Pascal's Manales Bread Pudding - a weekend recipe

I have used Pascal’s Manale as a setting for two stories, both featuring Mama Mulate, my fictional voodoo mambo/Tulane English professor. In the short story Conjure Man, Mama visits Pascal’s during a hurricane to visit her much younger boyfriend/bartender. In my novel Big Easy, Mama and Wyatt Thomas seal a partnership that sets the stage for the stage for the French Quarter murder mystery.

There is no better place on earth to eat a few dozen oysters and drink cold Dixie Beer while waiting on a table to dine on Pascal’s signature barbecue shrimp and finish up with what may be the best bread pudding in all of New Orleans.

Below is the recipe for their bread pudding from the Pascal’s Manale website.

Ingredients:
3 Loaves French Bread
15 ozs. Raisins
½ Gallon Whole Milk
½ lb. Sugar
10 Eggs
½ Pound of Melted Butter
3 ozs. Vanilla Extract

Directions
Cut French bread into cubes. Pour milk on French bread. Let milk soak into bread. Add the remaining ingredients to French bread mixture. Mix with hand until blended evenly. Pour mixture into ungreased pan.Pre-heat oven at 350 degrees. Bake for 45 minutes to 1 hour. Makes 15 or more servings.

Topping
3 ozs. Brandy
1 lb. butter
8 ozs. sugar
2 ozs. vanilla extract

Let butter sit at room temperature until very soft. Add the remaining ingredients and blend with mixer until smooth. Pour over bread pudding.

Louisiana Mystery Writer

Caramel Cup Custard - a weekend recipe

Arnaud’s is a famous New Orleans restaurant that I visited the first time when I was in the eighth grade. Even though I have eaten at hundreds of restaurants since, I still remember my first Arnaud’s experience with vivid recall.

Check out their website. It is wonderful and not pretentious. Like many buildings in New Orleans, the one housing Arnaud’s is haunted, perhaps by Count Arnaud himself. What more can you ask for than ghosts, great food and the French Quarter?

Here is an original Arnaud’s recipe straight from their website.

Caramel Cup Custard

Simplicity and elegance are underscored in this deceptively modest dessert. It comes to table molded as the cup shape in which it is baked, then overturned on a saucer for presentation. The silky smoothness of the custard is a revelation. It has long been a standard at Arnaud’s and would be impossible to remove from the menu.

½ cup granulated sugar, for the caramel
1 tablespoon water
3 large eggs
¼ cup granulated sugar
2 cups whole milk, scalded
½ teaspoon best quality pure vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 275°.

In a small, heavy skillet over low heat, stir the ½-cup sugar and 1-tablespoon water until the sugar melts, is free of lumps and turns a light caramel color.

Divide the caramel among six 4 ounce custard cups and let stand until cooled.Beat the eggs with the 1/4 cup sugar and add the scalded milk slowly, while stirring. Add the vanilla and strain carefully into the prepared cups, to avoid disturbing the caramel.

Place cups in a pan of hot water. The water should come almost to the top of the cups. Cover with foil. Bake slowly for 1-1/2 to 1-3/4 hours, or until a knife inserted in the center comes out clean.Remove from the water and cool to room temperature. Chill until serving time.To serve, run a knife around the edge of the custard and invert the cup onto a small plate.

Serves 6

Louisiana Fiction Writer

Brennan's Bananas Foster

Brennan’s in New Orleans is famous for many dishes, including their brunch, but their signature dessert is Bananas Foster. I found this recipe on their website and they explain that New Orleans was once the primary destination for Central and South American bananas. This is one of those desserts you need to put on your bucket list.

Brennan’s Bananas Foster

¼ cup (½ stick) butter
1 cup brown sugar
½ teaspoon cinnamon
¼ cup banana liqueur
4 bananas, cut in half lengthwise, then halved
¼ cup dark rum
4 scoops vanilla ice cream

Combine the butter, sugar, and cinnamon in a flambé pan or skillet. Place the pan over low heat either on an alcohol burner or on top of the stove, and cook, stirring, until the sugar dissolves. Stir in the banana liqueur, and then place the bananas in the pan. When the banana sections soften and begin to brown, carefully add the rum.

Continue to cook the sauce until the rum is hot, and then tip the pan slightly to ignite the rum. When the flames subside, lift the bananas out of the pan and place four pieces over each portion of ice cream. Generously spoon warm sauce over the top of the ice cream and serve immediately.

Louisiana Mystery Writer