Explorers Kitchen

Exploring food using modern techniques

You are here: Home / Archives for Recipes

Recipes

Hrudka – Easter Cheese from Eastern Europe – Sous vide and traditional methods!

by Leave a Comment

Export as KML for Google Earth/Google MapsOpen standalone map in fullscreen mode
Hrudka - Easter Cheese

loading map - please wait...

Hrudka - Easter Cheese 48.668831, 18.572293 Hrudka - Easter CheeseSlovakia (Directions)

It’s March and while we should be starting to get some warmer Spring-like weather here in Phoenixville, Pennsylvania, it’s still kind of wintery.  Last Wednesday, we got 12-18 inches of snow in some places, but that doesn’t keep me from knowing that Spring is just around the corner. Easter is also only a week away now and it is time to make some hrudka, eastern European Easter Cheese.

Slovakian heritage, but found hrudka later in life

Patrick Jaszewski standing in front of the city sign of Chmelova

I visit my grandmother’s family’s town in Slovakia

My last name is Jaszewski. My father’s father’s side is Polish and my father’s mother’s family has Rusyn roots in the Carpathian mountains of what is now Slovakia, but I didn’t have hrudka in my Easter basket growing up.

I first tasted it when a co-worker, Chris, mentioned it me a few years back.  He knew that I was into food and thought that is was something I might enjoy. So I gave it a shot and made it at home.  

Russian orthodox church in Chmelova

Russian orthodox church in Chmelova

Hurdka is a simple cheese that takes little effort to make at home.  

It was delicious!  How had I missed this growing up?

 My grandmother’s Easter cheese

This year, when I was prepping to make my hrudka, I decided to call my grandmother to see if it was something she ever made.  Turns out she made it for my father and his siblings every year for Easter. Instead of hanging to drain the liquid off, she pressed it under a pan filled with water to weigh it down.  She also made cheese bread.  These would be part of the Easter baskets each year.  My grandparents and their kids would bring the baskets with their kielbasa down to the church on Holy Saturday for mass and then to be blessed in preparation for Easter the next day.

History of this recipe

When my mom married my dad, she was given a book of the Eastern recipes at her bridal shower. His family knew that he loved the food he grew up with and she could make his favorites in their new lives together.  She still has the book: Our Traditional and Favorite Recipes; Fourth Printing 1978. Compiled by the Mother’s Club of St. Mary’s Russian Orthodox Church, Minneapolis, MN.  That book has the recipes for the Hrudka – Easter Cheese (listed as “egg cheese ball” & “hrudka”), as well as the “Cheese Bread” that I understand, is called paska.  One look at this vintage book and you can tell how much it has been loved and used over the years my parents have been married – 35 years and counting!

The version for hrudka in the book doesn’t call for sugar or vanilla, but that varies according to your personal taste.  The version I made originally did include vanilla, so I’ll include it below as an optional addition for a “sweet” variation.  It is also possible to make savory variations with the addition of pepper, chives, parsley, wild garlic, saffron, etc.

Really, it is a blank canvas that you could use to customize however you like.  I happen to favor the sweet version the best and eat it straight. My coworker, Chris, and my dad’s family made the plain cheese and then put it into a sandwich.  There are so many great ways to eat it!

Hrudka – Easter Cheese from Eastern Europe - Sous vide and traditional methods

Hrudka – Easter Cheese from Eastern Europe - Sous vide and traditional methods

Rate this recipe
2 ratings
Category: brakfast
Cuisine: Slovakain, Ukranian, Eastern European
Hrudka – Easter Cheese from Eastern Europe - Sous vide and traditional methods

Ingredients

6 hours, 30 minutes
8
192
    For the basic base:
  • 12 large eggs
  • 1 quart (946ml) whole milk
  • 1 teaspoon salt
    For the sweet variation
  • 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
  • 55g (about ¼ cup) sugar (optional)
  • Pinch of nutmeg (optional)
    For the savory variation
  • Pinch of saffron
  • ½ teaspoon black pepper
  • 2-4 tablespoons herbs like chives, parsley, wild garlic (optional)

Instructions

Prep
10 minutes
Cook
1 hour, 30 minutes
Ready in
6 hours, 30 minutes
    Traditional cooking method
  1. Start heavy pot or double boiler over medium heat
  2. Beat eggs. Add milk and salt and mix well. (Also add any optional spices, sugar)
  3. Add to double boiler & cook stirring constantly
  4. At about 190-200F, eggs will start to curd and whey will separate
  5. Remove from heat (Stir in herbs if making savory version)
  6. Pour into a colander lined with a clean white cloth
  7. While still hot, as soon as you can handle it, squeeze as much liquid out as possible
  8. Twist and hang at room temperature until set (about 5-8 hours)
  9. Wrap and chill
  10. Slice and enjoy!
    For the sous vide method
  1. Set sous vide circulator for 195F
  2. Beat eggs. Add milk and salt and mix well. (Also add any optional spices, sugar)
  3. Pour mixture into glass mason jars and tighten lids "finger tight"
  4. Gently submerge in sous vide bath
  5. Cook for 90 minutes
  6. Remove from heat (In a large bowl, stir in herbs if making savory version)
  7. Pour or scoop out into a colander lined with a clean white cloth
  8. While still hot, as soon as you can handle it, squeeze as much liquid out as possible
  9. Twist and hang at room temperature until set (about 5-8 hours)
  10. Wrap and chill
  11. Slice and enjoy!

Notes

Nutrition is based on "base" recipe without sugar or add-ins. Time is assuming sous vide.

Nutrition information

Serving Size: 151g
Calories per serving: 192
Fat per serving: 10.52
Saturated fat per serving: 4.57g
Carbs per serving: 1.67g
Protein per serving: 7.67g
Fiber per serving: 0g
Sugar per serving: 15.81g
Sodium per serving: 357mg
Trans fat per serving: 0g
Cholesterol per serving: 288mg
https://explorers.kitchen/recipes/hrudka-easter-cheese/

Cooking and lessons learned

Hrudka - Easter Cheese Nutrition Facts

When I made this the first few times, I used the traditional method.  It is really simple to follow and in intuitive.  The cheese curdles when it hits the right temperature and then you can strain it.  All the visual cues are there.

However, I wasn’t satisfied completely because it sometimes scorches on the bottom of the pan and you have to stir constantly for 20-30 minutes while it comes to temperature.  I wanted to try and develop a sous vide version so that wouldn’t require the hands-on time.  My first attempt at sous vide with this recipe was custardy and delicious, but not as firm as I would have liked.  I used 180F as my cooking temp and while it was really creamy, the proteins didn’t fully tighten up and expel the as much liquid as the traditional version (I squeezed out 1.5 cups vs 2.5 cups of whey).

Therefore, I’m proposing a cook temp of a very hot 195F for 90 minutes.  I haven’t tested this yet, but since I wanted to get this out before Easter, I’ll have to try it again next year.  If you try the sous vide method, please let me know how it comes out!

Russian Orthodox church in Chmelova

Russian Orthodox church in Chmelova

More photos from my trip Slovakia

As I was choosing photos for this post from my trip to Slovakia, I had such a hard time narrowing it down, so here are a few more from Chmelova and Bardejov.

Having 1 Euro beers with my cousin Mitch at a tiny bar in Chmelova

Having 1 Euro beers with my cousin Mitch at a tiny bar in Chmelova

 

Beautiful historic hotel I stayed at in Bardejov

Beautiful historic hotel I stayed at in Bardejov

Pretty building at Bardejov's historic city center

Pretty building at Bardejov’s historic city center

Bardejov's historic city center

Bardejov’s historic city center

Pie Crust Showdown – Bon Appetit vs America’s Test Kitchen vs Milk Street

by 1 Comment

This is pie crust 3 ways!  I test recipes from Bon Appetit, America’s Test Kitchen/Cooks Illustrated, and Milk Street putting them head-to-head to find out which crust is the best for your application.

Pie Crust Showdown

Bon Appetit vs America’s Test Kitchen vs Milk Street

Export as KML for Google Earth/Google MapsOpen standalone map in fullscreen mode
No-shrink pie crust - Milk Street

loading map - please wait...

No-shrink pie crust - Milk Street 42.358527, -71.054778 No-shrink pie crust - Milk Street177 milk street, boston, ma (Directions)

Each of these uses very different techniques and produces slightly different results.  They all have a place in your toolbox, so join us in looking at each one!  You’ll have a buttery, flaky pie crust that your friends and family will love.

The birth of a pie series

This whole pie series is inspired by my friend Fausto who lives in Panama and asked me to teach him how to make pumpkin pie.  So, I recorded videos for him, but thought that it would be great to share with YouTube as well as part of my Explorers Kitchen project.  …

Read More »

Foolproof Vodka Pie Crust- (Adapted from America’s Test Kitchen/Cook’s Illustrated)

by 3 Comments

Export as KML for Google Earth/Google MapsOpen standalone map in fullscreen mode
Foolproof Vodka Pie Crust- (Adapted from America's Test Kitchen/Cook's Illustrated)

loading map - please wait...

Foolproof Vodka Pie Crust- (Adapted from America\'s Test Kitchen/Cook\'s Illustrated) 42.344315, -71.035078 Foolproof Vodka Pie Crust- (Adapted from America\'s Test Kitchen/Cook\'s Illustrated)21 Drydock Ave 210 E, Boston, MA 02210 (Directions)

This is my adaptation of Cooks Illustrated/America’s Test Kitchen’s “foolproof pie dough” crust originally published in Cook’s Illustrated’s November 2007 issue.  While I have their print compilation of all the 2007 recipes, J. Kenji Lopez-Alt posted it as well on Serious Eats.  My version of this vodka pie crust is slightly different in that I prefer to use lard instead of vegetable shortening.  It imparts a better texture, flavor, and has no trans fats.  In the video, I happen to be out of both and I use some schmaltz (chicken fat) instead. This is one of the recipes we tested as part of our YouTube video series investigating 3 different ways of making pie crust….

Read More »

Flakiest Pie Crust – Bon Appetit’s Pie Crust

by 2 Comments

Export as KML for Google Earth/Google MapsOpen standalone map in fullscreen mode
Flakiest Pie Crust - Bon Appetit's Pie Crust

loading map - please wait...

Flakiest Pie Crust - Bon Appetit\'s Pie Crust 40.712968, -74.015289 Bon Appetit - Flakiest Pie Crust1 World Trade Center, New York, NY 10007 (Directions)

This is Bon Appetit’s pie crust, in fact, their “Flakiest Pie Crust”, one of the recipes we tested as part of our YouTube video series investigating 3 different ways of making pie crust.  It is super simple – only a handful of ingredients and a bowl, bench scraper, and a rolling pin.   You can make this easily at home….

Read More »

No-shrink pie crust – Milk Street

by 2 Comments

Export as KML for Google Earth/Google MapsOpen standalone map in fullscreen mode
No-shrink pie crust - Milk Street

loading map - please wait...

No-shrink pie crust - Milk Street 42.358527, -71.054778 No-shrink pie crust - Milk Street177 milk street, boston, ma (Directions)

This is my first run at testing Milk Street’s Foolproof Single-Crust Pie Dough. In the recipe they published in their Milk Street magazine, they claim that it makes a crust that doesn’t shrink when it bakes. I’ve had great luck with the Foolproof Vodka Pie Crust originally developed by Christopher Kimball’s other venture Cooks Illustrated/America’s Test Kitchen, so I wanted to test this one out too.  It grabbed my attention right away because it uses a novel way of getting the water into the recipe.  It has you make a gel with water and cornstarch by heating it in the microwave for a few seconds.  The recipe also calls for some sour cream, an ingredient that I don’t often see in pie crusts. I wanted to test this no-shrink pie crust right away and compare it to other methods.

Our comparison videos

Here is part one of the two-part series.  I go through each recipe up to the point of rolling out and baking the no-shrink pie crust and two others:

In part two, I roll out each recipe and give commentary on how easy each recipe is to work with.  Finally, I bake and taste each crust and share my feedback.

Here’s the recipe in print.

No-shrink pie crust – Milk Street

No-shrink pie crust – Milk Street

Rate this recipe
5 ratings
Category: dessert
Cuisine: French, American
No-shrink pie crust – Milk Street

Ingredients

2 hours, 3 minutes
8
359
  • 3 tablespoons water
  • 2 teaspoons cornstarch
  • 159g (about 1 cup + 2 tablespoons) flour, all-purpose
  • 2 teaspoons sugar
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 10 tablespoons (1.25 sticks) butter, frozen or very cold, sliced every quarter inch
  • 2 tablespoons sour cream

Instructions

Prep
2 hours
Cook
30 minutes
Ready in
2 hours, 3 minutes
  1. Whisk together water and cornstarch in a cup or small bowl until fully incorporated
  2. Microwave on high, stirring once until gooey/set, about 30 to 40 seconds
  3. Set in freezer to cool for 10 minutes
  4. Add flour, sugar, and salt to food processor. Run the processor for 2-5 seconds to incorporate
  5. Add chilled water/cornstarch gel (it should wiggle like gelatin) and pulse 5 times to combine
  6. Add butter and sour cream
  7. Run the processor for a bout 15 to 30 seconds, just until the dough starts to "ball-up" and stick to the blade (see video)
  8. Turn the dough out onto plastic wrap, form a 4-5 inch disc
  9. Wrap up the dough and rest in refrigerator for 1 hour to 4 days
  10. Add the butter and sour cream and process until the dough comes together and begins to collect around the blade, 20 to 30 seconds.
  11. Turn the dough out onto plastic wrap and pat into a 4-5 inch disc
  12. Wrap up the dough and rest in refrigerator for 1 hour to 4 days
  13. Heat oven to 375F
  14. Roll out the dough as needed for your recipe and lay into pie tin carefully- take care not to stretch the dough
  15. Chill in the freezer for 15 minutes
  16. Blind bake, covered in foil 3/4 full with pie weights for 25 minutes, rotating once
  17. Remove the foil and weights
  18. Return to oven for 5-7 minutes to brown crust
  19. Cool on a rack for about an hour before filling and using for recipe as needed

Nutrition information

Serving Size: 44g
Calories per serving: 359
Fat per serving: 23.16g
Saturated fat per serving: 14.261g
Carbs per serving: 31.76g
Protein per serving: 5.27g
Fiber per serving: 1g
Sugar per serving: 2.67g
Sodium per serving: 354mg
Trans fat per serving: 0g
Cholesterol per serving: 45mg
https://explorers.kitchen/recipes/no-shrink-pie-crust/

Tasting and lessons learned Nutrition data for Milk Street Crust

This no-shrink pie crust worked really well!  I love the flavor of the sour cream in the crust – it’s slightly tangy in a very pleasant way.  The sour cream seemed to aid the browning reactions and added some flavor complexity.  It wasn’t quite as buttery as the Bon Appetit recipe, but it was every bit as good.

Rolling it out took some patience.  It’s a little fussy to work with and there are a lot of steps to bring it together and bake relative to a traditional recipe.  In my opinion, it was not as easy to handle as it was advertised by Milk Street.  It was supposed to roll-out like Play-Doh, but that was not my experience.  I’ll use it again in the future and hope that it will handle better.

Please let me know down in the comments if you’ve had the same experience or if it worked great for you!

Making David Wondrich & Jerry Thomas’s eggnog in the snow

by Leave a Comment

I love eggnog.

As soon as the weather starts getting cold, I’m reaching for my eggs, cream, rum, and whiskey. In this video, I take you outside to mix up your own eggnog for one. Many recipes are for a whole batch with a dozen eggs or more – those are great too! But with this recipe, you can make yourself a glass as needed. I prefer mine with cream over milk, so I use it in this recipe.

Use whatever whiskey or brandy you prefer.  I tend to like a easy drinking bourbon like Elijah Craig, Evan Williams, or Rebel Yell.  In this video I used a Canadian rye whiskey, which was delicious, but if I’m in the mood, a smoky scotch like Highland Park is great here too.  Brandy is always nice.

For the rum, I definitely like an aged rum like Zaya better than a silver because of the complexity and vanilla notes that come from the barrel aging process.

Sometimes, I will even switch the proportions of rum to whiskey/brandy.  There is a lot of room here for customization.  And since you don’t have to make a big batch, you can dial in your preferences and make what you like!

Music by Iain Ballamy: https://soundcloud.com/iainballamy

Equipment used:

This is based on Jerry Thomas’s recipe via David Wondrich. David has an excellent video here on YouTube that you should also watch.  I’m standing on the shoulders of giants.

David Wondrich & Jerry Thomas’s eggnog

David Wondrich & Jerry Thomas’s eggnog

Rate this recipe
1 ratings
David Wondrich & Jerry Thomas’s eggnog

Ingredients

  • 2 teaspoons sugar
  • 1 oz water
  • 1 large egg
  • 2 oz whiskey or brandy
  • 1 oz aged rum
  • 3-4 oz cream
  • ice
  • Nutmeg

Instructions

  1. Add sugar to shaker
  2. Stir in water to dissolve
  3. Crack egg into shaker
  4. Add whiskey or brandy, rum, and cream
  5. Add ice to shaker and shake very hard until fingers start to freeze to the shaker
  6. Strain into serving glass
  7. Grate nutmeg on top
  8. Enjoy!

VIDEO: Improve Store Bought Pies

by 1 Comment

Happy Thanksgiving!  After the feast, I was still in the mood for pie, so I picked one up from the local store.  When I cut into it, I was disappointed by how undercooked it was. I was determined to improve this store bought pie.

Easy way to level-up pie from the store

So what do you do when it’s undercooked?  Do you just accept it and eat it as is?Heck no!  Throw it in the oven!

I cranked the oven to 450F /232 C and popped it in for 15 minutes and it was way better!

Just because the store plays it safe doesn’t mean that you have to

The store is not going to take risks and make flavors bold.  You’re in control of what you eat and you don’t have to accept the status quo.  It can be easy to forget that it doesn’t take that much effort to quickly level-up your pie.  Just give it a quick toast and you’re off to the races!

 

 

VIDEO: Smoked Sous vide Thanksgiving Turkey Roulade and Breasts

by Leave a Comment

Happy Thanksgiving!  For our celebration this year, we combined a few techniques to make the best turkey we’ve ever had! We love trying new techniques and found the turkey roulade to be one that we’re going to keep going back to.

First the turkey roulade

Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday.  It’s just about food, family, and friends.  What could be better?  I love the turkey and all the side dishes.  Pie is my favorite dessert…what’s not to love?

When I grew up, the turkey legs were always the parts that got leftover.  And I get why.  They’re sinewy and have all those little tendons and bones.  I love them for their flavor, fat, and always moist meat. But there has to be a way to make them easier to eat. Enter the roulade.

Roulade? What’s a roulade? Don’t feel bad, I didn’t know what it was either.  It is simply food served in a roll, typically meat.  In this case, we’re taking those legs, deboning them completely, sandwiching them together and making our own roll.  That makes it way easier to slice and serve…and a whole lot more pretty.

Sous vide, then smoke that bird

I’ve always been a fan of a hot smoked turkey (smoked at around 350-400F/175-205C) with its crispy mahogany skin and delicious flavor.  But since we were juggling 3 turkeys this year, we wanted to streamline things with sous vide and ensure that it was cooked through perfectly.  We butchered our turkey, separating the breasts and making our roulade with the legs, then we cooked it through completely with sous vide and then finished on the smoker.  The  smoker gave it that “last kiss” to infuse a nice flavor and crisp up the skin.

The end result was fantastic.  The roulade was the first thing to get eaten up and our guests loved it!

Check out our video of the whole process:

 

Smoked Sous vide Thanksgiving Turkey Roulade and Breasts

Rate this recipe
2 ratings

Ingredients

  • Whole Turkey (10-18 lbs / 4.5-8.5 kg) fresh or frozen (thawed)
  • Salt
  • Sugar
  • Thyme
  • Sage
  • RM Transglutaminase (like Moo Glue)
  • Olive oil
    Additional equipment:
  • Sous vide circulator (like Anova or Joule)
  • Container for sous vide (like a cooler
  • Knives
  • Butcher twine
  • Plastic wrap at least 18" wide
  • Freezer bags

Instructions

    Butcher the turkey (watch video for instructions)
  1. Remove the legs from turkey cutting skin as close to the leg as possible to leave more skin attached to the breast
  2. Remove the lower part of the wing and winglet.
  3. Remove breasts by slicing on either side of the keel-bone. Follow the bone down carefully cutting as you go. Remove the wishbone. Cut around shoulder joint. Upper part of the wing and breast should now be free.
  4. Remove bones from legs by cutting muscle as close to the bone as possible.
  5. Remove tendons (or as I call them, "pin bones") from the legs with a needle nose pliers and knife
  6. Save bones, wings, and carcass for another use (like stock or gravy).
    Build the roulade
  1. Remove thyme from about 8 stems
  2. Weigh de-boned legs in grams
  3. Measure out 0.5-0.7% of the weight in salt
  4. Lay out one leg/thigh section flat, skin-side down making note of which side was thigh and which side was leg
  5. Sprinkle salt and thyme on one of the leg/thigh sections
  6. Sprinkle RM Transglutaminase over same section. Use enough to lightly coat the meat
  7. Lay other leg/thigh section on top of the first skin-side up in the opposite leg/thigh orientation (see video)
  8. Roll up roulade in plastic wrap keeping as much skin exposed on the outside of the roulade
  9. Wrap tightly poking the plastic several times and pressing out any air-bubbles.
  10. Pull and twist ends in opposite direction to tighten
  11. Tie each end tightly with butcher twine, wrapping around to cinch down.
  12. Place roulade in vacuum or zipper bag
  13. Optional: add spoons or butter knives to weigh bag down and prevent any floating
  14. Seal, removing as much air as possible
    Bag the breasts
  1. Weigh the breasts in grams
  2. Weigh out 1.1% of breast weight in salt and 0.4% of breast weight in sugar. Combine
  3. Place breasts in zipper bags
  4. Sprinkle bagged breasts with salt/sugar mixture, dividing evenly
  5. Add about 5 whole sprigs of thyme and 5 sage leaves (optional) to each bagged breast
  6. Add about 1 tablespoon of olive oil to the bag(s)
  7. Optional: add spoons or butter knives to weigh bag down and prevent any floating
  8. Seal, removing as much air as possible
  9. Refrigerate bagged breasts
    Cook sous vide
  1. Set circulator to 151F/66C
  2. Add bagged roulade
  3. Cook 12 hours
  4. Reduce temperature to 131F/55C
  5. Add breasts
  6. Cook additional 8-14 hours depending on your serving timing
    Finish the meat
  1. While we finish on the smoker with pellets, you can use the oven or a stove-top skillet just as well
  2. Remember that meat is fully cooked at this point, we're just crisping up the skin, adding a little smoke, and making it look pretty
  3. Preheat smoker/grill very hot, between 450F/230C and 600F/315C (Hotter is better). Add chips/pellets and allow to smoke for about 10-15 minutes
  4. Remove meat from sous vide bags, pat dry with paper towels. Reserve drippings for gravy
  5. Add meat to the smoker
  6. Smoke until meat reaches desired finishing color and skin is crispy (about 15-60 minutes depending on temperature)
  7. Remove, slice, and enjoy.

Sous vide Leftover Doughnut Praline Bread Pudding aka “French Toast Casserole”

by Leave a Comment


Overhead view of Leftover Doughnut Praline Bread Pudding aka French Toast Casserole with whipped cream and a spoon

Export as KML for Google Earth/Google MapsOpen standalone map in fullscreen mode
Sous vide Leftover Doughnut Praline Bread Pudding aka “French Toast Casserole”

loading map - please wait...

Sous vide Leftover Doughnut Praline Bread Pudding aka “French Toast Casserole” 40.135800, -75.520100 Sous vide Leftover Doughnut Praline Bread Pudding aka “French Toast Casserole”Phoenixville Pennsylvania, United States of America (Directions)

The story of this recipe begins with doughnuts. Stale doughnuts turned into delicious bread pudding.

Well… maybe not quite. It really starts with pralines and my failure making them last Christmas. But I’ll get back to that. For now, let’s talk about doughnuts.

We had a big meeting at work a few weeks ago and I bought dozens doughnuts and bagels for the crowd. Okay, I overdid it a little bit. There was a dozen and a half raised, yeast doughnuts left over that nobody ate and I saw them sitting around the office a few days later.

We don’t waste food

Now I grew up in a family of 8 and learned not to waste food around my house, so I would be damned if I would let these go to waste as well. But what to do with them?

My birthday was coming up and I usually liked to bring in doughnuts or something nice for my co-workers. Could I turn these stale ones into something delicious? My mind went straight to breakfast casserole or bread pudding and I knew that I could pull some culinary necromancy and animate them into something new.

When I was designing this bread pudding recipe, I also knew that I wanted to use sous vide for quality of end result and ease of preparation. I wanted to be able to do the prep work the day before, drop it in the sous vide bath to do the cooking, pull it out when I wake up, finish it and go without having to wake up 3 hours earlier than usual to start cooking.

I also knew that I wanted to add an interesting topping on top. The texture of bread pudding can be homogeneous and uninteresting without some added textural elements. I’m not a huge fan of raisins in my bread pudding, so nuts fit the bill perfectly. Pecans to be specific. And I had the perfect source just waiting for me in my freezer: my failed pralines.

On River Street in Savannah by Bruce Tuten candy shop storefront

On River Street in Savannah by Bruce Tuten

My Praline Failure

Last November, Jill and I swung by Savannah and Charleston on our drive down to Florida. On the Riverfront Plaza, we stopped into the classic River Street Sweets. This place is amazing! They make candy the old fashioned way and it is incredible.

Here’s a video I recorded of River Street Sweets stretching salt water taffy on an ancient machine over 100 years old. The machine draws and stretches the taffy, cuts it, wraps it, and delivers it via a complicated journey through a series of belts, elevators, and shoots to the bin where it can be scooped up and purchased.  It’s pretty cool!

But the real reason you go to River Street Sweets is for the pralines. The sweet, buttery, salty, crunchy confection of the South that is simply irresistible. Once you start eating them, it is hard to stop! So of course, after our trip, I had wanted to make them.

“Freelines”

I had heard a story many years before on NPR about King’s Candy. Robert H. King had been locked up in Angola for decades for his political activism and I remember that he had made pralines during his time incarcerated. Now that he was out, I wanted to make his recipe for pralines, or “freelines” as he calls them. I dug up the NPR article from 2005 and sure enough, there was King’s recipe.

It was a very long recipe to make, contrary to how simple it looks on their website. Hours of boiling milk and sugar on the stove to create a caramel and eventually getting to the hard crack stage for the candy. My failure with the recipe was because, in order to hold all the ingredients that King called for in his recipe, I had to use a 5-gallon thin-walled aluminum turkey fryer. It worked great the caramel started to get thicker, then it started scorching on the bottom. Not good! Sure, I could have kept cooking and hoping the scorched flavor didn’t get into the finished candy or I could cut my losses and end up with the texture of caramels.

I played it safe and went for the caramels. After I took it off the heat, I stirred in my pecans like you would for pralines knowing that the finished product would never have the crunch that pralines should have. But the flavor was great and I knew that they would be delicious as a topping on ice cream or something else in the future. So I froze them and waited for the right time.

Today was that day!

30 degree view of Leftover Doughnut Praline Bread Pudding aka French Toast Casserole with whipped cream and a spoon

 

Lucky Day!

I’ve always been a lucky guy. My favorite stoic, Seneca the Younger said thousands of years ago, “Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity.” Bingo, Seneca! I was prepared with my pralines and here was my opportunity!

And with that final decision of my topping, my bread pudding recipe was complete! I made it for my birthday and brought it into work. Everyone who tried it told me that they loved it and some asked if I would share the recipe. I figure that if I share the recipe at work, I may as well post it here too.

On Preparation

A few of thoughts on preparation. I used sous vide because the timing in my specific case, but you can easily bake it instead and I gave instructions for that too. I used my leftover failed pralines for my caramel pecan topping, but for the recipe, I’m assuming that you don’t want to spend 4 or 5 hours stirring a pot of boiling milk and sugar. Therefore, I’m calling for prepared caramels and toasted pecans instead, which will get you really close. And finally, the recipe I present here is the original size I made, but it can easily be scaled down significantly. You can cut it in half, quarter, etc. quite easily and still get great results (round up if there gets to be a fraction of egg yolks).

And finally, on doughnuts. I used raised doughnuts since they’re really close to bread, but I would think that cake doughnuts would work fine too, especially with the long soak in the custard. Many stores sell their day-old doughnuts for dirt cheap ($2.24/dozen at my local grocer), so you can make this recipe inexpensively. Or collect your stale doughnuts in the freezer until you have enough to bake with and make the recipe then.

While this recipe really doesn’t fit into our Explorer’s Kitchen adventure for foods around the world, it was a fun project to make and we think that your family will love it! In the end, I was able to turn two failures into a massive success.

Sous vide Leftover Doughnut Praline Bread Pudding aka “French Toast Casserole”

Sous vide Leftover Doughnut Praline Bread Pudding aka “French Toast Casserole”

Rate this recipe
3 ratings
Sous vide Leftover Doughnut Praline Bread Pudding aka “French Toast Casserole”

Ingredients

11 hours, 15 minutes
    For the pudding
  • 18 stale raised doughnuts (optionally: wipe off drippy frosting)
  • ¾ cups (160g) brown sugar
  • ¼ cups maple syrup (preferably “grade B”)
  • 14 large egg yolks
  • 2 Tablespoons vanilla extract
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1 teaspoon cinnamon (we used Chinese from Penzey’s)
  • 1 quart (946 ml) heavy cream
  • 1 quart (946 ml) whole milk
    For the topping:
  • 3 tablespoons melted butter
  • Cinnamon for dusting
  • 1-½ cups of toasted pecans
  • 11 oz (310g) caramels

Instructions

Prep
8 hours, 15 minutes
Cook
3 hours, 15 minutes
Ready in
11 hours, 15 minutes
  1. Preheat oven to 325F (160C).
  2. Cut the doughnuts into roughly 2” (5 cm) sized pieces and spread evenly on parchment lined baking sheets.
  3. Bake for 15 minutes rotating sheets halfway through until doughnut pieces are just dry. Remove and cool for about 10 minutes.
  4. Meanwhile, in a stand mixer with whisk attachment, whisk sugar, maple syrup, egg yolks, vanilla, salt, and cinnamon until well combined.
  5. Add milk and cream and whisk until incorporated.
  6. In a very large bowl or very large vacuum/zipper bag, add cooled, dried doughnut pieces. Pour custard mixture over top and mix thoroughly with spoon pressing down on the bread so that it soaks up the custard.
  7. Cover bowl or close bag and refrigerate for 6-10 hours to allow bread to soak up the custard. (If you are in a hurry, you can shorten this time to 30 minutes.)
    If using sous vide:
  1. Set sous vide bath to 170F (76C).
  2. Fill one or two gallon freezer bags with the soaked bread/custard mixture. Press as much air out as possible and seal.
  3. Lower bag(s) into sous vide bath and cook for 3 hours.
  4. Remove bags from bath.
  5. Set oven rack to the top position and set to broil Low / 400F(200 C).
  6. Add contents of both bags to a deep 9x13 in pan (33x23 cm) (if your pan is shallow, use an additional 9x9 in/23x23 cm pan).
  7. Even out pudding in pan, then “rough-up” the top with a spoon leaving some peaks and valleys. Brush with melted butter and dust the top with cinnamon.
  8. Set pan under broiler until top is toasted and golden brown, about 5 minutes.
  9. Meanwhile, melt caramels in a saucepan or microwave. Stir in pecans and pour over toasted pudding.
  10. Return to oven until caramel starts to get brown spots, about 3-5 minutes. Remove and optionally allow pudding to set for 30-45 minutes.
  11. Serve with with vanilla ice cream or whipped cream.
    If only baking:
  1. Preheat oven to 325F (160C).
  2. Fill a deep 9x13 in pan (33x23 cm) with soaked bread/custard mixture (if your pan is shallow, use an additional 9x9 in/23x23 cm pan).
  3. Brush top with melted butter and dust with cinnamon.
  4. Bake until custard is just set. Test for doneness by pushing down in the middle and no runny liquid should be there (about 50-65 minutes).
  5. Remove from oven and cool on a wire rack for 45 minutes to cool and set.
  6. Meanwhile melt caramel and stir in pecans.
  7. Set oven rack to the top position and set to broil Low / 400F(200 C).
  8. Spread caramel and pecans over cooled bread pudding.
  9. Return to oven until caramel starts to get brown spots, about 3-5 minutes.
  10. Serve with with vanilla ice cream or whipped cream.

Notes

Most of the time is inactive. Only 15-30 minutes is active time

45 degree perspective on Leftover Doughnut Praline Bread Pudding aka French Toast Casserole

 

Tried this recipe?  Let us know what you think about it in the comments below!

 

Pikliz: Haitian Pickled Slaw with Hot Peppers

by 2 Comments

 

Haiti Pikliz-13

Haiti

History and Background

We covered some good history for Haiti on the Manman poul ak nwa: Haitian Cashew Chicken posting, so head over there to get the lowdown on the culinary history of Haiti.

Haiti Pikliz-2Pikliz

Today, we’re making pikliz, a simple cold uncooked pickled cabbage, carrot, onion, pea, and pepper based slaw.  We adapted a recipe from A Taste of Haiti by Mirta Yurnet-Thomas.  It’s as easy as cutting up or grating the vegetables and combining in a jar with some salt, cloves, peppercorns, and vinegar.  The hardest part is waiting the 24-48 hours for the flavors to meld!  So make pikliz early and make it often!…

Read More »