Introducing the flummadiddle, something of a cross between bread pudding, French toast, and a fritter, and a fun way to use up stale bread
James Ramsden's latest cookbook, Every Last Crumb, shows how bread is so much more than the sum of its parts. He guides us through the life of bread, from its fresh, chewy crumb to its tough crust, and shows how, at every stage of its life, it can be made into many incredibly entertaining recipes. Every corner is covered, from the traditional Spanish salmorejo sauce to the unique flummadiddle, a savory type of bread pudding made with pork, warm spices, molasses and stale bread.
Ramsden's flummadiddle features a whole piece of roasted pork belly, but I've adapted it to make a lighter breakfast version using bacon and sausage, though if you happen to have cooked pork belly, by all means shred it and add it to the mix instead of bacon and sausage.
Confused fry
I think a loaf of bread and butter is the pinnacle of culinary perfection, but, with a little imagination, a slice of tradition and a little bit of faith, there are so many other dishes that bread (and even stale bread) can make. transformed into. Flummadiddle is a creative dish by both name and nature, and I've read precious little about it other than a few creative interpretations of its description on Wikipedia. This is a type of bread pudding made with lard instead of butter, and the Ramsden version involves roasting pork belly on top, so that the fat soaks in and soaks into the bread, so baste it all while it cooks.
I've taken the dish and turned it into a quick breakfast with real, one-pot fritters that are a great way to feed a crowd with minimal fuss. And if you eat breakfast at home as and when, it also keeps well in a warm oven. It's also easily adapted for vegetarians or vegans, using butter or olive oil in place of lard and mushrooms and tempeh in place of meat.
- Serving 2
- 60g bacon lardons or striped bacon, cut into pieces
- 2 sausages, or 100g sliced black pudding
- 20g butter
- 4 slices of stale bread (I used spelled whole wheat), cut into triangles
- 1 egg
- 180ml pure milk
- A pinch of ground cinnamon
- A pinch of allspice powder
- A pinch of cloves
- Salt and black pepper
- 1 tablespoon black cane or treacle molasses (optional)
- 6 cherry tomatoes, halved
In a medium hot skillet, fry the bacon and sausage in butter until they are caramelized and cooked through. Remove the meat from the pan and cut the sausage into pieces. Use the bread to mop up any lard left in the skillet.
In a pitcher or bowl, whisk together the eggs, milk and ground spices until well blended, then season generously.
Place half of the bread in the bottom of a small ovenproof dish, spread it over the meat half, and top first with the remaining bread and then the remaining meat. Pour custard mixture, drizzle over molasses, if using, and arrange cherry tomatoes over top. Bake in 220C (fan 200C)/425F/gas 7 oven for 15 minutes, and serve hot with tomato or mushroom sauce.
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