Hi Everyone, One fine Sunday morning, many moons ago, a mother busied herself in the kitchen making breakfast for her children. There was homemade bread baked late the day before and fresh eggs bought from the market. Onions, scallions, parsley and hot pepper were finely minced and assembled in a bowl. The kids figured that it was going to be a breakfast of fried eggs and toast, but then their mother did something rather strange. She dunked thick slices of the bread into the bowl of whisked eggs, milk and herbs and then transferred them to the frying pan that was heated with a little oil. The eldest child frowned and then quickly recovered, ‘Oh, this must be some new recipe mommy learnt about.’
My mom’s savoury version of French toast went down so well that every time my siblings and I wanted to eat eggs and bread other than scrambled, fried or boiled, we would make our mom’s French toast.
Fast forward many moons later to a sunny Saturday morning in the huge breakfast area of one of Jamaica’s popular resorts with a buffet and hot station that rimmed the room. There was so much to choose from but one particular station caught my eye; the sign mounted on the table said, French toast. As I drew closer to the station and observed those ahead of me getting French toast, I noticed that there was nothing savoury about the French toast, yes, there were eggs, milk and cream but that was followed with things like cinnamon, honey, maple syrup, butter, powdered sugar, fruit etc. I quickly stepped out of the line. The sign did say French toast! Why is it not savoury like mommy’s? I moved on to one of the hot stations and settled on an omelette filled with spinach and ham.
As I ate my breakfast my mind kept going back to the French toast, why was it sweet?! There were no iPads, tablets or smartphones then so I couldn’t quickly look up this puzzling phenomenon right there at the table (the first Blackberry had just been introduced).
Later when I found out that French toast is really made and served as a sweet breakfast/brunch item, I shook my head and laughed. As you know, I am not really a breakfast person and when I do have breakfast I prefer savoury rather than sweet. A few years ago some friends and I went to have breakfast at a noisy, crowded, trendy place in Harlem. We waited at least half an hour to be seated but the brioche French toast I ordered was worth the wait. I didn’t know I was going to order French toast but when I saw the French toast arrive at the table next to ours I knew I just had to have it too. My order arrived – two large thick slices of eggy bread, richly browned, soft, dusted with sugar, a pat of butter, melting, fresh fruit and a little jug of maple syrup. Rather indulgent won’t you say? I like to convince myself that I walked off the calories as we trekked around and out of Harlem.
French toast is a dish that was originally created to use up stale/leftover bread. The sliced bread would be soaked in beaten eggs and pan-fried. French toast is also known as German toast, Gypsy toast, poor knights and Spanish toast.
I wanted to share my French toast story with you so I set about making some the other day. Here are a few things I noted that I hope will prove useful to you too.
BREAD
While you can use fresh bread, it is a good idea to use day old bread. Day old bread would be a little drier, will absorb the custard better and not fall apart when soaked.
While you can use slice bread, it is best that you use a whole loaf that you cut thick enough slices to soak up that lovely custard. Store-bought sliced bread would be way too thin and would fall apart easily. When you are making French toast, you want the slice to be thick enough to hold the custard and stand up to the cooking.
The bread is the main ingredient here so go with a good quality bread. A quality homemade white bread would work just fine. Enriched breads such as brioche, challah and panettone, make very rich French toast.
EGGS and MILK
Use fresh quality eggs and for the milk, you can use either whole milk or evaporated milk for creamy richness. What you are doing with the milk and eggs is essentially making a custard. Additional ingredients such as ground cinnamon, citrus zest and a little essence or extract give added flavour to the custard.
ADDITIONAL NOTES
Let the ingredients be at room temperature.
Regardless of where you mix the custard, pour it into a flat baking dish so that when the bread is added, the
custard can coat it evenly.
When you whisk the eggs and milk together, be sure that all the eggs are broken up, you don’t want bits of white or yolk; if necessary, pass the custard through a sieve.
Let the bread soak in the custard for at least a total of 5 counts turning once. This might vary depending on the thickness of your slices. Do not simply dip the bread in the custard if not the insides of the bread when cooked would be dry.
Average 1 egg and 3 tablespoons of milk per slice of bread.
Shake off any excess liquid before adding the bread to the pan to cook. You will most likely be working in 2 batches depending on the size of your pan. Rest the first batch on a wire rack in the oven.
Using a non-stick pan uses less oil when frying the French toast, and cook on medium heat for about 2 – 3 minutes on each side.
Ready to make some French toast? Check out the recipe.
French Toast
INGREDIENTS
6 large eggs, room temperature
1 ½ cups whole milk
1 teaspoon vanilla essence
¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon
6 thick slices of bread (3/4 – inch thick)
Vegetable oil
Maple syrup, fruit, powdered sugar, honey, butter (serving options)
DIRECTIONS
Whisk together the eggs, milk, essence and cinnamon. Pour into a baking pan and soak bread for 5 minutes turning once.
Drizzle oil in pan and heat over medium; fry the soaked bread for 2 – 3 minutes per side; rest on a wire rack while you complete the second batch.
Serve warm with your preferred options (indicated in the ingredients list).
NOTE
Work in 2 batches, pouring only half of the custard at a time into the pan to soak the bread.
To make mom’s savoury version, finely mince onions, scallions/green onions, parsley or celery and hot pepper. OMIT THE ESSENCE and cinnamon and season the custard with salt to taste.
Cynthia
