bread pudding should be well-suited to this kind of thing, I'm thinking. Hoping. I just thought it would be nice to add an unexpected touch of refinement to a camp trip (OK, yes, thinking of it as man-bait doesn't hurt anything either!). But keep in mind that I'm not a sophisticated cook, alright.

Thanks.

[maleficent]

bread pudding is really just bread that you like, a little on the stale side in a custard sauce and baked.

Some of the breads you can use are croissants, challah bread, raisin bread, plain ole white or wheat bread.

6 -7 cups of bread (use Challah bread, or croissants, or wheat bread, or french bread, or krispy kreme donuts)
1 qt milk (low fat is fine, but what's the point, this isn't health food
3 eggs, lightly beaten
1 cups sugar
2 Tbsp vanilla
1 cup raisins (soaked overnight in 1/4 cup bourbon)
pinch allspice
1/2teaspoon cinnamon
2 tbs butter

Heat oven to 350°F.
Soak the bread in milk in a large mixing bowl. Crush with hands until well mixed and all the milk is absorbed.
In a separate bowl, beat eggs, sugar, vanilla, and spices together.
Gently stir into the bread mixture.
Gently stir the raisins into the mixture.
Smear butter on the bottom and sides of 9x13 inch baking pan.
Pour in the bread mix and bake at 350°F for 35-45 minutes, until set.
The pudding is done when the edges start getting a bit brown and pull away from the edge of the pan.

Serve with bourbon sauce

Bourbon Sauce
1 stick butter, melted
1 cup sugar
1 egg
1 cup Kentucky bourbon

In a saucepan, melt butter; add sugar and egg, whisking to blend well. Cook over low heat, stirring constantly, until mixture thickens. Whisk in bourbon to taste. Remove from heat and let cool. Whisk before serving. The sauce should be soft, creamy, and smooth.


Or a lemon curd sauce (I'd leave out the bourbon soaked raisins and use dried cranberries instead and use lemon extract instead of vanilla and problably add in some sliced almonds)

Juice and grated zest of 3 lemons
3 eggs
1 cups sugar
1 stick butter, softened

Combine the lemon juice and zest, eggs, and sugar in the top of a double boiler. Whisk over low heat until slightly thickened. Remove from the heat and whisk in the butter a small amount at a time. Refrigerate the sauce until ready to use.


In the grocery store, in the jelly and jam aisle, you can usually find lemon curd sauce that's pretty good - though I'd leave out the cinnamon in the bread pudding.


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I'm not a camper, this does reheat well and could be cooked in a tin foil pan and coveredwith tin foil and heated near the camp fire.

[Willravel]

Originally Posted by maleficent

6 -7 cups of bread (use Challah bread, or croissants, or wheat bread, or french bread, or krispy kreme donuts)

*passes out*

Whoa, I got a sugar rush from reading that! Still, I can't imagine how delicious that would be. You're such a good cook!

I add a few drops of amaretto (like Disaronno) to my bread pudding. It adds that warm sweetness to the mix.

[maleficent]

for the bourbon sauce, any after dinner drink - kahula, amaretto, grand mariner could really be substituted

[Sultana]

Obviously, I'm going to have to practice making this a lot before I inflict it on my friends...

Do you think the Bourbon sauce would travel well pre-made, if I heated it a bit and whisked it up before serving?

I might go with grand mariner, as I don't drink bourbon but having a bottle of GM around would be nice.

Edited to add: It's a rather violent beverage! From the Bevmo site:

150 Year Celebration --
Generous brown spice, orange, and caramel aromas explode from the glass. A viscous, rich attack leads to a full-bodied palate.

Of course I'm not gonna get the primo stuff to cook with, lol. But it's certainly an intriguing description.

[maleficent]

as long as you could keep it semi chilled it'd be fine... I'm not sure i'd totally trust it if it wasn't kept slightly chilled for a long period of time...

[Sultana]

Originally Posted by maleficent

as long as you could keep it semi chilled it'd be fine... I'm not sure i'd totally trust it if it wasn't kept slightly chilled for a long period of time...

Oh yes, it would be in a cooler for certain.

[Willravel]

BTW, bread pudding is one of my favorites, especially around the holidays. It's just so think and delicious!! Let us know how it turns out!

[Anxst]

Originally Posted by maleficent

as long as you could keep it semi chilled it'd be fine... I'm not sure i'd totally trust it if it wasn't kept slightly chilled for a long period of time...

I've made a similar sauce using Irish whiskey and a tablespoon of neufchatel cheese instead of an egg. It can easily go 12-16 hours unrefrigerated. Even after that it's safe to eat, it just starts to get weird crystallizations in it when it sits at room temperature.

Obviously chilled in a cooler is better, and I usually do mine as Mal says above. I've just used the neufchatel one for times when I know the sauce might sit out for hours (like the office Christmas party).