Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place stale bread
in a bowl with milk and squeeze the bread with your hand until well
saturated with milk. With an electric mixer on high speed in a separate
bowl, beat eggs with sugar until thick and pale. Stir in the vanilla,
cinnamon, nutmeg, butter and raisins to the egg mixture. Add the soaked
bread crumbs to the egg mixture and stir well. Let stand for 10 minutes.
It is important to allow enough time for the bread to absorb the egg
mixture or the bread crumbs will float to the top during baking, leaving
a layer of custard on the bottom of the dish.
Transfer the mixture to a greased baking dish. Bake until firm, or
until a knife inserted in the middle comes out clean, about 45 to
50 minutes. Let it slightly cool in the dish.
Bourbon Sauce:
2 egg yolks
1 stick butter, not margarine
1 cup sugar
1/3 cup bourbon whiskey, to taste
Meanwhile, near the end of the baking time, make the sauce. With
an electric mixer, beat egg yolks until thick and pale. In a saucepan,
melt the butter and sugar. Pour the butter and sugar mixture over
the egg yolks, beating constantly with the mixer, until well thickened.
Stir in bourbon by hand. Serve the pudding warm with vanilla ice cream
if desired. Pass the hot bourbon sauce separately.
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