12.17.2011

The Story of French Toast

French Toast has been a favourite morning meal in the U.S.A as well as abroad for several years. There are a surprisingly large amount of methods to prepare this tasty breakfast. However a lot of people have never considered how this meal came into existence. In order to really enjoy this delightful meal, we need to look into the storied history of this tasty breakfast.

This meal is known by a number of names like Poor Knights, American toast, Spanish toast, Easter toast and eggy bread. In Cajun circles, it is known as pain perdu or ameritte. Around England it's called Poor Knights. This is because, since just the rich were offered dessert, the lower class knights will feed on their Poor Knights bread, which is a lot like the present day form, with jam. In China, it is called by two titles; Western toast or French toast, plus it's deep fried and offered with syrup and butter.

French toast recipes were found in cook books way back to the Middle Ages, making some speculate that this meal had been invented sometime before that. Recipe books were held by the rich only and also the poor were not likely to have learned from them. Rather, the working group would pass over the recipe form one generation to another, making it tough to decide the exact time of origin.

White bread, which the very first recipes called for, was the best bread sold at the time. In Roman days, it was referred to as la Romaine, or Roman bread, and was served with honey. It probably received the name "French toast" coming from the French pain perdu, which loosely translates to stale or lost bread. Several believe it is the forerunner to bread pudding.

Even though specific roots of it are not clear, some think it came to exist in medieval times once chefs would be compelled to make use of each and every ingredient at their disposal because they were very poor to dispose of anything away. Therefore, stale bread will be moistened, most likely along with milk or eggs, and after that fried to be made palatable.

The initial mention of French toast in America is during 1871. Legend has it that this was at times called German toast before world war two, but the name had been changed due to anti-German emotion. One more popular story is that it acquired its name in 1742 coming from Joseph French, an Albany, NY restauranteur that named his version of the recipe right after himself.

A single thing is certain, today French toast is a favorite American morning meal custom. It is served sliced up in sticks at fast food dining places, in big thick fluffy portions at diners, and in the homes of many Americans. A lot of households have at least one member who claims the name of "best French toast maker" along with recipes and secret ingredients that they keep dear. However you slice it, French toast is here to stay.

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