Freakin' whiskey sauce

[Brisketexan]

Okay, I made bread pudding. Turned out great. Fantastic even.

Whiskey sauce = disaster. Every recipe I looked at called for the same thing -- cream butter and sugar together, cook (either in saucepan or double broiler) until DISSOLVED (see, eg, the basic recipe in the thread below). Now, I take "Dissolve" to mean that there should be NO granulated texture of the sugar left. However, I surmise that I am wrong, since to reach that texture, I end up with a carmel-type substance. The next step -- mixing in eggs or yolks -- is an unmitigated disaster (not that it matters -- the sugar/butter mix is already crap). There's no way to do it that DOESN'T curdle the eggs.

I could never even get the sauce to the point where I could add the whiskey.

So I drank it. My one good move of the exercise.

Every whiskey sauce I have had is light in color. I am guessing that I do NOT "dissolve" the sugar -- I merely cream it together with the butter, and warm the mixture until the butter consistency is melted and the mixture is liquid (albeit with a granulated texture). Is that right?

What the $%*^&#%*^&#$*(%&^ am I doing wrong?

I hate baking. I really do.

 

[clandestine]

Try the recipe here next time.

The Link

 

[Brisketexan]

I saw a couple of recipes with a cream base -- is that what I'm missing? But why won't the non-cream recipes work for me?

 

[Brisketexan]

ANYONE with some follow-up thoughts? I still have most of hte pan of pudding in the fridge, and I'd love to nail the sauce so we can have this the RIGHT way. Thanks.

 

[Woland]

Use a thermometer to monitor the temperature of your cream/sugar mixture. Also, did you temper your eggs by adding some of the the cream to them before adding them to your sauce pan?

That's all I got.

 

[DallasCowpoke]

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[OzzieVirgil]

Try a rum sauce instead. More of a cajun style sauce over bread pudding. I prefer it to whiskey sauce any day. My rough recipe:

1 stick butter
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup karo syrup
2 tbsp vanilla
1/2 cup spiced rum (try Sailor Jerry or Captain Morgan Spiced Rum)

I cook over medium heat until the sugar begins to dissolve. No cream or milk needed. Almost makes a syrup to put over the bread pudding as opposed to a milk or cream based sauce. Blows whiskey sauce out of the water.

 

[Brisketexan]

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[DallasCowpoke]

Dang BT, it seems like y'all did everything right, save for the heat thing. And that would be my guess as the problem. It's just hard to say w/o "seeing" as you deduced.

Baking is SUCH an exacting thing because of the obvious chemical reaction things.

It's a common saying in this industry, that an experienced pastry chef trumps a true certified chef, because it's so much easier to fix mistakes on "the line" as opposed to in "the mixer".

Sorry I can't offer anymore insight, other than take what you did/learned from your attempt/s, and work w/ them.

 

[bularry]

listen to cowpoke

 

[sawbonz]

Brisket,

I don't think you can "dissolve," ie get rid of the granular texture, of sugar in melted butter. Butter is basically fat, and to get the sugar to dissolve into it, you have to take the temp up so high that you make a caramel. Your recipe is really asking you to make a suspension rather than a solution. You need to mix the sugar as thoroughly as you can at a low enough temp that it doesn't caramelize, then temper the eggs as mentioned above to avoid the scrambled egg consistency. Once the sugar, butter, and eggs are well-mixed, you add the whiskey. The whiskey, being an aqueous solution, will actually dissolve the granules, essentially giving you an emulsion.

 

[DallasCowpoke]

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[Mack Tripper]

Brisket -- I responded to you question on the other thread, but just in case, here's what I did for the sauce:
- Beat the butter and sugar together with a hand mixer for about 5 min, until the mixture was very smooth and creamy.
- Then, at that point I turned on the burner to a little bit above medium heat and cooked it for several minutes, only letting it get to a mild simmer and stirring pretty often.
- I then took it off the heat and let it cool for a couple minutes, then I vigorously whisked in the eggs very slowly.
- One the eggs were incorporated, I added the maker's mark. By this time, the sauce was off the heat for several minutes, and only a little above luke warm.