What the French Toast?!!!

No no...I wasn't trying to curse. I am talking food.

Behold.........  the almighty French Toast.

What? You don't think a dish that has been around since the early 5th century deserves a blog?

©Raj Rao

French toast can be traced back as far as early Roman cuisine. In the Roman cookbook called Apicius, which consists of early Roman recipes, they describe a dish where you break fine white bread, soak it in a mixture of milk and eggs, fry in oil and serve with honey. From there this dish was modified and assimilated in multiple cultures and took various different names from pain perdu, pain a la romaine, German toast, Spanish toast, nun toast (wth?) and finally in 1871 the term French toast started to make its appearance.

Eat That Food nation, your food guru is about to inspire you and share his favourite French toast recipe for you to try. I am positive you will LOVE it.

Here are the ingredients that you will need.

• Brioche Bread (Didn't make it up, it exists! (Check your local bakery) - 1 loaf
• Eggs - 2
• Half & Half - 1/4 cup
• Cinnamon Sugar - 2 Teaspoons
• Sugar - 2 Tablespoons
• Vanilla Extract (look for the one that does NOT have corn syrup) - 2 teaspoons
• Serrano Ham (again, didn't make it up. If you can't get it, try Prosciutto ham) - 4 slices
• Half stick of unsalted butter
• Pinch of salt
• Maple Syrup (the real deal) - 1 cup
• Orange zest - 1 teaspoon

French Toast:

©Raj Rao

Slice the Brioche to about 3/4 to an inch thickness. For this recipe I used 4 slices of bread. Beat the eggs in a bowl and add the half & half to it. Then add cinnamon sugar, sugar, salt and vanilla extract. Whisk the mixture until all the ingredients have combined and it has a nice creamy texture which is called a custard. Pour it in a square bowl so you can dip the bread in it.

     Heat your favourite non stick skillet on medium and coat it with butter. Dip the bread in the custard mixture and let it soak on each side for 15 seconds. Trust me, your patience will be rewarded. Then move the bread to the skillet and, depending on your stove, the cook time for each side might vary. So don't leave the stove to catch the game or cartoons. I cooked each side of the bread for about 2 minutes. After cooking both sides move it to a plate and cover for serving later or you can be like me and eat it immediately.

Serrano Ham:Turn on your oven to the broil setting. Cover a sheet pan with aluminum foil (to minimize on clean up) and lay the Serrano ham slices about an inch apart. When the oven has reached its broiling temperature place the sheet pan on the middle shelf. DO NOT walk away. All it takes is 2 minutes and your ham will be perfect.  Serrano ham is very thinly sliced, hence the extremely short cooking time.
Remove the ham slices and place it on a serving plate.


Maple Syrup:
Heat your sauce pan on medium high and pour the maple syrup in it. Add the orange zest. Let it sit for a minute and start stirring. When you see small bubbles, turn off the heat and move the syrup to a bowl.

The best part:
Now its time to enjoy the fruits of your hard 20 minutes of labor. I would drizzle and not pour the syrup over the toast. You want to eat toast with syrup and not the other way around. At first bite you can tell the difference that the Brioche brings to the dish compared to regular sliced bread. The bread soaks up the custard very well and at the same time still holds its shape. Cinnamon and vanilla also compliment each other perfectly and the zest in the syrup adds freshness to the dish.

I would take a bite of the toast and alternate with the soft and almost crunchy piece of ham. I personally love this sweet and salty combination as no single element is overpowering my taste buds. But that's just me.

©Raj Rao

I hope I have inspired you to try this recipe. It's very simple to make and does not take any time at all. You could make it while watching an episode of Family Guy. The best thing about French toast is that, it's a canvas for billions of possibilities. You can tweak it in many different ways and enjoy it. You could make stuffed French toast, add a fruit spread on the toast instead of syrup, use Challah bread instead of brioche and many more. The limit is only your imagination.

So with that I shall bid you adieu.

Food guru out...