Q: We love the bread pudding at Petite Auberge, and we try to go there several times a year just to have that dessert. The pudding itself has a wonderful consistency and is not too sweet … the whisky sauce that goes over it is amazing. Can you please get the recipe so we can make this delicious treat at home? — Karen Morrione, Lilburn
A: "The New Orleans Bread Pudding has been one of the favorite dessert selections on our menu for over 30 years," wrote Michael Gropp when he sent us this recipe. "My father Wolfgang Gropp, the founder of Petite Auberge, came across an old bread pudding recipe from New Orleans. He liked the basic idea very much and added his own unique twists thus creating our famous New Orleans Bread Pudding. Guests have been asking for it ever since."
At the restaurant, the pudding is made from day old French dinner rolls. These “pistole” come from La Petite Bakery and are served to each table. The ones that don’t make it out for dinner are prime building material for the next day’s bread pudding.
Gropp suggests substituting a European-style baguette, one with a crisp crust and light exterior. The bread should be very dry and light, not soft at all. And he notes that the restaurant’s first-year apprentices are often careless when adding the egg mixture to the bread cubes and end up with a large mess. He cautions our readers to avoid that fate by adding the egg mixture slowly.
Petite Auberge’s New Orleans Bread Pudding
1/2 pound unsalted butter, divided
2 cups granulated sugar, divided
12 cups 1-inch diced day-old baguette or other crisp, light bread
1 cup raisins
2 cups half-and-half
7 eggs
2 tablespoons vanilla extract
Whiskey-Butter Sauce (see recipe)
Powdered sugar, for garnish
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Set a large roasting pan in oven and fill with 1-inch water.
Melt butter and use some of it to grease a small roasting pan that will fill inside the larger one. At the restaurant, the baking pan is 8-by-10-inches and 2 1/2 inches deep. Set the remaining butter aside. Coat the inside of the buttered pan with sugar. Set remaining sugar aside. Arrange bread cubes in prepared pan. Pour remaining melted butter over the cubes. Distribute raisins throughout the cubes.
In a medium bowl, whisk together half-and-half, eggs, vanilla and remaining sugar. Carefully pour egg mixture over the cubes. Cover the baking pan tightly with foil and lower into the hot water in the large roasting pan in the oven. Cook 60 minutes or until pudding is just firm in the center. Remove the pudding from the oven and water bath and let it sit at least 30 minutes before serving. Cut into squares and serve with whiskey sauce. Dust with powdered sugar, if desired. Serves: 15
Per serving, without Whiskey-Butter Sauce: 417 calories (percent of calories from fat, 42), 7 grams protein, 54 grams carbohydrates, 1 gram fiber, 20 grams fat (11 grams saturated), 144 milligrams cholesterol, 256 milligrams sodium.
Whiskey-Butter Sauce
Simple syrup is made by combining equal quantities of water and granulated sugar and heating until sugar is dissolved. Since the quantity called for in this recipe is small, you may want to make a larger batch and reserve the extra syrup for sweetening tea, coffee or fruit salads.
1 pound unsalted butter
2 cups granulated sugar
1/2 cup whiskey
1/4 cup simple syrup
In a large pot, melt butter over medium heat. When it begins to boil, slowly whisk in sugar. Continue whisking until all sugar is dissolved and mixture starts to thicken. Remove from heat and add whiskey and simple syrup. Continue whisking as mixture cools until all liquids have been incorporated. Serve warm over bread pudding. If making ahead, can be refrigerated up to 1 week and warmed when ready to serve. Makes: 3 1/2 cups
Per 1-tablespoon serving: 150 calories (percent of calories from fat, 79), trace protein, 8 grams carbohydrates, no fiber, 13 grams fat (8 grams saturated), 36 milligrams cholesterol, 2 milligrams sodium.
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