Delightful Bread Pudding – not to be confused with its richer cousin, bread and butter pudding – is another way to use up stale bread.
As my Grandad pointed out to my Mum, the addition of dried fruit, butter, sugar, eggs and spices makes it a very expensive way of using up cheap stale bread, but it is delicious and filling. Just the thing to plug the vast, bottomless hunger hole that inhabits the space between coming home from school and eating dinner.
Speaking of children, this is a really good recipe for kids to make – the tearing of bread is laborious, but passes more quickly with someone chatting to you, little hands are good at squeezing water from soggy bread and they can beat it half to death with a wooden spoon because you can’t overmix bread pudding.

Interestingly, Grandad’s recipe book lists the recipe as a hot pudding to be eaten with custard, but we never ate it this way; no, it’s strictly left to cool and cut into slabs to be devoured as you would a piece of cake. A very substantial piece of cake, mind you, but still that’s our eating method of choice.
Yes, it’s a good rainy day recipe and it’s decidedly Autumnal here now. Sad for us to bid farewell to hot days, but great for good traditional bread pudding!

Take your stale bread

and tear it into ‘feeding small birds’ pieces. Not swans. Little birds.

Pour over enough cold water to saturate it. I used about 1½ pints, but start with 1 pint. There’s nothing to stop you drowning it completely, but it just increases the amount of time you spend squeezing the water out afterwards.
Let it sit for an hour to get thoroughly soggy.

Putting a couple of handful of soggy bread in the sieve at a time, squeeze and press the water out. You can use whatever utensil you like, but I had great success using my hands.

Once it’s all been squeezed, return to a large bowl and beat with a wooden spoon until it’s mushy and smoother.

Add the raisins, sugar, cinnamon and mixed spice and beat them in.
Add the beaten eggs and melted butter and beat that in too.

Add a little milk (I used about 2 tbsp) to achieve a nice dropping consistency

Pour into a greased baking tin (mine was 9×13″) and sprinkle some demerara sugar and a good rasping of nutmeg over the top. Bake for 1½ to 2 hours.

Until browned, firm and pulling away from the edges of the tin.

Cool in the tin, sprinkle with more sugar and cut into slabs, squares or dainty fingers.

Enjoy!

——–
Bread Pudding

PRINT THIS RECIPE (opens in a new window)

1 lb stale bread
9oz raisins
4oz sugar
4oz butter, melted or very soft
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp mixed spice
2 eggs, beaten
Milk to mix
Nutmeg and Demerara sugar to dredge

Tear the bread into small ‘feed the birds’ pieces.
Pour over cold water to saturate the bread – anything between 1 and 2 pints depending on the staleness of your bread. Leave to soak for an hour.

Heat oven to GM3/160/325
Grease a baking tin of around 9×13″.

Put a couple of handfuls of soggy bread at a time into a nylon sieve and strain and squeeze as much water as you can out of the bread. Beat with a wooden spoon to reduce to mush.
Add the fruit, butter, spices and eggs and beat together. Add enough milk to get a soft dropping consistency, but don’t let it get too wet. I only needed about 2 tbsps.
Pour into the tin and scatter with Demerara sugar and a good rasping of nutmeg.

Bake for 1 1/2 to 2 hours until firm and pulled away from the side of the tin.
Cool in the tin, then when cold, cut into slabs or daintier fingers. Dredge with more sugar if you like.

Store in an airtight container – you can also freeze it.

That’s all the description it needs really, although I should clarify something. This is actually a Delia Smith recipe that my Mum has made one change too, so in fact it is not so much my Mum’s recipe as Delia’s recipe, and as such I need to point out that My Mum is not Delia – her name is Pat.

Delia, if you stumble across this blog (hey! Stranger things have happened!) don’t worry – you’re not my Mum, but your Mincemeat recipe feels like it is my Mum’s because it’s the one she has used for a long time. K?

‘Tis easy! BTW, this makes 6lb so if you want less, just halve the quantities.

In a large bowl, yes a LARGE bowl, put this lot:

Great.

Now take it all out and weigh and chop it this time. Silly Billy.

So, put in the following things – I mix each ingredient in with my hands as I go, to be sure that it’s all really well distributed:

350g raisins, 225g sultanas, 225g currants, 350g soft dark brown sugar, 50g blanched almonds, cut into slivers:

125g whole mixed candied peel chopped very finely,

125g glace cherries- chopped, 450g Bramley apples, cored and finely diced (don’t bother to peel them),

zest and juice of 2 oranges and 2 lemons, 4 tsp mixed spice, ½ tsp cinnamon, a really good grating of nutmeg and 225g shredded suet.

Cover the bowl with a clean cloth and leave somewhere cool overnight (or for 12 hours).

When that time has elapsed, preheat the oven to GM ¼ (that was the ‘S’ setting on my oven) or 225F/120C. Cover the bowl loosely with foil and put into the oven for 3 hours. If you don’t want this amount, make a half quantity and put in the oven for 2 hours.

Take out of the oven and remove the foil. It will be drenched in fat, but Delia and Mum (my Mum, not… oh nevermind) assure me that this is correct.

As the mincemeat cools, stir from time to time. The idea of this is that each tiny ingredient gets a coating of fat – including the apple which has a reputation for fermenting and ruining your chances of storing the mincemeat. No such worries with this recipe. Stir when you walk past it and see the texture change as the fat permeates every part of the mincemeat.

When the mincemeat is cold, stir in 6 tbsp Brandy. Yummo. Inhale. Christmas.

Sterilise 6 x 1lb jars and allow them to cool. pack the mincemeat into the jars, cover the top with a wax disc and seal with one of those cellophane jam lid/circles.

Delia says it will keep in a cool, dark cupboard indefinitely, but is best eaten within the year. I’m keeping mine in ‘the larder that’s not a larder’ (as opposed to ‘The Larder’ which is the larder or ‘The Hellmouth’, aka under the stairs)

For stunning mince pies, use the shortbread pastry recipe.

You know, as you’re making this, it is quite shocking to see the amount of fat – I mean SEE it right there in front of your eyes; but you’re eating something that is pretty much an annual treat, after all. You can read the nutritional information on the back of a packet or jar all you like, but it isn’t as impactive as stirring it in yourself.
When you think of commercially prepared mincemeats with their additives, stabilisers and general weirdness, on TOP of all the fat, it should be some comfort that because you’ve made it yourself, you can identify all the ingredients – there’s no spookiness – these ingredients are natural and the difference speaks for itself, because the taste is so superior.

There are some really good mincemeats and mince pies available, but one bite tells you it’s from a shop; it is frankly, undeniable. Serve these and there is no way they are anything but tenderly, lovingly and joyfully home made.

Ho ho ho.

——-

Mum’s Mincemeat

PRINT THIS RECIPE (opens in a new window)

slightly adapted from a Delia Smith recipe

350g raisins,
225g sultanas,
225g currants,
350g soft dark brown sugar,
50g blanched almonds, cut into slivers,
125g whole mixed candied peel chopped very finely,
450g Bramley apples, cored and finely diced (don’t bother to peel them),
zest and juice of 2 oranges
zest and juice of  2 lemons,
4 tsp mixed spice,
½ tsp cinnamon,
a really good grating of nutmeg
225g shredded suet

6 tbsp Brandy

Combine all the ingredients, except the Brandy, in a large bowl. Stir, mix, combine really thoroughly. I stir each ingredient in (with my hands, no less) as I add it – that way you know you’re on top of it.
Cover the bowl with a clean cloth and leave overnight, or for 12 hours, to allow the flavours to blend.

When the time has elapsed, preheat the oven to GM ¼ (that was the ‘S’ setting on my oven) or 225F/120C.
Loosely cover the bowl with foil and out into the oven for 3 hours (2 hours if you’re doing a half quantity).
Remove the bowl from the oven, ditch the foil and allow it to cool. As it cools, stir it from time to time to completely incorporate the fat – as it cools and the fat coagulates, it will encase each little ingredient in there and facilitate good storage.

When it is cold, stir in the Brandy.
Clean and sterilise 6 1lb jars then allow them to cool. Pack the mincemeat into the jars, press a wax disc ont to the top and seal.
Should keep in a cool, dark cupboard indefinitely, but Delia recommends eating it within the year.