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French Toast
Beat up a little egg, salt and milk in a basin and dip some thin slices of bread into this, covering well on both sides, then plunge the bread into a fryingpan of boiling fat and fry to a light brown. Remove, drain them, and they are ready for serving.
Teas, Coffees, Etc
A deep-fried version of French toast rather than the griddled kind most cooks know, and the fat temperature is what separates it from a grease-soaked slice.
- "Boiling fat"Fat does not boil; the phrase means fat hot enough to bubble briskly when the bread goes in, around 350-375F. Below that the bread absorbs fat instead of sealing, and the slices turn heavy.
- Batter proportionsNone are given. One egg to about 1/4 cup milk and a pinch of salt will coat four to six thin slices; add more milk and the custard runs, add less and the surface scrambles in the fat.
- BreadThe recipe specifies only "thin slices." A firm, close-crumbed white loaf is the likeliest intent; modern soft sandwich bread collapses once soaked, so a day-old country white, brioche or challah holds up better.
- Dipping timeThin slices need only a few seconds a side; the recipe asks for the bread to be covered well on both sides, not soaked. A slice left long enough to soak through is too wet to fry cleanly in hot fat.
- Frying fatThe recipe does not name the fat; lard or a rendered animal fat would have been usual in a kitchen of this date. Any neutral oil with a high smoke point works; butter alone will brown and burn before the interior sets.
- DrainingDrain on a rack rather than flat on paper, or the underside steams and softens. Serve at once.
- Seasoning and yieldThe batter is savoury, with no sugar or vanilla; the recipe says only that the slices are "ready for serving" and specifies no accompaniment. No yield is given.
Oscar Tschirky's book collects the working formulas of a large hotel kitchen, and this entry reads like a line cook's note rather than a domestic recipe: no quantities, no timings, just the sequence. The dish itself is much older than its English name; egg-dipped fried bread appears in medieval European cookery as a way to use stale loaves, and the French pain perdu, "lost bread", names that purpose outright. The trailing line "Teas, Coffees, Etc" is a section heading from the book's original layout, marking where the next group of entries begins.