Bread Pudding Baked with Poetry

By Joyce Jacobo

[Author’s Note: While this poem is my own, the delicious recipe referred to within it came from my family’s Dutch cookbook. My brother and I grew up baking this dish alongside our mother and enjoying it as a dessert on special occasions. It is “Buck’s Bread Pudding” (for 4-6 servings), as printed in the Dutch cookbook Eet Smakelijk by Buck Matthews, although I have since learned that it was published in a newspaper as well.]

Aww, sweet bread pudding….

    The thought you will soon arrive warms the oven

                                                                         of my soul

                                                                  to 400 degrees

     I pull out a large bowl to accommodate you

                                        wherein I mix three eggs

                                                          a quart of milk

                                                    half a cup of sugar

                                  and two teaspoons of vanilla

                                               …until well-blended

             Next comes four-to-six slices of bread

                                broken        into       pieces

                                         to add into

                                                and become a part of

                                                          the unified concoction

                         …all poured into a 1 ½ quart casserole dish

             Then I sprinkle on some nutmeg

                                   like a light dusting of snow

                     right before the casserole dish goes

                                               uncovered

                                  into the stove

                                             for 50 and 60 minutes

                          and there you are

                                         …Sweet Bread Pudding

                                                    …good hot                                                                           

… or cold                              

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