Ponding an Pain à la Française (Bread Pudding French Style)
Scald 1 quart milk and in it soak 5 to 6 cups soft bread crumbs and 1 cup sugar. Rub the mixture through a fine sieve. Beat together 4 eggs and 6 yolks and combine them thoroughly with the bread crumb mixture. Fold in 4 egg whites, beaten stiff. Butter a tall 2-quart cylindrical mold, sprinkle it with fine dry bread crumbs, and fill it with the pudding mixture. Set the mold in a deep pan of hoc water and bake the pudding in a moderate oven (350° F.) for about 40 to 45 minutes, or until it is firm. Let the pudding stand fur about 15 minutes before unmolding it on a serving dish. Serve it hot or warm with vanilla or sabayon sauce, or any fruit sauce.
Bread and Fruit Pudding Stephanie
Sauté 2 cups bread cut into small dice in 3 tablespoons butter, tossing them in the butter until they arc golden on all sides. Add 1 ½ cups hot milk. Peel and core 2 tart apples, cut them in dice, and put them in a bowl with ¼ cup finely chopped candied orange peel, ½ cup each of powdered almonds (May, 1956), seedless raisins, and sugar, and the grated rind of 1 lemon. Add the milk and bread and mix all together. Add 3 beaten egg yolks and fold in 3 egg whites, beaten stiff. Butter a Lquart mold and fill it with the mixture. Set the mold in a pan of hot water and bake the pudding in a moderate oven (350° F.) for 45 minutes. Let the pudding stand for about 15 minutes before unmolding it on a serving dish. Serve with a red wine sauce made as follows: Boil 1 cup red wine with 2 tablespoons sugar for 2 or 3 minutes and add 3 tablespoons thick puree of cooked dried apricots or apricot jam. Serve the sauce warm.
Sauce Vanille à l'Anglaise (Vanilla Sauce)
In the top of a double boiler scald 1 cup each of milk and cream with half a vanilla bean. Whip 4 egg yolks with ½ cup sugar and ¼ teaspoon flour until the mixture is very light. Add the hot milk and cream slowly, stirring vigorously, and return the custard to the top of the double boiler. Cook the custard over simmering water, stirring constantly, until the mixture is thick enough to coat the back of a spoon. Strain the custard through a fine sieve and cool it, stirring from time to time. This sauce can be kept in the refrigerator for two or three days. For a lighter, richer sauce, fold in just before serving time ¼ cup cream, whipped light and frothy.
Crème à l'Anglaise au Cbocolat {Chocolate Cream Sauce)
Stir into 2 cups vanilla sauce 4 ounces sweet chocolate, or 2 ounces bitter chocolate and 2 tablespoons sugar, melted with 3 tablespoons water.
Coffee Sauce
Omit the vanilla from vanilla sauce. Add to the finished sauce ¼ cup double-strength coffee.
Rum Coffee Sauce
To coffee sauce add 2 tablespoons rum. Cool the sauce and just before serving, fold in ¼ cup cream, whipped light and frothy.
Apricot Sauce
Wash ½ pound dried apricots, soak them in water to cover for several hours, and simmer them in the same water until they are soft. Rub the fruit through a sieve or puree it in an electric blender, add ½ cup sugar, and stir the puree over heal for a few minutes. This sauce will keep indefinitely in the refrigerator, if it is packed in a sterile jar and a little rum or Cognac is poured over it.
Sauce Sabayon
Whip 4 egg yolks with 2/3 cup sugar until the mixture is very light and pale. Stir in 1 cup white wine. Sherry, or Madeira. Pour the custard into the top of a double boiler over lukewarm water. Cook it slowly, stirring vigorously all the time, until the water reaches the boiling point. At this time, the mixture should be creamy in consistency. Remove the top of the double boiler from the hot water and continue to stir the sauce for a few minutes. A very little rum or kirsch may be added. Serve the sauce hot.
Sauce sabayon may also be served cold. In this case, use 6 instead of 4 egg yolks and stir the sauce vigorously as it cools.
Fruit Sauce
Combine 1 cup unsweetened fruit juice-cherry, plum, strawberry, or raspberry, for instance-with ¼ cup sugar and the juice of ½ lemon. Bring the mixture to a boil. Mix 1 teaspoon cornstarch or arrowroot with 2 tablespoons cold fruit juice and add it to the boiling juice. Cook the sauce until it is clear and slightly thickened. Serve hot or cold.
Raspberry Sauce
Bring to a boil ½ cup strained raspberry juice and ½ cup currant jelly. Mix 1 teaspoon cornstarch with 2 tablespoons cold raspberry juice and add it to the boiling liquid. Cook the sauce until it is clear and slightly thickened. Serve cold.
Caramel Syrup
Mix equal parts of sugar and water in a heavy skillet and cook the mixture, stirring, until it forms a golden syrup. To coat molds, use the syrup hot. To make a less brittle coating that is easier to handle, add a little more water and cook the caramel, stirring, until it dissolves. Caramel syrup can be stored in the refrigerator.
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