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French Toast
1 egg slightly beaten 5 slices of bread teaspoon salt 1 cup sweet milk 2 tablespoons sugar Fat to grease the griddle Add the salt, sugar and milk to the slightly-beaten egg, dip the pieces of bread into the egg mixture. Cook the soaked slices of bread on a welloiled griddle; brown on one side, turn and brown on the other. Serve with maple syrup or jelly. Served with stewed fruit, makes a good dessert.
A plainer custard than most modern versions, and the proportions tell you it was meant to soak dry bread rather than coat fresh.
- "Sweet milk"Simply fresh whole milk, named to distinguish it from the sour milk or buttermilk that older kitchens kept on hand for quick breads. Whole milk is the right substitute.
- The salt measureThe text reads "teaspoon salt" with no fraction, which may be a dropped fraction rather than the intended amount. A full teaspoon in one cup of milk is aggressive; a quarter to a half teaspoon suits the sugar and the syrup that follows.
- Batter ratioOne egg to a cup of milk gives a thin, milky dip that soaks in fast and browns slowly. Cooks who want a custardy interior use two to three eggs per cup, but the original ratio works if the bread is dry enough to absorb it.
- The bread is the hingeThe bread -- Day-old or drier bread, cut thick, takes up the mixture and holds together; fresh sandwich slices soften quickly and can tear on the turn.
- Griddle heatMedium, around 350F. Too hot and the egg sets before the inside warms through; too cool and the slices absorb grease and go heavy.
- Greasing"Fat" here means whatever was in the kitchen: butter, lard, or bacon drippings. Butter gives the best flavour but browns quickly, so wipe the griddle between batches.
- YieldFive slices serves two as a breakfast, or three if there is stewed fruit alongside as the note suggests.
French toast is far older than its name in English, and the technique of soaking bread in egg and milk before frying appears in European cookery for centuries as a way to make stale loaves palatable. This is a book organising food by method for the home cook, and French toast belongs with the griddle cakes it shares a pan and a pitcher of syrup with. The closing suggestion that stewed fruit turns it into dessert is an easy step to take.