Bayou-born cook shares Louisiana bread pudding

Name this state: Here, biting someone with your natural teeth is considered a simple assault, but biting someone with your false teeth is considered an aggravated assault.

Every state has a personality, but Louisiana certainly has one of the most unique in the country. And there's someone in Charleston who exemplifies that distinct character: Donnie Bulliard.

Bayou-born Donnie transplanted himself to Charleston some three years ago and established himself as a gardener. But back home, the Bulliards have deep roots in the food business, and Donnie never fell far from the tree. He always has loved to cook and entertain, Louisiana-style.

Donnie's passion became a calling in 2006 after he did a cooking demonstration at Charleston Cooks! He turned that excitement into a plan.

Now, after months in the works, the plan is a reality: He has launched the Cajun Kitchen in the Lowcountry, offering cooking classes and filming a weekly online show. The action takes place at Signature Kitchens and Bath's new appliance center at 1826 Belgrade Ave., west of the Ashley. (Visit www.thecajunkitchen.tv for more information.)

At a launching affair earlier this month, Donnie served a fabulous bread pudding for dessert. I asked him if he would share the recipe. Of course, he said.

"Where I grew up in St. Martinville," he e-mailed, "we bought our pastries at Oubre's Bakery. There they made the best brioche and French breads. Ooh la la ... awesome. When the breads were no longer fresh, they sold it as 'yesterday cakes.' Get it? I think they sold stale bread (with which we made bread pudding) for a nickel. We had fresh 'yard' eggs, and milk back then was so much better, full of cream.

"Here in Charleston, I go to Harris Teeter and buy their freshly baked French breads. I don't know if fresh or stale bread makes it better. You just can't go wrong with this one."

Donnie's Bread Pudding With Rum Sauce

6 eggs

1 1/2 cups sugar

3 tablespoons pure vanilla extract

2 cups heavy cream

1 can (13 ounces) unsweetened coconut milk

2 tablespoons rum

1 loaf French bread, broken into small pieces

Extra sugar for caramelizing

Rum Sauce (recipe follows)

Whipped Cream (recipe follows)

Chopped pecans and grated coconut for garnish

In a large bowl of an electric mixer with a whisk, combine eggs, sugar and vanilla. Mix until smooth. In a saucepan, bring the cream to a boil. With mixer running at medium speed, slowly add hot cream to the egg mixture. Add coconut milk and rum and mix again. Allow mixture to rest for about an hour.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Fill a kettle with water and bring to a boil.

In a 9x12 baking dish, arrange pieces of the broken bread. Pour custard over top and press down with a spatula. Let this sit for a while until the bread absorbs the mixture. Place the baking dish in a larger, shallow roasting pan, with at least an inch of space between the two. Make a water bath by filling the roasting pan with boiling water until it reaches about halfway up the sides of the baking dish. Bake for about 50 to 60 minutes.

Take the dish out and sprinkle the top with sugar. Put back in the oven and broil for about 3 minutes, until the sugar caramelizes. Serve bread pudding hot, drizzled with rum sauce and topped with whipped cream. Add a sprinkling of chopped pecans and grated coconut.

Rum Sauce

1/2 stick butter

1/2 cup sugar

3 tablespoons rum

In a saucepan over medium heat, melt butter and add sugar, blending until smooth. Add rum, constantly stirring with a whisk.

Whipped Cream

1 pint whipping cream

1/2 cup sugar

With an electric mixer on medium speed, blend the cream and sugar until it reaches the desired thickness.

We're staying tuned to Louisiana for the next recipe, too. Rita Phillips of North Charleston called to ask about a "Louisiana cake," an orange-flavored tube cake with a crumbly topping.

Jean Thomas of Mount Pleasant responded. "Rice's Bakery in Baltimore used to make a wonderful Louisiana Ring Cake. The bakery has not been in operation for perhaps 30 years. The recipe is from The Baltimore Sun, March 12, 198? Someone in Baltimore had asked for the recipe."

Louisiana Ring Cake

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 1/2 teaspoons salt

1 3/4 cups sugar

1 cup shortening

3/4 cup milk

1 teaspoon orange extract

1/4 teaspoon almond extract

3 eggs, unbeaten

Topping (recipe follows)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Grease a tube pan. Sift together the flour, baking powder, salt and sugar. Cut in the shortening. Add the milk, orange and almond extracts, and the 3 eggs. Beat together thoroughly. DO NOT pour batter in pan yet. Make topping first.

Topping

3/4 cup of the cake batter

2 tablespoons flour

3 tablespoons confectioner's sugar

3 tablespoons brown sugar

1/4 teaspoon orange extract

Mix all ingredients together. Place topping mix in the bottom of the tube pan. Pour in cake batter. Bake cake 45 minutes to 1 hour. Remove cake from pan immediately or topping will stick.

Getting dumped

Hazel Williams of Charleston requested a blackberry dumpling recipe for her sister, Gloria Williams, who just moved here from Maryland.

"When I saw the request for blackberry dumplings last week, it occurred to me that this recipe might be acceptable to your reader," wrote Ann Strawser of Arlington, Texas. "Technically, I think anytime you drop a biscuit mixture onto a filling it can be called a dumpling. My recipe is called a cobbler. I have used this recipe for years and everyone who eats it thinks it is the best. I get many requests to bring it to potlucks."

Blackberry Cobbler

Makes 9 servings

For fruit:

1 1/3 cups sugar

3 tablespoons cornstarch

1 generous quart blackberries

1 teaspoons lemon juice

For topping:

1 cup flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoons salt

1/4 cup butter, melted

1 egg, beaten

1/4 cup sugar, plus 1 tablespoon for topping

1/4 cup milk

For fruit: Combine the 1 1/3 cups sugar and cornstarch. Mix with berries and lemon juice. Cook until thickened on stovetop or in microwave.

Turn into a 9-inch square glass baking dish or cake pan.

For topping: Sift together flour, baking powder and salt. Mix with the melted butter, the egg, 1/4 cup sugar and the milk. Drop mixture by spoonfuls over berries.

Bake at 350 degrees for 35 to 40 minutes.

Notes: Recipe may be doubled in a 9x13-inch baking dish. Other fruit can be substituted for blackberries.

Also thanks to Eloise Gatch of Walterboro.

Eau-de-shrimp

The word of the spilled shrimp water in my van apparently continues to spread since I'm still receiving suggestions about how to get rid of the smell.

They included leaving a bowl of ammonia out, or covering the affected carpet with newspaper. At least the van isn't brand-new, as was the case for Elaine Cross of Flat Rock, N.C.

"I had purchased 10 pounds of 'swimps' at Shem Creek and put them in the trunk of my new Mercedes. By the time I arrived home, the bag leaked so (I) mopped up the stinking mess and forgot about it until the next day when the new car smell was replaced with rotting shrimp odor. The cure was cleaning it with everything in the house and placing a large bag of kitty litter in the trunk. It worked!"

Heidi Little of Moncks Corner got a good (empathetic) laugh out of my predicament.

"I was taking a box (15 pounds) of king crab legs to the beach to meet my boyfriend (now husband) and mistakenly thought that there was a sealed plastic bag in the box. Unfortunately, I was driving his "baby" — a black, meticulously maintained, Dodge truck. As I reached the beach house, I realized my mistake. ... We drove around all weekend smelling like a garbage can in the back of a seafood restaurant. After two months of leaving the windows open, washing the carpet, and basically abandoning the truck on all but the coldest days, we realized we had a real problem. Fortunately I had a friend who worked at a dealership and told me that the reconditioning shop used something special to clean the trade-in vehicles. I immediately made friends with the owner, and he graciously let me buy a gallon from him."

Random recipe act

Ron Pollitt of Kiawah Island long has contributed to this column, as he's very interested in all things food. I heard from him again recently when he shared this recipe.

"I don't know if you like Philly Cheese Steak sandwiches, but if you do check out the recipe below. Pam and I love PCSS (with real shredded cheese, not Cheez Whiz!), but we've been frustrated by the poor offerings of sandwich shops in the Charleston area. ... Our frustration turned into a quest to make a decent PCSS using locally available ingredients, and we came up with the recipe."

Philly Cheese Steak Sandwiches

4 whole wheat sub rolls

Unsalted butter at room temperature for rolls

2 tablespoons unsalted butter or Smart Balance

1 medium Vidalia or other sweet onion, peeled and chopped

1 green pepper, seeded and chopped

1/2 pound button mushrooms, washed, dried and chopped

1/2 to 3/4 pound rare roast beef from supermarket deli (thinly sliced at deli and roughly chopped at home)

1/4 pound shredded Kraft Italian Five Cheese, or to taste

Slice rolls almost through, then lightly scoop out the bread with a spoon. Spread the rolls with softened unsalted butter.

Heat a large skillet on medium high, add the 2 tablespoons butter or Smart Balance, onion, green pepper and mushrooms and reduce heat to medium. Sweat vegetables until soft, 3 to 5 minutes, then add chopped beef. Mix well and cook for another 3 minutes. Add shredded cheese, mix thoroughly, and cook for 1 minute more.

Place generous amount of cooked mixture in hollowed-out sections of sub rolls.

Who's got the recipe?

--Looking ahead: Jean Spencer of West Ashley called with a good idea. A vegetarian for many years, Jean says October is Vegetarian Awareness Month. She wondered if we could ask readers for their best vegetarian recipes and publish them when the time comes. She also reminded me about the national public health campaign called Meatless Monday. The concept is, by cutting out meat and high-fat dairy foods just one day a week, Americans could take a big step toward preventing heart disease, stroke, diabetes and cancer. Visit www.meatlessmonday.com for details.

OK, so bring on those good vegetarian recipes!

--Colleagues had two recipe requests. One, breakfast casseroles for a crowd. Two, a chicken dish, described this way: "A line of frozen meals, I believe called Budget Gourmet, used to have a dinner called French Recipe Chicken. It was very tasty and had little pearl onions, potatoes, gravy and vegetables with the boneless chicken. It tasted like it may have had some wine in it, too, but no tomatoes. I would love a similar recipe, even for a slow cooker."

If you have a recipe request or one to share, reach Food Editor Teresa Taylor at 937-4886, food@postandcourier.com or write The Post and Courier, 134 Columbus St., Charleston, SC 29403.