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M. a. T (Take one tablespoon sweet)
Take one tablespoon sweet light dough; dissolve it in one cup sweet milk; add three or four eggs, one and a half cups of flour, one teaspoon of salt; cut some thin slices of light bread, dip in this batter, and fry in hot lard; sprinkle with powdered sugar, and garnish with jelly.
A batter-dipped fried bread, closer to the German Arme Ritter than to a custard-soaked French toast. The batter is the whole point: thick, lightly leavened, and it has to be fried hot enough to set before the bread inside goes soggy.
- "Sweet light dough"This means a spoonful of risen, unsoured yeast bread dough taken from the day's baking — "sweet" as the opposite of sour, not sugared. A tablespoon of it dissolved in warm milk sets the batter fermenting slightly. If you have no dough on hand, the batter still works without it; it will simply be denser and should be used at once.
- Batter consistencyOne cup milk, three or four eggs and a cup and a half of flour gives a thick coating batter, near pancake weight. A teaspoon of salt is on the high side for that volume by modern palates; half is closer to current taste, especially as the finished slices are sugared.
- Resting the batterIf you use the dough, standing the batter somewhere warm for a while before frying would give the leaven time to work. The recipe gives no resting time, so any figure is guesswork.
- The bread"Light bread" is ordinary raised white loaf, as against soda bread or cornbread. The recipe asks for thin slices; slightly stale bread will carry the batter better than very fresh.
- Frying fatThe recipe says only "hot lard". By modern practice, frying at around 350–365F works: cooler and the batter drinks fat, hotter and the outside colours before the middle warms through. Fry until browned on each side and drain on paper.
- Powdered sugarIn this period that generally means finely ground white sugar rather than the cornstarch-cut confectioners' sugar sold now. Either works; sprinkle after draining, while the slices are still hot.
- YieldThe batter coats roughly eight to ten slices — four servings as a breakfast or supper dish. Serve immediately with the jelly alongside; these do not hold.
The Home Cook Book (Toronto, 1877) was compiled from recipes contributed by subscribers, many identified only by initials, which may be why this entry carries the signature "M. a. T." rather than a dish name. The recipe itself belongs to an old European family of fried-bread dishes: pain perdu in France, Arme Ritter or "poor knights" in German and Scandinavian cookery, all of them ways of turning stale loaf into something worth serving. The tablespoon of raised bread dough points to a household that baked its own bread.