# Savory Bread & Butter Pudding (Pioneer Woman)



## Greg Who Cooks (Jul 20, 2012)

I was Googling savory bread recipes and came across this interesting one. It's not PW's recipe but rather was a contender for a contest PW ran in 2008.

What I really like about this recipe, you could add almost anything and you could substitute ingredients too. 

Savory Bread & Butter Pudding







Ingredients 

6 slices stale bread, quartered
4 pieces bacon, roughly chopped (or ham or other meat, or no meat if you’re a vegetarian)
2 tomatoes, halved and thickly sliced
Small bunch of silver beet/chard/spinach, roughly chopped
1 cup grated or crumbled cheese — cheddar, feta, blue, whatever floats your boat
8 eggs
1 cup milk
1 cup yogurt, plain
Salt & Pepper
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard

Method

It's a casserole. You bake at 350 degrees for 30-40 minutes. Details here:

Savory Bread & Butter Pudding | The Pioneer Woman Cooks | Ree Drummond

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What I really like is that you could change the ingredients a bit and use this basis for almost any kind of savory bread and meat pudding:

1.) Mexican: -bacon +sauteed ground beef, -spinach +cilantro, -mustard +taco seasoning. Use cheddar or use Mexican fresh cheese. Important: add a can of diced green (Hatch) chili peppers!

2.) Thai: -bacon +shrimp, -spinach + gailan +cilantro, -mustard +thai peppers +curry paste. Consider adding some of the Thai mini-eggplants, sliced (a type of aubergine). (Maybe add a bit of fish sauce?)

3.) French: -bacon +roasted chicken, use Gruyere cheese, substitute some cream for some of the milk, +fresh tarragon +fresh parsley +sauteed mushrooms +sauteed garlic.

4.) English: -bacon +browned beef cubes (reserve the grease, mix it with a bit of beef stock to deglaze, and add in at final assembly), probably Cheddar cheese, maybe add some blanched or par-boiled potatoes.

5.) Italian: -bacon +pepperoni, use Mozarella cheese, add the traditional Italian spice mixture (basil, oregano, thyme, parsley, marjoram) and nix the mustard, add a prepared pizza/pasta sauce such as Prego or your favorite bottled brand.

6.) Hawaiian: -bacon or maybe leave it but add ham, add pineapple pieces and bell peppers and red onions (sliced or diced).

7.) Barbecue: -bacon +barbecued chicken, -mustard +barbecue sauce, +sauteed onions and sauteed zucchini slices, maybe add some canned smoked beans.

Well I'm just coming up with ideas. I haven't cooked the recipe but I'll be interested in variations slanted towards various nationalities and cuisines. I'll call this a "thought" or "idea" topic.

What would the Indian version be? Would you use tandoori bread? How about a Chinese version? (I would use Hosing sauce or maybe Oyster sauce.) Mediterranean version? (Feta cheese, maybe fish.) Russian version? (Caviar, vodka, cabbage?)

I'm trying to start a both serious but humorous topic here. I hope we can have both amusing but also cooking insightful replies to this topic.

I think PW's recipe is a branching out spot where we could take it almost anywhere. I don't know if PW's finalist made the winning post.


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## Kylie1969 (Jul 20, 2012)

That looks fabulous Greg...thanks for sharing and for all your ideas


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## Addie (Jul 20, 2012)

I would have to leave out the yogurt. Cilantro is another item not on my liking list. they are not my favorite food items. But I love the idea of the various nationalities in changing the ingredients. The Italian and Mexican sound really good to me. For the French you could use croissants instead of the bread. 

This definitely a recipe for any family. Nice work. Thanks.


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## Greg Who Cooks (Jul 20, 2012)

I don't know why you'd leave out the yogurt. Perhaps add sour cream?

You must be one of the soapy cilantro people. I can't help you there. I love cilantro. If you don't like it then leave it out. I don't see any recipes here that require cilantro.

I really like your suggestion to use croissants instead of bread! Good idea! Particularly considering a recent bread pudding idea here on the forum.

I think this recipe could go practically anywhere! I hope we'll have some new innovative ideas too. For anybody interested, pick a cuisine and customize your recipe upon that! Feel free to brain storm. You don't need to cook it and prove it. Just offer ideas. This is an idea topic--unless somebody tries it, in which case I hope you'll post your results.


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## Addie (Jul 20, 2012)

Greg Who Cooks said:


> I don't know why you'd leave out the yogurt. Perhaps add sour cream?
> 
> You must be one of the soapy cilantro people. I can't help you there. I love cilantro. If you don't like it then leave it out. I don't see any recipes here that require cilantro.
> 
> ...


 
The Mexican recipe called for cilantro. I have never liked yogurt. Sour cream, yes. I hadn't thought of using that. Good idea. I think I would also put in some mushrooms. I love them and they would go very well with these ingredients.


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## Greg Who Cooks (Jul 20, 2012)

I just made up the Mexican recipe, about an hour ago. Feel free to ignore my ideas. Create your own. I was just brain storming. Sometimes my brain storms are light showers or sprinkles.

This is an idea topic. Pick a cuisine of your own that you favor and storm up some ideas for that. German? Czech? Brazilan? Scandanavian? Bulgarian? You get the idea. Go with it...


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## taxlady (Jul 20, 2012)

Addie said:


> The Mexican recipe called for cilantro. I have never liked yogurt. Sour cream, yes. I hadn't thought of using that. Good idea. I think I would also put in some mushrooms. I love them and they would go very well with these ingredients.


But, yogourt as an ingredient is very different from plain yogourt. I don't like plain yogourt or even flavoured yogourt, but I use it all the time in cooking. It's a pretty decent ingredient in creamy salad dressings too.


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## Greg Who Cooks (Jul 21, 2012)

You could leave out the yogurt and use sour cream. In fact I should have done that for my Mexican version idea.


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## Oldvine (Jul 21, 2012)

I've used yogurt in place of sour cream and the other way around.  No one knew the difference.  A plain spoonful of either going on to the taste buds might not be the same, but in a recipe, hardly a difference except fat content.


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## taxlady (Jul 21, 2012)

Oldvine said:


> I've used yogurt in place of sour cream and the other way around.  No one knew the difference.  A plain spoonful of either going on to the taste buds might not be the same, but in a recipe, hardly a difference except fat content.


Yup, I do that all the time. I have recipes that now say yogourt or sour cream.


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## CraigC (Jul 21, 2012)

We love this recipe and have it as one of the sides for prime rib.

Wild Mushroom Bread Pudding Recipe : Emeril Lagasse : Recipes : Food Network


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## Greg Who Cooks (Jul 21, 2012)

Sounds good Craig. In many respects it resembles PW's recipe in the OP. Certainly a similar idea.

Emerill's recipe calls for 1/2 # (3 C) of wild and exotic mushrooms. Which varieties do you use or have you used?


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## PattY1 (Jul 21, 2012)

taxlady said:


> Yup, I do that all the time. I have recipes that now say yogourt or sour cream.



I use Fat Free Greek yogurt. It ads a good bit of protein also.


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## CraigC (Jul 21, 2012)

Greg Who Cooks said:


> Sounds good Craig. In many respects it resembles PW's recipe in the OP. Certainly a similar idea.
> 
> Emerill's recipe calls for 1/2 # (3 C) of wild and exotic mushrooms. Which varieties do you use or have you used?


 
He he, we are not often able to get wild shrooms, so criminis! The only mushrooms that really grow down here aren't edible. They will take you on a "trip", I've heard.


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## Greg Who Cooks (Jul 21, 2012)

I think I'll pass on any mushrooms that don't come from a grocery store.


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## Addie (Jul 22, 2012)

Greg Who Cooks said:


> I think I'll pass on any mushrooms that don't come from a grocery store.


 
Ditto. I worked in an ER about 50 years ago. We had a patient that came in with mushroom poisoning. Not a pretty sight. His kidneys were severely damaged and he almost lost his life.  All from a day with the family picking mushrooms and then going home and cooking them. The family never got to taste them He was the cook and got sick just from tasting his concoction. They acted that fast. No thanks. I wil stick with what I know. And if necessary will even go to canned ones. "Gee we, had a book with pictures. I don't know what wrong ones we picked."


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## Cerise (Jul 22, 2012)

With savory ingredients, I prefer Strata - just eggs & milk.

One example is a Caprese Strata (tomatoes, mozzarella & Basil), using croissants.

Caprese Stratas w/Basil, Tomato & Mozzarella | Spilt Wine & Sticky Rice

You can change it out & use tomatoes, spinach & feta. Lots of possibilities. Wanted to post the link, but the site is down.  Will try tomorrow.


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