Bread Pudding and Vanilla Sauce

First a little history lesson...

It was the early 1930s in the small coal town of Hugheston in the Kanawha Valley of West Virginia. Times were tough and money was tight. Very few coal miners' wives didn't know how to pinch a penny until it squealed, and they were always looking for new ways to make that paycheck stretch just a little further. Clothes were mended until they were more patches than solid fabric and they were passed down from one child to the next. Groceries were bought with great care and planning so that nothing went to waste. Nothing.

Frona Jones was a coal miner's wife raising three children on her husband's meager salary. They weren't exactly poor, they could make ends meet, but there was nothing extra left at the end of a pay period. They were in no worse shape then any of the other families in Hugheston and were probably better off than some, but it took constant diligence on Frona's part.

One day while doing her housework, Frona looked up to see her oldest son, TJ, coming in the door. "Mommy, can I go up the holler to play? I promise to be home by supper." TJ was 11 or 12 years old and he knew to be polite and mannerly because Frona expected it of him, his brother and his sister.

As she went about her housework she proceeded to question him as to exactly where he would be playing, what he would be doing and with whom. TJ politely answered her questions but Frona soon realized that it sounded as if he might be eating something. When she looked up she saw him pull something out of his pocket and pop it into his mouth. She was appalled!

"TJ! What on earth are you eating out of your pocket?" she demanded to know.

"Pudding, Mommy." TJ's reply was somewhat muffled by whatever it was he had in his mouth and Frona once again demanded to know what it was he was eating.

"Pudding, Mommy! It's pudding!"

When she was certain that he had indeed said 'pudding', Frona decided that young TJ had a smart mouth. Who on earth would put pudding in their pocket?

"Young man, don't you be smart with me!"

"No, ma'am. I'm not! It really is pudding!" TJ said, and he went on to tell her how the mother of one of his friends offered him something called bread pudding and that it was delicious and he could even carry it in his pocket! He went on to show Frona the small piece that remained and even let her taste it. That's when she told TJ that he could go play, but only after he returned to his friend's house and asked his mother for that recipe. It ended up being a great way to use bread that was too stale for sandwiches and it took very little sugar to make this special treat for the entire family.

And that, my friends, is how bread pudding became a favorite of my family. You see, Frona was my grandmother and TJ my uncle. Mama Jones shared this story with me the first time I made bread pudding for her. She came up with the sauce recipe elsewhere and made it occasionally to serve over the pudding.

My best advice is this: If you want to eat it with the sauce, you're better off to put it on a saucer or in a dish as opposed to in your pocket. ; )

Bread Pudding with Vanilla Sauce

2 eggs
1 cup sugar
3 or 4 teaspoons cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1 can evaporated milk (NOT sweetened condensed) + 1 can of water
1 teaspoon vanilla
Stale bread

Preheat oven to 350*. Grease a 13"x9" metal or glass cake pan.

In medium size mixing bowl, use a whisk to beat two eggs just until well mixed. Add sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg. Beat with whisk until thoroughly combined, then add milk and vanilla. Whisk together then add can of water and mix again.

Tear bread into small chunks and drop into milk mixture.

Add bread, stirring occasionally with a spoon or spatula (not the whisk), until most (but not quite all) of the liquid is absorbed.

Pour into greased pan and spread it out evenly.

Put in 350* oven. Pudding is done when it no longer 'jiggles' when touched in the center.

Depending upon the staleness of the bread, this can take anywhere from 45 minutes to one hour. Cut into squares, drizzle with sauce and serve warm or cold.

Vanilla Sauce
1 cup sugar
4 tablespoons flour
6 tablespoons margarine
App. 1/2 cup boiling water
1 teaspoon vanilla

In 2 quart saucepan combine sugar and flour. Drop margarine in small pats on top of mixture.

Add boiling water and set over medium heat, stirring constantly until mixture begins to bubble around the edges. Turn heat to low and continue to cook and stir until all sugar granules are dissolved. Remove from heat and add vanilla.

If sauce becomes too thick as it stands, you may add a little more water to thin.
Store leftover sauce and pudding in refrigerator.

Tips and Tricks
*The staler the bread, the better. Also, the more buns and crusty bread, the better. We love this made with wheat breads, hamburger buns and hot dog buns.*
*When you're down to a couple of slices of bread in a loaf or a couple of buns in the package and you know they're just a little too stale to enjoy, put them in the freezer. Whenever you have a couple slices more, add them to the package. You'll be amazed at how quickly you can accumulate enough stale bread to make a batch of bread pudding!*
*The amount of bread you'll need depends upon how stale it is. The staler the bread, the more liquid it will absorb, therefore the less bread you will use.*
*If your bread isn't quite stale enough and you really want a pan of pudding, all you have to do is put the slices and buns on cooling racks and leave them out for a few hours. Doesn't take long to make bread go stale!*
*Bread pudding made with bread that's too fresh really isn't all that great, in my opinion. So be patient and let the bread go stale. The drier, the better.*
*Many recipes say that if you're baking in a glass dish you should drop the temperature by 25*, however I have never done this for bread pudding. Just bake it at 350* and it will be fine.*

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