A Breakfast of Eggy Bread, or Savory French Toast
Every time I've eaten a form of pan fried egg-coated bread, it's been sweetened—that is, your basic French toast. It never occurred to me that a unsweetened version could be just as tasty until I read about Blake Royer's discovery of eggy bread on The Paupered Chef. Although his British friend manning the stove acted as though eggy bread were the most natural thing in the world, Royer seemed to be just as unaware of the simple savory French toast as I was. We're not the only ones, are we?
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14 Comments:
That's the way I've alway had it .. bread, egg and milk. I'm German/Swedish, almost 70 yrs old, and that's the way my grandmother made it.
Although on special occasions I've been known to throw in a splash of triple sec : )
goodcooker at 9:25AM on 04/29/09
Mr. Meatloaf has made a similar thing for years, but he throws in salsa AND Tabasco.
I, on the other hand, grew up with French toast soaked in what was basically a custard mixture that included sugar and vanilla, and as a kid was horrified to see syrup served with it in restaurants.
And shall we discuss Poor Knights of Windsor as long as we're on the subject?
lemons at 9:56AM on 04/29/09
I grew up on just bread+eggs+milk as well and have seen other relatives making it quite recently, although we're Chinese...
DoubleH at 9:57AM on 04/29/09
I too grew up on bread, eggs, milk--then served with a spinkle of salt. I have never understood the sweet deal, and never order French toast in restaurants becasue I can't seem to get them to understand that I do NOT want powdered sugar slammed over the stack...
BobbieAnne at 10:08AM on 04/29/09
When i was staying with some friends in Romania this is what they served for breakfast, very delicious
Roxanne at 10:45AM on 04/29/09
This was one of my favorite breakfasts growing up in India - they call it French toast, but it's never sweetened. Usually served with salt and pepper, a bit of ketchup or hot sauce. Sometimes the egg batter also includes onions and chile peppers.
jagorev at 10:52AM on 04/29/09
In fact, maybe sweet French toast is mostly American thing? I'm not sure I've ever seen it outside of the US
jagorev at 11:02AM on 04/29/09
I also grew up on the unsweetened French toast - I wouldn't call it savory, really, as the milk and egg and bread end up fairly sweet all by themselves to my tastes!
misha at 11:32AM on 04/29/09
Apparently no one reading this has had an eggy-bread-deprived-life as I have. What kind of alternate dimension did I live in? :( I'm Chinese, but my family never combined egg with bread, just ate em separately.
Wikipedia lists variations around the world, so it seems like other people make sweet French toast. I haven't eaten it outside of the US though.
roboppy at 11:38AM on 04/29/09
What about matzoh brei, or egg-breaded fried matzoh? I've always seen it prepared without sugar or sweetener, but it can be served with jam or applesauce. Yum.
unpocojmoney at 12:04PM on 04/29/09
it never occured to me to add sugar to the mixture... i always drown it in maple syrup anyway
cosy13 at 1:17PM on 04/29/09
I'm czech and we ate this growing up a lot. Its a great easy weeknight dinner alone, when you're too tired/busy to even boil pasta. Being czech, though, our variation was eggs+RYE bread (with seeds)+BEER+salt. No milk, thanks. :)
mh330 at 1:52PM on 04/29/09
we used to live off this when I was in the scouts in England, it was about the only thing we could cook, but not had it in years
Edwardkimuk at 3:07PM on 04/29/09
In France, we eat French toast (pain perdu) with sugar as well. The salty version does not appeal to me!
pounagate at 1:53AM on 04/30/09