The Cornbread Gospels (56 page)

5.
Place the baking dish in a larger high-sided pan, and place both pans in the oven. Pour enough hot water into the larger pan to reach a little more than halfway up the sides of the smaller pan.

6.
Bake until the pudding is almost but not quite set in the center, 40 to 45 minutes. It should still be a bit wiggly; you should wonder whether or not it is done (it is). Remove both pans from the oven (very carefully, because of the hot water bath), and then remove the pudding pan from the hot water. Cool to room temperature on a wire rack, then cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate.

7.
Serve chilled.

S
ERVES
6
TO
8

Leftover cornbread always makes an excellent bread pudding, soaking up the custard thirstily and nearly dissolving into it, except for the lovely grainy texture of the cornmeal itself. Here, I’ve taken a classic formula for bread pudding, substituted cornbread, and altered it with the flavors of Colonial-era Mexico: the native corn and vanilla paired with Spanish custard, anise, almond, and canela cinnamon. Mexican vanilla is available at Latino groceries, or from Patricia Rain, the Vanilla Queen, at
www.vanilla.com
. This vanilla has a distinctive, delicious character and a scent that to me is both floral and hay-like.

This bread pudding, loved by my Arkansas friend, the writer Cheri White, is fondly dedicated to her. My favorite cornbread for this pudding is Truman Capote’s Family’s (
page 13
).

Vegetable oil cooking spray

4 to 6 slices leftover slightly stale nonsweet cornbread, in coarse crumbs (about 2 to 2½ cups, crumbled)

½ cup golden raisins

3 cups milk

½ cup heavy (whipping) cream or soy creamer

1 tablespoon butter

⅛ teaspoon salt

⅓ cup brown sugar

½ cup white sugar

5 eggs

2 egg yolks

1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract, preferably Mexican

½ teaspoon pure almond extract

1 teaspoon cinnamon, preferably canela (see Pantry,
page 348
)

1½ teaspoons aniseed

½ cup chopped unpeeled almonds, (optional)

Chilled heavy (whipping) cream, for serving (optional)

1.
Preheat the oven to 375°F. Spray a shallow 2-quart baking dish with oil.

2.
Scatter the cornbread crumbs in the prepared baking dish and the raisins evenly over the cornbread. (Let this sit out, the cornbread crumbs drying further, as you continue with the recipe.)

3.
Heat the milk, cream or soy creamer, butter, salt, and sugars together in a large saucepan over medium heat, whisking a few times. Meanwhile, in a medium heat-proof bowl, whisk together the eggs, egg yolks, and vanilla and almond extracts.

4.
When the butter melts and the milk is quite hot, remove it from the heat. Gradually pour it into the egg mixture, whisking like the dickens. Add the cinnamon and aniseed, whisk again, and ladle or pour this mixture over the cornbread crumbs and raisins. If you like, sprinkle the almonds atop the pudding. (Some like a crunch in puddings, trifles, et al—some don’t.)

5.
Place the baking dish in a larger high-sided pan, and place both pans in the oven. Pour enough hot water into the larger pan to reach a little more than halfway up the sides of the smaller pan.

6.
Bake until the pudding is barely set in the center, about 45 minutes. It should still be wiggly in the center; you should wonder whether or not it is done. It
is
done (it will continue to set as it cools). Remove both pans from the oven (very carefully, because of the hot water bath), and remove the pudding pan from the hot water. Let cool to room temperature; then, if you’re not eating it right away, cover tightly with plastic wrap and refrigerate.

7.
Serve at room temperature or chilled. For extra decadence, serve with a pitcher of deeply chilled heavy cream, for guests to pour over their portion.

S
ERVES
12
TO
15

At the CopperWynd Resort and Club in Scottsdale, Arizona, I enjoyed
the
most luscious souffléed chocolate bread pudding, with just a bit of smoky chipotle chile bite, created by their then-chef, Lisa Anne Smith. My adaptation, although unsouffléed, combines her bread pudding (including the
hot
hot chocolate sauce she served it with) with my own beloved Chocolate Bread Pudding Maurice. You say it makes quite a few servings? You think that’s an accident? Something like this, you want to share: This is one primo party dessert.

Don’t under any circumstances overbake this
. It should be quite wet when it comes out of the oven; it sets as it cools. That’s one of its secrets. Another is to use really, really good-quality chocolate; my favorite, these days, is Scharffen Berger. Last of all, be sure you have a batch of CopperWynd Chipotle Cornbread (
page 80
) made up the night before.

If a person believed a dessert could be “too rich,” not that I do, this would probably be in that category. Get ready to swoon.

Vegetable oil cooking spray

1 batch CopperWynd Chipotle Cornbread, baked the night before, crumbled, and left to dry out overnight

2 cups heavy (whipping) cream

1⅓ cups half-and-half or whole milk

5 ounces semisweet chocolate, coarsely chopped

5 ounces unsweetened chocolate, coarsely chopped

3 egg yolks

5 eggs

1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract

1⅔ cups sugar

T
O SERVE

Hot Hot Tequila-Chocolate Sauce (
recipe follows
), heated

Vanilla ice cream

Accompaniments: strawberries, raspberries, kiwi slices, star fruit slices, and/or orange twists

1.
Spray an 11-by-14-by-2-inch baking pan with oil, and sprinkle the dried cornbread crumbs over the bottom, spreading evenly. Set aside.

2.
Combine the cream and half-and-half or
whole milk in a heavy-bottomed saucepan, and heat to scalding. Add the chopped chocolates to the hot cream mixture and whisk to melt the chocolate.

3.
Place the eggs, egg yolks, vanilla, and sugar in a food processor; buzz to blend. Then add about half the chocolate mixture and buzz again until smooth and well combined. Pour this egg mixture back into the pot with the remaining chocolate mixture, whisking and stirring until very well combined.

4.
Pour the chocolate-egg mixture over the bread crumbs in the baking pan. Let it sit, covered, at room temperature for 1 hour. Toward the end of the hour, preheat the oven to 325°F.

5.
Set the filled pan in a larger high-sided pan. Pour enough hot water into the larger pan to reach a little more than halfway up the sides of the smaller pan. Bake until the top of the pudding is dark and glossy, about 35 minutes. Do
not
overbake; it should still be fairly liquid. The first time you make it you will be dubious that it will set up.

6.
Remove both pans from the oven and remove the pudding pan from the hot water. Let cool slowly, at room temperature, then refrigerate. It will set up to the consistency of a soft, custard-like pudding as it cools; don’t expect the brick-like mass you might have known in the past as bread pudding. This is scooped with a spoon, not cut into squares.

7.
To serve: Place a scoop of bread pudding in a soup bowl. Have the tequila-chocolate sauce ready to go. Place a small scoop of vanilla ice cream upon the dense chocolate bread pudding, drizzle a little of the tequila-chocolate sauce over it, and serve, garnished with fresh fruit.

M
AKES ABOUT
2
CUPS

To make this ahead of time, prepare the recipe through step 1, chill the sauce, and then, just before serving, heat it up slowly in the top of a double boiler. Whisk every once in a while. When it’s good and hot, and just before serving, follow step 2.

1 cup heavy (whipping) cream

½ teaspoon chili powder (yes, the spice blend you use for making chili)

½ teaspoon chipotle chile powder

Tiny pinch of salt

½ teaspoon canela cinnamon (see Pantry,
page 348
)

14 ounces semisweet chocolate, chopped

2 tablespoons tequila (preferably Patrón)

1.
In a medium-size, heavy saucepan, slowly bring the cream to a full boil with the chili and chipotle powders, salt, and cinnamon. Once it reaches a boil, turn off the heat and stir in the chopped chocolate, whisking well until the chocolate is all smoothly melted into the hot cream.

2.
Just before serving, add the tequila and whisk again.

S
ERVES
10
TO
12

Classic New Orleans–style bread pudding was prepared and served at the Bon Ton on Magazine Street and many other restaurants in this once-great, now terribly beleaguered city. Though the bread pudding there is traditionally made from French bread, even so it involves corn because it is made with bourbon sauce, and by law, any American spirit labeled “bourbon” must be made from at least fifty-one percent corn mash (most bourbons use much more).

Quintessentially delicious as the original NOLA–style pudding is, I think this version—which uses cornbread instead of wheat bread and is enriched with both sweet and cultured dairy products—is even better. And the day the scent of some just-almost-too-ripe bananas crossed my nose as I was pouring in the bourbon and, on a whim, I added them—well, I knew this was impossible to beat.
Though ever so slightly less sweet and rich than the originals, it is plenty rich and sweet. And its unbelievable sauce, so alcohol-rich you could get drunk on it—well, one could label it sinful on many accounts.

This indulgence can be made ahead of time, and the yield is quite ample—all of which suggests its perfection as a company dessert, though a nonfancy one. Make the cornbread well in advance so you have time to let it cool, crumble it, and dry it out before you get started on the bread pudding proper. Use any unsweetened cornbread, such as White River (
page 25
), Sylvia’s Ozark (
page 18
), Ronni’s Appalachian (
page 21
), or Truman Capote’s Family’s (
page 13
).

1 cup raisins

¼ cup bourbon whiskey

1 can (12 ounces) evaporated milk

2 cups milk

⅔ cup mascarpone cheese

⅔ cup plain yogurt

¼ cup heavy (whipping) cream

3 eggs

6 egg yolks

1⅔ cups sugar

1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon, preferably Saigon or canela (see Pantry,
page 348
)

Vigorous grating of nutmeg

Dash of salt