french toast and syrup

Subject: french toast and syrup
From: goatfell
Date: 09 Jul 07 - 07:56 AM

I don't how anyone can eat french toast (that's toast covered in EGG) and then put syrup on top, I mean would you put syrup on your boiled egg or scrambled egg I don't think so, but that's food for you.
I just don't fancy it myself

Subject: RE: french toast and syrup
From: maeve
Date: 09 Jul 07 - 08:06 AM

Ah, but if the egg has a bit of sour cream and the right spices whipped in, and the bread is really nice, you end up with something closer to a rich cake. Soak the good bread in the batter, cook on the griddle until golden brown on both sides, add a smear of butter and a good drizzle of real maple syrup, or serve with strawberries and whipped (or clotted!) cream, and you have a truly delectable food.

Add a side of good sausage or bacon, and you have a balance between sweet and savoury... lovely!

Now I'm hungry!

maeve

Subject: RE: french toast and syrup
From: GUEST,Marc
Date: 09 Jul 07 - 08:15 AM

Wow, I happen to like maple syrup on scrambled eggs. But then again I like maple syrup.

Subject: RE: french toast and syrup
From: ranger1
Date: 09 Jul 07 - 08:54 AM

Arran, you never had my gran's french toast and real maple syrup. Nothing beats it, especially if, like Maeve says, you add some bacon or sausage.

Maeve, can I come over for breakfast?

Subject: RE: french toast and syrup
From: wysiwyg
Date: 09 Jul 07 - 08:57 AM

It's not an egg on bread, it's an egg-milk mixture soaked into the bread.

Flour, egg, milk.... hm, sounds like cake. Cake without sweetener? A little maple syrup..... see?

~Susan

Subject: RE: french toast and syrup
From: Bat Goddess
Date: 09 Jul 07 - 09:03 AM

As a child I developed a taste for french toast with puddled melted butter on top with sugar (and a dash of cinnamon). I really don't care for syrup on french toast.

A great hangover cure (well, treatment) is a stack of blueberry pancakes with peanut butter in between, a poached egg on top and then everything drizzled in honey.

Linn

Subject: RE: french toast and syrup
From: Dave Hanson
Date: 09 Jul 07 - 09:06 AM

Roses are red, violets are purple,

I like eggs with maple syrple.

eric

Subject: RE: french toast and syrup
From: Rapparee
Date: 09 Jul 07 - 09:08 AM

Milk or cream, sugar (I've been using Demararra recently), vanilla and if you wish, cinammon.

Soak the bread (french bread is nice, and sourdough is great), cook it, and serve slathered in butter with powdered sugar instead of syrup. Real maple syrup should be used if you do use syrup.

Subject: RE: french toast and syrup
From: maeve
Date: 09 Jul 07 - 09:30 AM

ranger 1- You're invited. Bring friends; we'll eat in the garden!

Subject: RE: french toast and syrup
From: GUEST,Sooz (hard at work)
Date: 09 Jul 07 - 10:24 AM

This isn't fair!

Subject: RE: french toast and syrup
From: MMario
Date: 09 Jul 07 - 10:44 AM

Sweet omelets are a classic; often topped with fruit preserves or a syrup of some sort.

Subject: RE: french toast and syrup
From: maeve
Date: 09 Jul 07 - 11:33 AM

And then there are waffles...

Subject: RE: french toast and syrup
From: GUEST,Mingulay at work
Date: 09 Jul 07 - 11:50 AM

And then there was "CHOLESTEROL".

Waffles and maple syrple with REALLY good vanilla ice cream!!

Subject: RE: french toast and syrup
From: kendall
Date: 09 Jul 07 - 12:30 PM

Oh the triglyserides!
I like French toast, but real maple syrup is too sweet for me. Back home we used to use molasses.

Subject: RE: french toast and syrup
From: Rapparee
Date: 09 Jul 07 - 12:32 PM

Sometimes, some days, you just say, "Screw the chloresteral! Screw the trigylcerides! I'm eatin'!!"

Subject: RE: french toast and syrup
From: maeve
Date: 09 Jul 07 - 01:55 PM

Kendall- We have molassas here for you!

maeve

Subject: RE: french toast and syrup
From: Mr Red
Date: 09 Jul 07 - 01:56 PM

I might agree with you but in a word:

Pancakes?

Subject: RE: french toast and syrup
From: Sorcha
Date: 09 Jul 07 - 02:44 PM

The Great American South--Food, a platform for syrup.

Subject: RE: french toast and syrup
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 09 Jul 07 - 03:15 PM

Canada-- Food, a platform for syrup.
Maple syrup, maple sugar- One of the essential foods.

Every couple of weeks we make up a batch of French Toast. Lots of egg, milk or part cream, cinnamon, dash of pure vanilla extract. And don't spare the maple syrup!

Waffles with Canadian (back) bacon and lots of maple syrup.
Blueberry pancakes ditto

Ice cream drizzled with maple syrup- Perhaps made in a tall glass with classic Coke added-

Smitty's Pancake House is an institution in this Alberta city- but we prefer our recipes.

I could go on but I have talked myself into making French Toast NOW!

Subject: RE: french toast and syrup
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 09 Jul 07 - 03:17 PM

I bet Sorcha puts Ketchup on her eggs



He, he, he

Subject: RE: french toast and syrup
From: kendall
Date: 09 Jul 07 - 03:20 PM

My Mate in the Explorer put mayo on everything, including cucumbers.

Subject: RE: french toast and syrup
From: Jim Lad
Date: 09 Jul 07 - 03:21 PM

We have Big Leaf Maples on our property and have made our own Maple Syrup with it. By the way, In Scotland we dip our French Toast in sugar. Given those two choices, I'll go with the syrup but never, never, never,
never, never, never, never Aunt Jemima!

Subject: RE: french toast and syrup
From: gnu
Date: 09 Jul 07 - 03:23 PM

Buckwheat pancakes, maple slurpup and moose steak. Fed my forefathers.

Subject: RE: french toast and syrup
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 09 Jul 07 - 03:26 PM

I make French toast for my son regularly, it's a good breakfast but also one of his major comfort foods. (He's 15)

We love it with ham or bacon on the side, though the side of meat we don't do very often. I use day-old homemade bread but I don't do anything except scramble the egg with a little water, like with an omelette. Milk is reputed to make the eggs tough in omelets, so I got out of the habit of adding it to any eggs like this.

I must plead poverty--I don't have "real" maple syrup in the house very often. I usually make syrup with water, sugar, and Mapleline.

SRS

Subject: RE: french toast and syrup
From: frogprince
Date: 09 Jul 07 - 04:30 PM

When I was growing up on the farm in Minnesota, we usually buttered french toast and just put a little salt and pepper on it. After I learned that most people use syrup, I usually did myself for a long time. I'm inconsistent now. If the toast doesn't have any sugar sprinkled on when it's served, I may revert to butter, salt, and pepper. Then I may use syrup on my last slice for dessert. I tend to order sausage patties with french toast, but can be happy with ham, bacon, or sausage links.

Subject: RE: french toast and syrup
From: open mike
Date: 09 Jul 07 - 05:10 PM

time for lunch! i am drooling here
i got some sour dough bread-a few days old
and the neighbor's chickens are pumping out eggs
like they are going out of style. I may have to make
some pickled eggs in order to preserve them for the leaner
times when the poultry is less pro-life-ic. Yum, Here i go.....

Subject: Creme Brulee French Toast
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 09 Jul 07 - 05:17 PM

A while back, epicurious.com (recipes from Bon Appetit and Gourmet) had one called Creme Brulee French Toast. Modifications were suggested, and the following incorporates some of them. The original came from Inn at Sunrise Point, Camden, Maine, and appeared in Gourmet, 1998. The original recipe: www.epicurious.com/recipes/recipe_views/views/15213
Creme Brulee French Toast

Our version:

CREME BRULEE FRENCH TOAST

Slices from a round loaf, without or with crust. Baguette with crust also OK.

1 stick butter, unsalted
2/3 cup packed Demerara brown sugar
1/4 cup maple syrup
loaf country-style bread, 8-9 inch round
5 large eggs
1 1/2 cups Half-and-half
1 teaspoon and a dash pure vanilla extract
1 teaspoon rum (or Grand Marnier or whatever on hand)
1/4 teaspoon salt
Tart apples, thinly sliced, lightly sprinkled with cinammon.

In a saucepan, melt butter with brown sugar and syrup over moderate heat, stirring, until smooth, and pour into a 13 x 9 x 2 inch baking dish. Cut six 1-inch thick slices from center portion of bread (We leave on the crust). Arrange bread slices in one layer in baking dish, squeezing them slightly to fit. If apples are added, put the slices on the caramel before adding the bread slices.

In a bowl whisk together eggs, Half-and-half, vanilla, rum or liqueur, salt, and combine well. Pour evenly over the bread.

Chill bread mixture, covered, for 8 hours or more.

Heat oven to 350 F. Bring bread mixture to room temperature.

Bake bread mixture, uncovered, in middle of oven until puffed and edges are pale golden, 35-40 minutes.
Optional- add light sprinkling of nutmeg and cinammon.

Serve immediately, hot. Supposed to be six servings but everyone shouts for more; call it four.

Subject: RE: french toast and syrup
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 09 Jul 07 - 05:24 PM

Note: Some recommend challah bread for the Creme Brulee French Toast, but a good white is OK. We tried sourdough once and liked it too.

Subject: RE: french toast and syrup
From: wysiwyg
Date: 09 Jul 07 - 06:02 PM

I doubt if anyone would believe that my healthy and good-for-you french toast casserole really IS good. Of course it's got the usual-- eggs and milk and bread-- and then what you put on top is up to you.

French toast, right out of the freezer, every morning. And cheap.

~Susan

Subject: RE: french toast and syrup
From: maeve
Date: 09 Jul 07 - 06:45 PM

So Arren, see what you've begun? Have any of the descriptions tempted you yet?

Happy breakfast in the morning...

maeve

Subject: RE: french toast and syrup
From: maeve
Date: 09 Jul 07 - 06:48 PM

Oh dear, I'm sorry: my trigger finger was too fast. I do know know it's Arran!

Do let us know how we're doing on your thread!

remorsefully yours,

maeve

Subject: RE: french toast and syrup
From: PoppaGator
Date: 09 Jul 07 - 07:09 PM

For my money, the best French Toast is made with French Bread. Here in formerly-French New Orleans, it's called "lost bread" ~ a literal translation of the French name for the dish, "pain perdu."

Our local French bread works really well because it's very airy, with large empty spaces or air-bubbles making for a lot of interface through which the egg-millk mixture can soak into the bread. And of course, dry stale bread works better than fresh because of the superior soaking-up properties. Hence the name "pain perdu / lost bread" ~ the dish was first conceived and created as a way to use up stale bread that would otherwise be "lost" or wasted.

I've always eaten pancakes, waffles, and French toast with butter and syrup ~ whenever possible, anyway. I realize that some folks sprinkle on dry powdered sugar (confectioner's sugar) instead of syrup. My late father always told us that, in the South Pacific during World War II, when syrup was not available, they used orange juice with confectioner's sugar as a syrup substitute, and whenever we were syrup-less, he would gladly demonstrate. He didn't pre-mix the juice and sugar into a thick solution or syrup, just sprinkled on a lot of sugar and then drizzled a little bit of juice, just enough to moisten, not to soak.

Subject: RE: french toast and syrup
From: Don Firth
Date: 09 Jul 07 - 07:09 PM

French toast is not just "eggs on toast." That's "Adam and Eve on a raft" (or if you prefer scrambled eggs on toast:   "Adam and Eve on a raft. Wreck 'em!"). French toast is bread dipped in a batter made with eggs and a few other yummy ingreedimunts and fried to a glowing, golden hue. Then topped with butter (arteries be damned!) and inundated with maple syrup. Real maple syrup!

Nectar and ambrosia! The Food of the Gods!

Don Firth

Subject: RE: french toast and syrup
From: GUEST,Invasive Cardiologist
Date: 09 Jul 07 - 07:24 PM

That's it folks, don't skimp on the eggs and butter, I have yacht payments to make.

Subject: RE: french toast and syrup
From: Bill D
Date: 09 Jul 07 - 07:35 PM

Oh, Mr. Cardio, sir..you don't have to eat it EVERY day...but for those special occasions, do it right! And right means with Maple syrup...

Now if you, Arran, do not LIKE it sweetened that way, we will not force you, but taste is personal....

Subject: RE: french toast and syrup
From: GUEST,dianavan
Date: 09 Jul 07 - 08:32 PM

I would not eat French toast with anything other than real Maple syrup. I haven't touched the fake stuff in thirty years. Yes, its best made with day-old bread (French is the best).

Q - I don't know about Sorcha, but I put ketchup on my fried eggs sometimes, especially if they are served with potatoes.

Tomatoes are another question. My mother (being Danish) sprinkled hers with sugar. I alway thought that was disgusting!

Subject: RE: french toast and syrup
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 09 Jul 07 - 08:53 PM

I know it is called "French Toast," but it seems to be a North American development. The 'French,' I would guess refers to French Bread- see PoppaGator's post.
Anyone knowledgeable on this?

For diet nuts, see the recipe for Cinnamon French Toast at the Mayo Clinic:
http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/french-toast/NU00491
French Toast
They throw out the egg yolks and only use 1/4 cup maple syrup.

In an other article, however, questions are raised about the effect of dietary cholesterol on blood cholesterol. "But the extent to which dietary cholesterol raises blood cholesterol levels isn't clear. Many scientists believe that saturated fats and trans fats have a greater impact than dietary cholesterol in raising blood cholesterol."

The Mayo Clinic, however, does recommend keeping dietary cholesterol low.

Subject: RE: french toast and syrup
From: Bert
Date: 09 Jul 07 - 08:59 PM

I prefer molasses too, Kendal; but it's difficult to find now that Steens has been Marmited.

For fake Maple Syrup - sugar, water, instant coffee.

For a nice change use nutmeg in place of vanilla or cinnamon.

Subject: RE: french toast and syrup
From: artbrooks
Date: 09 Jul 07 - 09:01 PM

No, no...pancakes (aka hotcakes, flapjacks) and waffles are eaten with with maple syrup (imitations need not apply), but French toast must be eaten with cinnamon and sugar. Raw sugar is best, but killer-white will do in a pinch. There are different schools of thought regarding the application of the cinnamon sugar before or after cooking.

Subject: RE: french toast and syrup
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 09 Jul 07 - 10:02 PM

French Toast must swim in maple syrup!

To the guillotine with proponents of the dry aridity of sugar!

A good dark molasses is second choice if pure maple syrup is unavailable. A liter jug of Canada No. 1 maple syrup costs about Can$9.00 here in western Canada. The molasses is about the same cost.

Subject: RE: french toast and syrup
From: PoohBear
Date: 10 Jul 07 - 12:22 AM

I like peanutbutter on my pancakes, french toast or waffles (instead of butter) and then cover it in real maple syrup. . . Mmmmm. . .
Cheers
PB

Subject: RE: french toast and syrup
From: Rowan
Date: 10 Jul 07 - 12:42 AM

When I was a very young lad in Oz, my mum made French toast in much the same way as the more delectable descriptions above but there was no such thing as maple syrup. Even now I suspect you can't get "real" maple syrup easily in Oz. Instead, we used golden syrup, known colloquially as "cockies' joy"; it is a lighter fraction of the sugar refining process than treacle, itself lighter than molasses, here in Oz anyway.

At the risk of thread drift, I tried to inculcate some appreciation of Oz delectables in some South Carolinians from Columbia by getting them to bake Anzac biscuits. There is a fair amount of debate about "the exact recipe" for Anzac biscuits but all the variants require golden syrup. When I visited SC I had to bring some from Oz, as you can't get the real thing in the US. I discovered an American website that described its recipe for Anzac biscuits as "authentic" but they used another sort of syrup entirely. "Fake!!" Down in the boutique shops near USC you could get Oz wines and even vegemite but not golden syrup.

So I now send some over there every so often, as I know there's no acceptable substitute; it seems like you folks have the same attitude about French toast requiring "real" maple syrup.

Cheers, Rowan

Subject: RE: french toast and syrup
From: Skivee
Date: 10 Jul 07 - 12:58 AM

Hey, Q!
I posted the creme brulee french recipe to another forum, and it's quite the topic of conversation.

Subject: RE: french toast and syrup
From: goatfell
Date: 10 Jul 07 - 03:44 AM

No, but then there these people who put sugar on their porridge, I mean a true Scot would only use salt.

Subject: RE: french toast and syrup
From: goatfell
Date: 10 Jul 07 - 03:46 AM

In Scotland sugar or any other sweet food stuff on Porridge isn't nice at all. but then we all have different tastes don't we.

Subject: RE: french toast and syrup
From: maeve
Date: 10 Jul 07 - 06:05 AM

Different tastes- true enough.

Arran, do you cook your porridge overnight in the oven? I like the creaminess of it prepared that way, although I enjoy it cooked fresh in the morning, as well.

maeve

Subject: RE: french toast and syrup
From: Sorcha
Date: 10 Jul 07 - 09:04 AM

Ketchup on EGGS? Hail no! Eggs gets salsa! Fries/chips get ketchup! Or malt vinegar.

Subject: RE: french toast and syrup
From: SharonA
Date: 10 Jul 07 - 10:31 AM

Oooh, salsa on eggs! One of my faves!

But not on French toast, thanks. I vote with the sweet toppings, especially the maple syrup. I save the fruit toppings and fruity syrups for pancakes.

For French toast, thick slices of hearty bread with visible air-holes are a must for absorbing and holding the beaten-egg mixture. If cholesterol is an issue, use the lower-cholesterol eggs (whole or with yolks separated out) -- the ones that are sold in the shell -- NOT "Egg Beaters" or similar tasteless slop with yellow food coloring that comes in a milk carton. Pan-grill the soaked bread to a golden hue with just a hint of toasted-brown, then for me it's margarine on top (the "Smart Balance" brand is a pretty fair butter substitute) and the requisite maple syrup (there again, one can find "light" and even "sugar-free" syrups if necessary, though I've yet to find a thick version of either). Powdered-sugar and cinnamon toppings are okay, but I don't miss 'em if I don't have 'em.

No one has yet mentioned scrapple as a side meat. Of course, scrapple can only be very loosely defined as "meat", and it more than makes up for all the cholesterol-reducing measures mentioned above. But what the heck, arteries were never meant to last forever; sometimes they just have to duke it out with the taste buds and may the best body part win. A slab of well-seasoned scrapple fresh from the frying pan, just a bit crispy on the outside but still soft inside (or scrambled scrapple like Mother used to make), is just the thing to offset the sweetness of the syrup and the egginess of the French toast. My mouth is watering profusely at the very thought of it. Mmmmmmmmmmm.....

Subject: RE: french toast and syrup
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 10 Jul 07 - 11:01 AM

Rowan,

I have seen Emglish 'Golden Syrup' - imported here to AUstralia - perhaps you might find it in the USA...

Subject: RE: french toast and syrup
From: MMario
Date: 10 Jul 07 - 11:05 AM

Golden syrup, or Golden Sorghum, is available in the US; even some English brands are available, though a lot of golden syrup is produced right here in our southern states.