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.

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

Subject: RE: french toast and syrup
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 18 Jul 07 - 03:32 PM

Always was able to get apple butter in Illinois, Oklahoma, at the groceries.
I have bought it here in Alberta in the 'organic' section (made by Eden Foods, Michigan).

Subject: RE: french toast and syrup
From: GUEST,BatmanMMX
Date: 17 Jul 10 - 02:37 PM

PoohBear! Are you from NC?   I'm from Boston and I spoke with a poohbear a lot back in 1997.
Was that you?

Subject: RE: french toast and syrup
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 17 Jul 10 - 03:07 PM

In agreement with those over the pond, peanut butter and jam on toast.

Subject: RE: french toast and syrup
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 17 Jul 10 - 04:50 PM

Dip for French Toast benefits from a teaspoon of pure vanilla extract. We add extra egg to the usual recipe of eggs, cream or milk (For the diet conscious, 2% works well) and cinnamon. Maple syrup, of course, warmed.

(We have a couple of stores that stock liter jugs of the pure maple syrup, much cheaper than the smaller containers).

Subject: RE: french toast and syrup
From: kendall
Date: 17 Jul 10 - 08:19 PM

"And don't skimp on the pate'" (Mr. Creosote)

Subject: RE: french toast and syrup
From: Rapparee
Date: 17 Jul 10 - 10:46 PM

My grandma, who taught me her French Toast recipe, would have used ME for batter if I hadn't put pure vanilla extract into the mix.

Subject: RE: french toast and syrup
From: Maryrrf
Date: 17 Jul 10 - 11:30 PM

Hmmm just checking the threads before going to bed and I think I know what's for breakfast tomorrow morning. No maple syrup though - I'm not that fond of it and there's none in the house. I usually have French toast just 'as is', although I have been known to sprinkle it lightly with sugar and cinnamon.

Subject: RE: french toast and syrup
From: mousethief
Date: 18 Jul 10 - 12:34 AM

My daughter and I like to drench french toast in butter and then put on powdered sugar until you get a kind of buttercream frosting effect going on. Yum.

Subject: RE: french toast and syrup
From: Joe_F
Date: 18 Jul 10 - 11:18 AM

Sour cream always. On top of that, on successive pieces, jam, marmalade, cinnamon sugar, honey, and (for dessert) maple syrup.

Subject: RE: french toast and syrup
From: VirginiaTam
Date: 18 Jul 10 - 04:39 PM

I mix a little cinnamon into the egg and milk mixture dip the bread and fry in butter. No sugar or syrup needed.

Well I used to. I am on no bread, no pasta diet now. sigh... Good grief I am hungry.

Subject: RE: french toast and syrup
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 18 Jul 10 - 07:06 PM

Marmite

Subject: RE: french toast and syrup
From: Monique
Date: 19 Jul 10 - 01:13 PM

Spread strawberry jam, then sugar on top and broil it.

Subject: RE: french toast and syrup
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 19 Jul 10 - 01:22 PM

Monique, that would re-cook the egg content of the mix that saturates the bread.
Seems to me that would "hard-broil" the egg, to coin a word.

Subject: RE: french toast and syrup
From: SINSULL
Date: 19 Jul 10 - 01:34 PM

Red Currant Jelly
YUM

Subject: RE: french toast and syrup
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 19 Jul 10 - 02:02 PM

SINSULL, we sorely miss the red current bushes we once had.

Some posters here don't know how French Toast is made (and it may not have originated there; I don't know 'who done it').

Our Recipe:
Four large beaten eggs
1 cup 2% milk (or a little more)
1-2 tablespoons sugar
Teaspoon cinnamon
Teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Whisk in a large bowl.
(I have an extra egg and milk, etc. on the side in case additional mix is needed).

Slice day-old French or Sourdough bread, 1 inch thick

Dip bread slices in the mix until well soaked and transfer to the hot skillet with a spatula. The large skillet, at medium heat (or slightly less) contains two tablespoons melted butter.

When bottom of bread becomes golden brown, flip over and brown top as well. As slices are cooked, more butter is added to the skillet.

We have plates heating in the oven, one on which to place the cooked slices as they are taken from the skillet, two for the table.

The maple syrup (or other) should be warm.

Serve with crisp bacon.

Toast with a topping it is not. The word 'toast' is misleading.

Subject: RE: french toast and syrup
From: Monique
Date: 19 Jul 10 - 02:04 PM

Q, I really don't know what it would do, I just remember a friend making pain perdu for an afternoon snack once, she'd beaten eggs, milk and sugar, she'd dipped the bread, fried it in butter, then she'd spread strawberry jam and sugar and broiled it just the time the sugar would caramelize on the jam and we all remember her pain perdu as really yummy. It was 27 years ago when we were young and slim!

Subject: RE: french toast and syrup
From: Monique
Date: 19 Jul 10 - 02:07 PM

P.S. I suppose it can be done "the modern way" = using a blowtorch as they do to caramelize the top of crème brûlée.

Subject: RE: french toast and syrup
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 19 Jul 10 - 06:32 PM

Yes, Monique, now I know what you mean; that high heat to caramelize the sugar. The word 'broil' threw me, but I don't know what one would call it.
I guess the origin is French, with pain perdu.

And I wish I could correct my recipe; it should have a tablespoon or two of sugar with the egg, milk, etc.

When you get old, eat to enjoy, the heck with diets!

Subject: RE: french toast and syrup
From: Maryrrf
Date: 19 Jul 10 - 09:41 PM

This has me thinking about that other delectable, easy to make breakfast treat - cinnamon toast. Spread bread liberally with butter, sprinkle with sugar and cinnamon, put under broiler till the topping is bubbly - pure heaven!

Subject: RE: french toast and syrup
From: Bill D
Date: 19 Jul 10 - 09:48 PM

" sprinkle with sugar and cinnamon"

My mother put the sugar on pretty thick....then 'sprinkled' with cinnamon..

I am spoiled, and can't eat it without about 1 1/2-2 teaspoons sugar a slice.....so I fix it seldom.

Subject: RE: french toast and syrup
From: jeffp
Date: 19 Jul 10 - 09:59 PM

My mother would toast the bread first. We also kept a jar of cinnamon and sugar premixed in the pantry.

Subject: RE: french toast and syrup
From: PoppaGator
Date: 20 Jul 10 - 09:41 AM

Very enjoyable re-reading of this old thread.

Since I last posted, I have found a new Steen's product in local (New Orleans) supermarkets. They call it "golden syrup," although I'm sure it is not at all like the Australian product of that name.

Regular full-strength Steens Cane Syrup is thick and dark brown, with a strong taste of molasses, and has recently become available in dark brown bottles as well as the time-honored yellow tin cans. (The label on the new bottle is yellow & looks just like the familiar can.)

Their new product is lighter in color and thickness; I was hoping it would be simply a more-refined variety of straight cane syrup, but it's a blend of cane and corn syrup, albeit NOT "high-fructose" corn syrup*.

When I was a kid, I'm pretty sure that the moderately-priced "pancake syrup" products were blends of cane and maple syrup, whereas nowadays they're all based upon corn syrup, usually high-fructose, with a little maple flavoring (probabbly artificial)..

I had been hoping that I could make my own economy-blend of maple and cane syrups using the new Steens Golden, before I learned that Steens was adulterating their cane product with corn syrup. Oh well...

*Karo brand syrup is a well-established old-time USA product, and is straight corn syrup, sold in two or three different "weights." It's mentioned in a lot of recipes. It's been around so long that I imagine that it is NOT genetically engineered or laboratory-enhanced, which I think may be the case for the "high-fructose" syrup of recent vintage.

Subject: RE: french toast and syrup
From: Bat Goddess
Date: 20 Jul 10 - 10:30 AM

High fructose corn syrup is different from regular corn syrup. HFCS has gone through a process in which the glucose has been converted to fructose and then mixed back into corn syrup. And, of course, here in the US over 85% of HFCS is genetically modified. Anywho, the end product is sweeter and cheaper than sucrose (table sugar).

I have a LOT of objections to it and avoid it as much as possible. Besides turning off the part of your brain that tells you when you've eaten enough, it doesn't TASTE as good as real sugar. I prefer to ingest real sugar, but in moderation.

Of course, most people today don't remember when soda was sweetened with sugar and sold in glass bottles. Yet another reason I seldom drink soda -- today's product is boring, too sweet, has less variety available and doesn't taste as good as it did in the '50s and '60s.

Linn

Subject: RE: french toast and syrup
From: Rapparee
Date: 20 Jul 10 - 10:46 AM

I try not to use granulated sugar, EXCEPT for raw washed cane and demarrara (I'll make an exception for specialty sugars such as powdered.) Syrup: we have pure maple and agave nector in the house, as well as honey. I'd also use molasses and I have used sorghum.

By the way, try french toast made with brioche instead of your favorite bread. You'll be glad you did.

Subject: RE: french toast and syrup
From: PoppaGator
Date: 27 Jul 10 - 05:06 PM

Mmmmm, brioche!

The problem with using that stuff for pain perdu is keeping ANY aside to go stale...