Today
we focus on an old treat “bread pudding”. This makes an
impressive dish for a desert, pot luck or special holiday dinner. The
old English called it a “Wet Nellie”.
This
dish is named for a pair of lesbian pirates you might never have
heard of. During this month of pride, take a moment to read a short
article on them after the recipe.
Ingredients:
Sauce:
1
cup milk
1
cup half & half
2
tablespoons butter
1
tablespoon cornstarch
1
cup sugar
7
tablespoons spiced rum
Directions
Cut
up the loaf of brioche – stale bread works better then fresh. You
want it to soak up the custard, (What noted French Chef Escoffier
refers to as Cream Renversee).
Spray
a 9x 13 baking dish and set aside.
Mix
the apple pie spice in 1 cup milk in a microwavable container and
microwave on high for 1.45
minutes.
Check the temperature of the mixture and microwave in 30
second increments
until it reaches 180
degrees F.
Cover and steep
15 minutes.
Assemble
on the counter 1 bowl with the eggs & egg yolks:
Another
bowl with the sugar and brown sugar well mixed.
A
larger bowl with the 3 cups of half & half and vanilla mixed in.
Place
the eggs and yolks in a mixer. Mix on the lowest speed for 30
seconds.
Raise
the speed to quarter power and slowly add the sugars slowly, not in
clumps,and blend until thickened slightly, about
1 minute.
Add the half-and-half,
the spiced milk and the rum.
Use
now, or store covered in the refrigerator for up to 72 hours.
Transfer
the bread into the baking dish. Sprinkle the fruit over the bread,
and pour in the custard carefully. Press the bread to submerge all
the pieces and cover with plastic wrap.
Soak for 1
hour at room temperature or
for up to 8 hours in the refrigerator.
Preheat
the oven to 325
degrees F
Place
a pan of water in a rack below the bread pudding pan.
Bake
until the pudding puffs up and reaches an internal temperature of
165 to 170 degrees, (about an hour).
Remove
and cool
30 minutes before
slicing or scooping and serving.
For
the sauce:
Melt
butter in a small saucepan over medium heat.
Mix
together the sugar and cornstarch, and stir into the butter.
Pour
in half & half, and cook stirring frequently until the mixture
begins to boil. Continue cooking until thick, stirring constantly.
Its
easy to burn though so watch closely. Remove from heat, and stir in
rum. Serve warm.
Pour over the bread pudding. Serve warm or cold.
Elegant
and basic this has been a favorite for centuries!
Serving
my Master Indy!
socialslave
To
satisfy and restore.
To
nourish, support and maintain.
To
gratify, spoil, comfort and please,
to
nurture, assist, and sustain
…..I
cook!
Please
buy slave's cookbook:
The
Little Black Book of Indiscreet Recipes
by
Dan White
==============================
Anne Bonny and Mary
Read
Most
of what we know about these famous lesbian pirates come from the 1724
book:
A General History of the Robberies and Murders of the Most Notorious
Pirates.
The book, supposedly written by Daniel Defoe, was published shortly
after the two were brought to trial for piracy on the high seas.
Anne
Bonny:
"grew up into a strapping, boisterous girl, of a `fierce and
courageous temper' which more than once led her into sad scrapes, as
when she slew her English servant-maid with a case knife. But apart
from such occasional outbursts of temper she was a good and dutiful
daughter."
Anne
was often seen frequenting the taverns of Charleston, South Carolina,
on the arms of various buccaneers. One story about her stated that
when a drunk sailor tried to rape her, she beat him with a chair! He
was hospitalized for a month.
Her
father, angry at her eloping with James Bonny, disinherited her. So
she burnt down his plantation! They fled to British- controlled port
of New Providence (Nassau). Upon her arrival, she quickly
established herself by shooting off the ear of a drunken sailor who
blocked her way when she disembarked.
In
a short time she discarded her husband. Advised to get some male
protection, she joined up with the pirate John "Calico Jack"
Rackham, (named for the loud striped patchwork trousers he wore.) It
has been said Calico Jack came to New Providence as the lover of a
Captain Vane. (Guess pirates do have beards!)
Many
of Anne's menfriends were certainly gay: like Pierre Bouspeut
(sometimes called "Pierre the Pansy Pirate")—who ran a
coffee shop, hairdressing and dress-making shop.
With
the aid of some of Pierre's friends they stole an abandoned wreck of
a boat, and covered the topsail, deck and themselves with turtle
blood. In the bow they placed one of Pierre's dress- maker's dummies,
dressed in women's clothing and similarly splashed with blood. Anne
stood over this nightmare figure with a blood-soaked axe, and they
sailed out to a heavily laden French Merchantman that had ventured
into these waters.
When
its crew caught sight of this demon ship by the light of the full
moon, they were horrified by the impending mayhem! They turned over
their cargo without a fight.
Anne
was now a full fledged pirate! She, Calico Jack and Pierre sailed out
of the harbor to begin their new life. Though officially she was
second in command, after Calico, she had thrown him out of the
Captain's quarters and resided there alone.
Eventually
the local governor obtained a special pardon for Anne. Upon her
return to port she met "Mark" Read (Mary
Read).
Mary had always preferred a masculine persona. She was apprenticed as
a footboy, then ran away to join the army as a soldier. She ended up
signing on a Dutch Merchantman as Mark Read. This ship was captured
by pirates, whom she promptly joined. Mary also found a pardon in New
Providence and joining up with Anne.
In
due course the pirate crew was re-formed, with Anne and "Mark"
constantly together. This intimacy aroused the jealousy of Calico
Jack, who burst into the cabin one day and found Mary stretched out
on the bed before Anne quite visibly a woman!
Attempts
to "explain it away" this are typical of how the pair are
treated in most histories. Anne Bonny is often refereed to as a
pirate captain's mistress, rather than the leader she actually was.
They both were fierce fighters.
One
ship was sent out to capture "those infamous women." Anne
seduced the ships captain into bringing her aboard, then drugged his
wine instead of having sex. She secretly doused the firing pins of
the cannons with water. Anne left the next morning returning to her
pirates. The
Royal Queen's
gunmen were unable to open fire and they were easily captured. Only
the captain was killed in this otherwise bloodless battle by a
jealous Mary.
Eventually
Anne and Mary were captured by a Captain
Barnet.
Barnet
cornered them off the coast of Jamaica and in an exchange of cannon
fire, their ship was disabled. While Calico Jack and the other
pirates cowered below decks, Read and Bonny remained on the decks,
fighting.
They
verbally berated the men below and Mary fired a shot into the hold,
killing one of the cowards. Still it took an hour for
Barnet's entire crew to subdue the two women.
Later,
in one of the most famous pirate quotes of all time, Bonny told
Calico Jack in prison: "I'm
sorry to see you here, but if you had fought like a man, you need not
have hanged like a dog."
They
were swiftly tried and found guilty. Most of them were hanged on
November 18, 1720. Bonny and Read were sentenced to hang, but both of
them declared they were pregnant. (which automatically commuted their
death sentence).
Mary
Read
died in prison shortly thereafter, but Anne
Bonny
survived and quietly disappeared from history.
Although
they’re the most famous real-life female pirates, Anne Bonny and
Mary Read are far from being the only women pirates.
The
most notorious is Ching
Shih (1775-1844),
a one-time Chinese prostitute who became a pirate. At the height of
her power, she commanded 1,800 ships and 80,000 pirates! Her rule of
the seas off of China was nearly absolute.
Also
before them was Grace
O’Malley
(1530?-1603) a semi-legendary Irish chieftain and pirate.
Diffidently
these women were LGBT leaders if not heroes. Their place in history
should be remembered.
