french toast and syrup

Subject: RE: french toast and syrup
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 10 Jul 07 - 11:37 AM

I cook my oatmeal with a pinch of salt and never use the quick oats. (I have a small crockpot I use for overnight, and start it with boiling water so it is very creamy for breakfast.) I eat it with a little milk and some brown sugar. When I'm making it for myself I sometimes add raisins, but the kids don't like it that way.

Salsa on scrambled eggs is wonderful. I like tartar sauce with fries.

Maple syrup range$ up and down the price charts widely. Buying in larger containers is usually a good way to spend less per bottle, and last time I looked it was fairly reasonably priced. But the way my son wastes the syrup on his pancakes or french toast, I wouldn't spend that much to have it washed down the sink. Telling him to start with a little and add more just doesn't work.

SRS

Subject: RE: french toast and syrup
From: Jim Lad
Date: 10 Jul 07 - 01:01 PM

Tate & Lyle is available in many Canadian stores. Ribena too.

Subject: RE: french toast and syrup
From: SharonA
Date: 10 Jul 07 - 01:12 PM

Stilly, what if you transferred the syrup to very small bottles for each person's individual use at the table? Then once your son uses up his "allotment" he'll either have to bargain with others for "their" syrup or do without for the rest of the meal. Of course, getting up from the table during the meal to fetch the big bargain bottle would be forbidden!

If that won't work, he can always be compelled to purchase his own big bargain bottle of syrup fom his own allowance or earnings. Then he can waste as much as he wishes... and may soon learn to wish to waste less. Frugality begins at one's own wallet!

Subject: RE: french toast and syrup
From: Midchuck
Date: 10 Jul 07 - 01:16 PM

French toast has to have maple syrup. And it must be Vermont syrup. Anything else is an abomination damnable unto the seventh generation.

Kendall, if you use molasses, how do you manage to catch enough moles?

Incidentally, my wife says that French toast is actually French, and was invented because real french bread is made without any fats to speak of, and goes stale just about overnight. You have to eat it the day you buy it. "Pain Perdue" was literally that, a way to get use out of bread that you didn't finish soon enough.

P.

Subject: RE: french toast and syrup
From: Jim Lad
Date: 10 Jul 07 - 01:24 PM

Make your own, once and you'll never buy it again.
Birch syrup can be just as good although the batch I bought was overcooked.

Subject: RE: french toast and syrup
From: kendall
Date: 10 Jul 07 - 01:29 PM

Nothing goes stale in our house. We have Seamus.

Subject: RE: french toast and syrup
From: Becca72
Date: 10 Jul 07 - 01:34 PM

I dislike maple syrup entirely. French toast is great with butter and powdered sugar and maybe even some strawberries.

And yes, I like ketchup on scrambled eggs...and on mac-n-cheese.

Subject: RE: french toast and syrup
From: Don Firth
Date: 10 Jul 07 - 01:37 PM

Back in the early Seventies, after my father passed away, my mother spent about a year with my older sister Mary and her husband Phil in Kingston, Ontario. When she returned to Seattle, Phil presented her with a bottle of Canadian maple syrup. Some really good stuff that didn't come from a store. He got from a friend, and where the friend got it, I'm not sure. It was outrageously marvelous! Best maple syrup I've ever tasted!

I think Phil had a hogshead full of the stuff, and for my mother, he poured off a quantity of it into an empty McNaughton's bottle. When the guy at customs looked at the bottle, my mother told him what it was:   maple syrup. He believed her and passed it through. My mother could be a very convincing person.

I mean, it really was maple syrup!

One really must keep a sense of proportion. To hell with propriety! Lick the plate!!

Don Firth

Subject: RE: french toast and syrup
From: PoppaGator
Date: 10 Jul 07 - 01:51 PM

Ah, Midchuck beat me to the punch ~ I was about to emphasize what I hinted at earlier, that "French Toast" is truly a French invention, as a way to use up stale French bread that would otherwise be "lost."

In Louisiana, at least in earlier times, maple syrup was rarely if ever imported from northern climes because our (huge) local sugar industry produced cane syrup (as well as the darker, thicker molasses). So we can conclude that old-time Orleanians ate their Pain Perdu with butter and cane syrup.

Historically, the early commerically-developed food-product "pancake syrups" were blends of cane syrup with a smaller amount of the more-expensive maple. More recently, corn syrup has become the main ingredient, and the cane and maple flavors may in some cases be synthetic.

Straight cane syrup has its own charms, although most folks agree that maple is the best. Pure Louisiana cane syrup is available under the brand name Steen's; it comes in a can, which is a bit less convenient than a bottle. Here in its home area, it can be found in any grocery store; elsewhere in the US, it can be found in many gourmet and specialty food stores, and of course by mail order.

Favorite popcorn topping: melted butter half-and-half with Steen's syrup, plus a dash of Crystal Hot Sauce (liquid cayenne pepper). Feel free to substitute maple syrup and/or Tabasco if you don't have access to a South Louisiana grocery outlet.

Subject: RE: french toast and syrup
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 10 Jul 07 - 02:54 PM

Rowan, the name 'golden syrup' can cause confusion (see post by MMario) in the U. S. and Canada. You are talking about a syrup made from cane. 'Golden' syrups here may be sorghum, corn or sugar beet. In the western states and western Canada, where sugar beets are grown, bulk cane sugar is not found, only sold in small packets or cubes; bulk must be special-ordered. Golden syrup made from cane is uncommon except in specialty stores; most sold here is corn or sorghum. This would not be true in Louisiana or states where sugar cane is grown.

For many purposes, cane sugar and sugar beet sugar can be interchanged; but in baking there is a difference. I made some cookies the other day and used cane sugar since I had found a small package and wanted to try it. The taste was quite different from those made with sugar from sugar beets.
Some bakers here get cane sugar for recipes requiring it from wholesalers, but one cannot buy cane sugar in bulk in the usual grocery and super market. In Canada, at least here in Alberta, the small quantities of cane sugar one finds in grocery stores come from Cuba and Brazil.

Maple syrups of different qualities are found in those provinces and states where it is collected. I once found some from Ohio that I liked; grades and preparation make a difference. Here in western Canada, the heavier grades must be special-ordered.

Subject: RE: french toast and syrup
From: Deckman
Date: 10 Jul 07 - 04:47 PM

Don,

And remembering your Mother as I do, I'll bet she kept a very stern, but, straight face!

Now, as for the rest of you idiots. SHHHEEEEUUUUHHH! You don't know NUTHIN"!

You've NEVER had proper "french toast" until you've had it "FINN STYLE!"

This requires that you obtain some "VILLI" (villia). Maggie, you remember that your father always kept a pot of Villia that I gave him.

Here's the rules:

Soak some stale french bread overnight in Villia. Next morning, dip it in beaten egg witha little cinnamon. Fry it! Eat it in silence 'lest you wake up the rest of the sleeping household.

Leave before anyone else wakes up and they realize how you cheated them. (I'm getting hungry)! Bob

Subject: RE: french toast and syrup
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 10 Jul 07 - 05:05 PM

Intestinal villi?

Subject: RE: french toast and syrup
From: Rowan
Date: 10 Jul 07 - 06:39 PM

Thanks for the explanation Q.

Although the heavies in the Country Women's Association* would probably dispute any notion that Anzac biscuits could be "properly" made with anything other than the Oz version of golden syrup, much like the assertions above about maple syrup.

Cheers, Rowan

* Seriously good cooks of seriously good food; their scones and sponges are truly divine.

Subject: RE: french toast and syrup
From: frogprince
Date: 10 Jul 07 - 07:01 PM

Dammit Bob, I couldn't even find any definition of "villia" or "villi"
in culinary dictionaries. Is it something normal people would consume, or is it something like leftover lutefisk juice? What is it, and how would you obtain it or make it?

Subject: RE: french toast and syrup
From: Rowan
Date: 10 Jul 07 - 07:30 PM

Frogprince, the villi (singular, villus) are the minute protrusions of the intestinal wall into the liquid mix that flows down your small intestine. They do all the absorbing of what gets into the bloodstream. Check a biological dictionary instead for better info.

Cheers, Rowan

Subject: RE: french toast and syrup
From: frogprince
Date: 10 Jul 07 - 07:37 PM

Rowan, I know what intestinal villi are; but forgawdsakes don't tell me the Finns marinate their toast in a pot of that .

Subject: RE: french toast and syrup
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 10 Jul 07 - 08:06 PM

That's what I also wondered about. Goes a step beyond haggis-

Subject: RE: french toast and syrup
From: Bee-dubya-ell
Date: 10 Jul 07 - 08:33 PM

What? French toast with syrup? Absurd! The French toast with Champagne!

Subject: RE: french toast and syrup
From: Bill D
Date: 10 Jul 07 - 09:00 PM

doesn't that short out the toaster?

Subject: RE: french toast and syrup
From: Don Firth
Date: 10 Jul 07 - 09:02 PM

I have heard Bob speak of viili, and I believe there is also a song about it (from the pen of the irrepressible John Dwyer? Sounds likely). As I understand it, it is a sort of Finnish yogurt. I experimented with various spellings on google and came up with nuthin' (I hadn't tried a double "i"), so I tried "Finnish yogurt" and turned up the following on someone's forum (contributed by a person named John K. Bispala—subject to Bob's corrections:

Viili is a yogurt-like sour milk product, though milder, somewhat nutty, and creamier. It's best made with a viili starter, but can also be made with buttermilk. 1 teaspoon buttermilk or starter, 1-1/2 cups milk, regular or nonfat, I like using whole milk best. Viili would taste even better made from 4% milk, if that were available. You can mix regular vitamin D milk, which is 3%, with half-and-half, which is 10% butterfat, to increase its richness. Put starter or buttermilk at bottom of a very clean dessert bowl. Heat milk to lukewarm, pour over buttermilk. Stir a little. Let stand at room temperature in dark and draftless place one day. The bacteria will thicken it. Do not shake while it is forming or it will become watery. When viili has thickened, chill it. Take a few spoonfuls of the last bowl of viili you eat and use it as starter. Try to include some of the white mold from the top of the villi bowl, since this is the most delicious part and will give your viili more vitamin B. Keep in cold place few days, but not too long. Serve cold with sugar and cinnamon or ginger sprinkled on top, or with berries and sugar, or just sugar, or plain.

Bispala goes on to say,

My dad used to eat viili with my uncle, John Isaacson, who claimed "the viili was no good unless you could stretch it from here to Iron Junction."

Don Firth

Subject: RE: french toast and syrup
From: Rowan
Date: 10 Jul 07 - 09:16 PM

Sorry frogprince; what I gave you must have been a load of tripe.

Cheers, Rowan

Subject: RE: french toast and syrup
From: GUEST,mg
Date: 11 Jul 07 - 12:02 AM

What is this about not getting cane sugar in Western U.S. What about C&H pure cane sugar from Hawaii? Probably our main brand...I don't know if it is still pure cane or not. mg

Subject: RE: french toast and syrup
From: goatfell
Date: 11 Jul 07 - 05:39 AM

I like scrambled eggs with tomato sauce and beans all mixed together

Subject: RE: french toast and syrup
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 11 Jul 07 - 02:04 PM

Sugar beets are a major crop in Alberta. Cane sugar is seldom used in western Canadian homes and is also dominant in some western states. Cane sugar in anything but very small specialty containers is seldom or never seen in the usual supermarket. C&H and Imperial cane sugar are not on the shelves here.

Sugar beets produce half of U. S. sugar, and marketing makes beet sugar overwhelmingly dominant in states where sugar beet production is large. In the U. S. the Red River Valley area (from Minnesota west) is the biggest producer.
I am told that the Imperial Valley in California is becoming a large producer. Germany and the Danube area have been a major producer for 150 years.

Subject: RE: french toast and syrup
From: frogprince
Date: 11 Jul 07 - 02:28 PM

Now that we've gotten past Rowan's "helpful" contribution, I'm even more seriously interested in Deckman Bob's recipe. Question: can you make proper villi using pasturized dairy products? I'm thinking that the result you got might just depend on whatever kind of funky bacteria was present where you stored it, as opposed to what would normally be present in unpasturized buttermilk.

Subject: RE: french toast and syrup
From: Rowan
Date: 12 Jul 07 - 12:38 AM

Sorry, frogprince.
I am often accused of being "helpful".

Cheers, Rowan

Subject: RE: french toast and syrup
From: frogprince
Date: 12 Jul 07 - 02:01 PM

Hope ya realize I just cracked up when you put that in. : )
                   Dean.

Subject: RE: french toast and syrup
From: GUEST,mg
Date: 12 Jul 07 - 08:28 PM

http://americanhistory.suite101.com/article.cfm/the_history_of_ui_sugar From the U&I sugar beet company..utah and Idaho..Mormons were involved with this.

C&H is still pure cane according to their website. I think that C&H would be the major brand found in stores here but I wouldn't swear by it. mg

Subject: RE: french toast and syrup
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 12 Jul 07 - 09:15 PM

Mormons also are heavily involved in the sugar beet industry in Alberta, but this is the result of the land in areas where they have settled as farmers being suitable for the industry.
C&H (California & Hawai'i) is cane, but I think Imperial Sugar of Sugarland, Texas (the old 'cane on the Brazos' company, which took the cane sugar produced on Texas prison farms, as well as from other producers) has sugar products from beets as well as cane- dunno for sure, haven't seen either C&H or Imperial here.

Subject: RE: french toast and syrup
From: coldjam
Date: 12 Jul 07 - 09:57 PM

Ok this started out like a food porn thread, even to the extent of perversion (scrapple-sorry-it's just wrong), and then the clinicians took over with the viili, and finally it turned strangely religious...interesting!

Subject: RE: french toast and syrup
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 12 Jul 07 - 10:24 PM

coldjam, we determined that there are factions who like sugar or jam on their french toast and those who love syrup- and never the twain shall meet. Reminiscent of the old 'Big-endians' vs. the 'Little-endians fight.
Then the digressions start, which means the thread is dying.

Subject: RE: french toast and syrup
From: coldjam
Date: 13 Jul 07 - 12:38 PM

Well for the record (and diversity be damned) lightly sprinkled powder sugar, butter and maple syrup over the top,is the only correct way to eat french toast...now we could discuss the acoutremonts such as mimosa's and various fried pork products, but any other manner of french toast toppings is just wrong. (I'm pretty sure that's in the Bible.)

Salivatingly yours,
Judy

Subject: RE: french toast and syrup
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 13 Jul 07 - 02:11 PM

Spoken like a true Crusader. If the Crusaders had had maple syrup for their toast, Saladin wouldn't have stood a chance.

Subject: RE: french toast and syrup
From: PoppaGator
Date: 13 Jul 07 - 02:30 PM

Look, my sweet tooth is as deeply ingrained as anyone's, but requiring powdered sugar and maple syrup with your butter on your FT ~ well, that's a bit much.

A light sprinkle of confectioner's over a few golden-brown slices of pain perdu is an affectation I can accept in a restaurant context, as a matter of visdual "presentation" like a sprig of parsley on a steak, but I still always want to moisten things up with some butter and a solid slug of syrup.

At home, butter and syrup are plenty enough for me. Top-quality maple is the best syrup, of course, but it's a bit pricey for us keep on hand at all times. For everyday use, we can live with the less-expensive local Steens' Cane Syrup, enjoy it for its thick texture and unique flavor, and celebrate its homey, local, native origin.

Subject: RE: french toast and syrup
From: Don Firth
Date: 13 Jul 07 - 03:41 PM

French toast, butter, and good quality maple syrup. Sufficient unto the day is the yummiliciousness thereof. Beyond that is over-kill.

I've seen and, unfortunately, tasted many dishes which are normally constructed from very simple and easy recipes turned into abominations because some would-be chef with a vivid imagination, but lacking in taste-buds, insusted on doing something "new and interesting" with it.

PTUI!!

Don Firth

Subject: RE: french toast and syrup
From: peregrina
Date: 13 Jul 07 - 04:05 PM

What a mouthwatering thread; it just inspired me to go and make some french toast with butter and maple syrup. yum.

Trivia: anyone ever had Dutch appelstroop? poffertjes? heard of English 'eggy bread'? --they can't beat the taste of childhood memories...

Subject: RE: french toast and syrup
From: coldjam
Date: 13 Jul 07 - 04:37 PM

Dutch appelstroop? poffertjes? heard of English 'eggy bread'?

Never even heard of them before...description?

ps I will concede on the powdered sugar-I agree it's optional.

Subject: RE: french toast and syrup
From: peregrina
Date: 13 Jul 07 - 04:55 PM

They are digressions from the thread topic...pancakes and waffles are a hobby of mine...

English 'eggy bread' is the name for some kind of English french toast equivalent. never eaten it myself, but even the name isn't as appealing...I guess it's considered small children's food?
Appelstroop is a kind of very dark and very thick syrup made from apples, boiled down till they're as thick as jam. Maybe someone Dutch on the list can tell more about it. Quite good, but not quite molasses, not maple syrup, and very nice on dutch pan cakes with a bit of bacon in them.
Poffertjes are small round pancakes make on a cast iron grill with a very liquid batter poured into small round depressions about 2 inches in diameter. They puff up in the middle, are usually served with * lots* of butter and powdered sugar, and usually gotten in a special restaurant that makes mainly poffertjes, I never could make them well at home. Well worth trying if you visit the Netherlands.

Subject: RE: french toast and syrup
From: PoppaGator
Date: 13 Jul 07 - 06:13 PM

I absolutely had to go out to a "breakfast-all-day" outlet for lunch today., After reading about french toast for the last few days, I absolutely had to have some, right away!

I'm not revelaing the name of the chain restaurant that I patronized (it's embarrassing!), but I had to settle for thick dense slabs of egg-soaked "Texas toast" instead of nice airy French bread, and the phony syrup was definitely NOT 100% pure maple. The butter was undoubtedly fake, too, although at least there was plenty of it.

Less than totally satisfying, for sure, but better than nothing. Now I can hold out for a few days, and not order (nor try to make) French toast until a time and place where I know it'll be really good.

Subject: RE: french toast and syrup
From: Rowan
Date: 13 Jul 07 - 09:43 PM

Don't worry frogprince, I figured most 'catters have an appreciation of such humour.

And I decided to 'put it off no longer' and made some for the offsprings' breakfast today as well. But, being in Oz, we dispensed with the maple syrup and resorted to golden syrup. The girls had never tasted it before (how slack of me, when I think of myself as having SOME sense of tradition when cooking) and they wondered about putting such sweet stuff on what they regarded as savoury items. Saturday is our day for fry-up type breakfasts and the sweetest accompaniment they usually get to bacon and eggs would be onion rings and tomatoes.

But I remembered 'breakfasts in the US' from my visits and their inordinate (to my Oz tastes) sweetness and realised there might be be some association with weight. But a good fryup every now and then is just what a decent doctor could order.

Cheers, Rowan

Subject: RE: french toast and syrup
From: coldjam
Date: 13 Jul 07 - 09:50 PM

I have a friend in Russia-Siberia- I sent some pure maple syrup to as a gift, since it's made in my neck of the woods (I've even made some meself!) He didn't know what to do with it. I was slightly shocked.

Thanks for the info peregrina!

Subject: RE: french toast and syrup
From: Rowan
Date: 13 Jul 07 - 10:10 PM

Peregrina's description of poffertjes is spot on and they have been available at the National (Oz) for the last couple of years.

Cheers, Rowan

Subject: RE: french toast and syrup
From: GUEST,diana
Date: 14 Jul 07 - 05:11 AM

I think this thread should continue under a different title.

french toast and syrup and other breakfast goodies

Yes, Don. "Lick the plate!!" Apparently, in Canada, the only time it is considered appropriate to lick your plate is if its covered in maple syrup" At least thats what my daughter says.

Poppagator - My mom used to make us "maple syrup" by heating corn syrup and adding mapleline. If we didn't have corn syrup, she'd just cook some sugar water for awhile and then add the mapleline. Its not even close to the real stuff but its a pretty good imitation that you can make at home without much trouble.

Since you mentioned how to make vili, here's the modern version of Arab yogurt:

Make sure all utensils and bowls are very clean. Use stainless and/or glass. Rinse with boiling water.

Add 3C. boiling water to 1C. non-instant skim milk powder.

Let the milk cool to wrist temp. and add 1 clean tablespoon of the previous batch of yogurt. Stir thoroughly.

Wrap it in a blanket and put it to bed for about 6-8 hours.

Serve with canned blackberries or...

I want to know more about different ways of making and serving porridge. I have friends that eat theirs savory but I eat mine sweet. My friends add soy sauce, nutitional yeast and soy sauce. I like a pat of butter, maple syrup and cream. I also cook my oats with sunflower seeds and raisins. Its my comfort food. Its really good with toast and coffee.

Subject: RE: french toast and syrup
From: JennyO
Date: 14 Jul 07 - 05:22 AM

Rowan, you beat me to it! I always make a point of having a plate of poffertjes at the National every year at some stage of the weekend. They are a must-have.

There are various toppings one can choose, but I always have them with maple syrup and cream. YUM!!!

Subject: RE: french toast and syrup
From: SharonA
Date: 16 Jul 07 - 09:34 PM

Peregrina says: "Appelstroop is a kind of very dark and very thick syrup made from apples, boiled down till they're as thick as jam. Maybe someone Dutch on the list can tell more about it. Quite good, but not quite molasses, not maple syrup, and very nice on dutch pan cakes with a bit of bacon in them."

I don't know about the Dutch, but the Pennsylvania Dutch make something called "apple butter" which has some similarity to what you describe. Apple butter is a kind of a dark brown, carmelized applesauce with a thick, jam-like consistency. Here is a recipe with photos. There are lots more recipes on the web; just google "apple butter" or "Pennsylvania Dutch apple butter".

It's an excellent spread for bread; I've never tried it on French toast.... but now I'll have to...

Subject: RE: french toast and syrup
From: SharonA
Date: 17 Jul 07 - 02:27 AM

Here is a site that says appelstroop is apple butter!

On the other hand, this is a YouTube video showing a baby eating what is purported to be appelstroop. However, the stuff that the kid has is definitely NOT apple butter or syrup of any kind; it's a semi-solid. Maybe it's crystallized appelstroop or something.

Subject: RE: french toast and syrup
From: peregrina
Date: 17 Jul 07 - 02:58 AM

thread drift, but an appropriate topic at breakfast time...

Appelstroop is entirely different from apple butter--both delicious, but the latter incredibly hard to find anywhere outside North America. (If I'm wrong and someone knows a source inthe UK, please pm me!)

Subject: RE: french toast and syrup
From: PoppaGator
Date: 18 Jul 07 - 02:32 PM

Apple butter was very commonly available in New Jersey during my childhood there. I do not recall any specific reference to it as a specifically "Pennsylvania Dutch" item, like Shoo-Fly Pie or scrapple.

But maybe it is a regional specialty for the Pennsylvania area or the northeast in general, whether or not it comes from the Amish. It is not generally available, or even known, here in Louisiana.

Subject: RE: french toast and syrup
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 18 Jul 07 - 02:54 PM

Sorry I haven't been back for a while. My dad used to get his villi (villia) starter from a place down in California. He swore by it, and kept it going for quite a while. Mine finally died and I haven't been able to replace it (plus I didn't eat dairy products for a lot of years as I battled allergies. Now I restrict my intake to yogurt and cheese, so I could probably use this again.)

SRS

Subject: RE: french toast and syrup
From: MMario
Date: 18 Jul 07 - 03:05 PM

http://www.gemcultures.com/dairy_cultures.htm