Commander’s Palace
New Orleans, Louisiana

We visited Commander’s Palace on Friday, January 1, 2010.
Our recipe gift to you – Bread Pudding Soufflé with Whiskey Sauce

Restaurant Visit
As part of our Christmas Road Trip, we celebrated New Years in New Orleans and ate wonderful food during our visit, including Brennan’s, The Gumbo Shop, Remoulade, and Café Du Monde. But our culinary splurge was treating ourselves to brunch at Commander’s Palace. Seated in the garden room, we were greeted with jazz music by a 3-piece band and a warm, festive atmosphere.

The building itself is a historic Victorian home in the Garden District, dating back to the 1880s. The locally famous Brennan family purchased the restaurant in 1974 and it has been the kitchen of several famous chefs since then, including Emeril Lagasse and Paul Prudhomme.

Toasting our first meal of 2010, we began with a trio of soups (turtle soup, cauliflower & brie soup and smoked duck & foie gras gumbo) The soups each had a distinctive taste but we enjoyed the duck gumbo the best. The cauliflower and brie soup was almost too rich to finish the bowl, but we happily swallowed the last bite. We followed with the pecan crusted gulf fish (champagne poached jumbo lump crab, spiced pecans and crushed corn sauce) and the tournedos of black angus beef (creole spiced tournedos of beef over smoked onion, smashed new potatoes, roasted mushrooms, house made bacon and spicy Sazerac steak sauce). Both entrees were completely savored and we highly recommend them to anyone dining at Commander’s Palace.

“Oh my gosh, oh my gosh, oh my gosh,” were the first words spoken after a mouthful of the bread pudding soufflé and they sum up the experience of eating such a divine desert. The waiter placed the dish on the table, broke a hole in the top and spooned in the whiskey sauce. To the eye, the dessert looks unassuming. But the flavors combine to create pure happiness. The soufflé was just-from-the-oven warm and the whiskey sauce was spiked just strong enough to give a punch. It gave the same comfort of wrapping up in a warm blanket with a good book on a cold, snowy winter day. We absolutely devoured the dessert and ordered their cookbook from the waiter just to have the recipe for our selves.

As a bonus, we met with Chef Tory in the kitchen and had the book signed. I think we’ve started a new tradition of collecting cookbooks from our favorite restaurants.

And now, we would like to share our love of this dessert with you on the day of love, Valentine’s Day. We hope you make it for someone special in your life over the weekend. And next time you find yourself in New Orleans, be sure to treat yourself to a dinner at Commander’s Palace.

Shopping
(prices reflect the cost of the package, not the portion we used.) The rest of the ingredients we already had in the kitchen.

Vons-
Cream of Tartar $6.63
Ground Nutmet $7.75
Heavy Cream $4.99
French Bread $1.49
Corn Starch $1.95

Santa Monica Farmer’s Market -
Cage Free Eggs, 1 doz. $4.25

Recipe
Since we aren’t sure of copyright laws on the cookbook we purchased at Commander’s Palace, we copied our recipe from other sites on line. Here are just a few: www.labellecuisine.com, www.fabulousfoods.com, recipes.epicurean.com

Bread Pudding Soufflé with Whiskey Sauce-

Bread Pudding-

3/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
Pinch of freshly grated nutmeg
3 medium eggs
1 cup heavy cream
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract (use a high-quality extract, not an imitation)
5 cups day-old French bread, cut into 1-inch cubes (see Note)
1/3 cup raisins

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease an 8-inch square baking pan.

To make the bread pudding, combine the sugar, cinnamon, and nutmeg in a large bowl. Beat in the eggs until smooth, then work in the heavy cream. Add the vanilla, then the bread cubes. Allow the bread to soak up the custard. Scatter the raisins in the greased pan, and top with the egg mixture, which will prevent the raisins from burning. Bake for approximately 25 to 30 minutes or until the pudding has a golden brown color and is firm to the touch. If a toothpick inserted in the pudding comes out clean, it is done. It should be moist, not runny or dry. Let cool to room temperature.

Whiskey Sauce-

1 1/2 cups heavy cream
2 teaspoons cornstarch
2 tablespoons cold water
1/3 cup sugar
1/3 cup bourbon

To make the sauce, bring the cream to a boil, combine the cornstarch and water, and add the mixture to the boiling cream, stirring constantly. Return to a boil, then reduce the heat and cook, stirring, for about 30 seconds, being careful not to burn the mixture. Add the sugar and bourbon, and stir. Let cool at room temperature.

Meringue-

9 medium egg whites, at room temperature
1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
3/4 cup sugar

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F, and butter six 6-ounce ceramic ramekins.

To make the meringue, be certain that you use a bowl and whisk that are clean and that the egg whites are completely free of yolk. This dish needs a good, stiff meringue, and the egg whites will whip better if the chill is off them. In a large bowl or mixer, whip the egg whites and cream of tartar until foamy. Gradually add the sugar, and continue whipping until shiny and thick. Test with a clean spoon. If the whites stand up stiff, like shaving cream, when you pull out the spoon, the meringue is ready. Do not over-whip, or the whites will break down and the soufflé will not work.

In a large bowl, break half the bread pudding into pieces using your hands or a spoon. Gently fold in a quarter of the meringue, being careful not to lose the air in the whites. Place a portion of this mixture into each of the ramekins.

Place the remaining bread pudding in the bowl, break into pieces, and carefully fold in the rest of the meringue. Top off the soufflés with this lighter mixture, to about 1 1/2 inches over the top edge of the ramekin. With a spoon, smooth and shape the tops into a dome over the ramekin rim. Bake immediately for approximately 20 minutes or until golden brown.

Note: New Orleans French bread is very light and tender. Outside New Orleans, use only a light bread. If the bread is too dense, the recipe won’t work. We suggest Italian bread as the most compatible.

Chef Jamie’s Tips: New Orleanians like their spiked foods spiked, which is why the whiskey sauce for this recipe uses what might seems like a generous amount of bourbon. Cut the amount of bourbon if you’d prefer. A standard crème anglaise would make a good alcohol-free alternative sauce.

Plating
Serve immediately. Using a spoon at the table, poke a hole in the top of each soufflé and spoon the room temperature whiskey sauce into the soufflé.

Rating – We give this dish 5 out of 5 stars.

This recipe is one of our favorite desserts and we had a lot of fun discovering for ourselves how it is made. While our dish was delicious, we think Commander’s Palace’s had a bit more refinement overall. We hope you enjoy making this recipe for any occasion you wish to celebrate.

Be sure to vote on the D restaurant of your choice, as the race has been tight between these three. Next week, we will post the winning review and recipe.

Tags: Bread Pudding, Commander's Palace, Dessert

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