Question: My wife and I went to dinner at Christopher's Seafood and Steakhouse in Bountiful, Utah, and the food was excellent. We particularly enjoyed our Bread Pudding dessert, which reminded me of the bread pudding my grandmother used to make in a Crisco can. Would you share Christopher's Bread Pudding recipe with us, and the rest of the world?
- Richard and Luan Hixson,Bountiful
Answer: One brawny mountain man who explored Utah's north country was legendary trapper Jim Bridger. Cache County was named for his method of caching, or burying, beaver pelts to keep them safe until the next trapper rendezvous, when the year's collection of furs could be sold to traders. Bridger, who named many of the mountains in the area and rediscovered America's largest inland body of salt water, Great Salt Lake, while trying to settle a bet, had a way with a tale - and sometimes stretched the truth.
He wrote in his diary: "It began to snow in the Salt Lake Valley and continued for 70 days. The whole country was covered to a depth of 70 feet, and all the buffalo in the region perished in the storm. Their carcasses were preserved by the cold and when spring came, all I had to do was tumble them into Salt Lake and I had pickled buffalo enough for myself and the whole Ute nation for a year."
Pioneers considered "Poor Man's" bread pudding, a dessert made by pioneer women from ingredients on hand, to be an exceptional treat. Dry bread crumbs were softened in a mixture of eggs and milk, sweetened with sugar, sprinkled with spice, and baked. Christopher's Seafood and Steakhouse Restaurant in Bountiful takes bread pudding to the limit with the addition of raisins, pecans and a sour-mash whiskey sauce.
CHRISTOPHER'S BREAD PUDDING
Bread pudding:
5 to 6 cups dry (day-old) bread, croissants or Danish pastries, cut into small pieces
1/4 cup raisins
1/4 cup pecan or walnut pieces
1/3 teaspoon nutmeg
2 heaping tablespoons cinnamon
1 1/2 cups light brown sugar
3 cups milk
5 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 small eggs, lightly beaten
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
Sauce:
5 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
2 to 3 tablespoons sour-mash whiskey (more to taste); or, as an alternative, use 2 to 3 tablespoons peach juice
2/3 cup heavy whipping cream
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In large mixing bowl, combine bread, raisins, pecans, nutmeg, cinnamon and brown sugar. Set aside. Place milk and butter in a large saucepan over medium heat and stir to combine as butter melts. Place eggs in small mixing bowl and whisk to combine. Whisk 1 cup hot milk mixture into eggs. Immediately pour egg mixture back into saucepan containing milk. Whisk to blend. Remove from heat and stir in vanilla. Pour milk over bread, stir well and let mixture sit, stirring occasionally, until liquid is absorbed, 5 to 7 minutes. Pour bread pudding into greased 9-by-13-inch baking dish, cover with foil and bake 30 minutes. Remove foil and bake 30 minutes. Yields 12 to 16 servings.
Sauce:
Melt butter in a large saucepan over low heat. Add sugar and cook 3 to 4 minutes or until sugar turns light golden brown. Add whiskey and simmer until whiskey is totally burned off (or use alternative). Add cream and stir until well blended. Yields 1 1/2 cups sauce.