Comfort Food Origins: French Toast!
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- Опубліковано 3 чер 2023
- Comfort food: salty, sweet, crunchy, fluffy, rich; its absolutely delicious! Comfort is no stranger to our channel, but in this new series we’re digging in a little deeper. Come along with us today as we find out where French Toast came from!
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Townsends will always find a way to sneak in nutmeg 😂
Nutmeg on French Toast is actually pretty good lol
Man would see his newborn come fresh out of the womb and be like "needs nutmeg" 😂
My mom always put nutmeg on french toast
Nutmeg belongs in with the milk and eggs when you make French Toast.
@@flashbackfrank8781You could say you actually need some NUTmeg to even have a kid tbh. One half of the equation.
"pain perdu" is still a common way to use aged bread (when it's very hard) in north-east France. Milk, sugar, butter. We don't really make "french toast" with good bread, it's only a way to salvage old bread.
In my area of the US (Minnesota), it is preferred to use old bread for French Toast or Milquetoast.
you wanna use stale bread anyway as it'll soak up more without getting soggy
Pain Perdu is what we call French Toast, in france.
wouldn't it just be Toast in France and not French Toast
@@sonofagun1037 read it again, concentrate real hard on what was being said and the use of punctuation in the comment.
In many parts of Germany those are called "Arme Ritter" (poor knights) or depending on the topping they are:
- Arme Ritter (poor knights), plain or with sugar
- Rostige Ritter (rusty knights), with cinnamon and sugar
- Klebrige Ritter (sticky knights), with honey
That wine and butter is inspired!
What is this a crossover episode
@@araknidsGrip not the real channel unfortunately
Wonder what it would be like with hardtack
@@Haxx1337 Wow, just checked it. Guess I was wrong.
Wow 😵
This would be one of the greatest crossovers if it happens.
Only Jon will be like "here's a recipe to use up stale bread - I don't have any bread, so I'll make some just for this recipe" lol!
Hahaha I thought the same lol!
Funny you say that. I was just thinking about baking some bread to make some french toast because of this video.
Actually soaking the bread in milk makes a lot of sense if you are using fully stale bread. It can take a long time to soak up the needed moisture when you soak stale bread in egg and milk mixed for french toast in my experience at least. I could see the milk on it's own soaking into the bread much quicker. Also using real bread from a bakery that is 100% stale to make french toast is so worth the extra effort.
well you prefer stale bread since it soak up liquids, i think its for fresh bread as stale bread could disintegrate in milk. Fresh bread will hold its shape. Also when using fresh bread its more dry as it dont soak much fats. Also it depend what bread you using, best are light breads, in my experience stale potato bread soak up the best.
Also a tip, if you want more liquid eggs with out adding water or milk just add salt. In 2-3 min they become watery, i usually make this dish not sweet but savory. But you dont need to add much to work.
@@scasny Weird since neither fresh or stale bread has ever disintigrated in milk the numerous times I have soaked it like that. Though a pinch of salt in french toast is a good idea.
@@scasny Definitely sounds like you never did this recipe with stale bread. State bread totally holds together when soaked in milk for pain perdu.
@@miguelsilva9085 🤌 I feel your pain.
111th 👍
My late-father called these the "Rich knights (of Windsor)". Those made with just milk were the "Poor knights of Windsor".
Armer Ritter (poor knight) in german aswell if its just with milk
@@Schwertfisch13 And in Sweden they are called Fattiga riddare (poor knights) aswell.
And if it's plain toast, they're "soldiers."
A recipe for "Fotzelschnitten" from the "Berner Kochbuch" (Switzerland) from 1940:
9 Slices of Bread
1 Plate with cold milk
4 Eggs
1 pinch of salt
3 spoons of fat
Slice up leftover bread into ca. 1cm thick slices. Pull the slices one by one through the milk and leave them on a board to drip off. Mix eggs and salt. In a skillet warm up the fat. Egg the slices and put them into the fat to bake them golden. After baking put a little sugar and cinnamon on top and serve.
The cookbook was the standard school book for the housekeeping classes in public schools in the canton of Berne. I inherited the book from my grandmother and I still make "Fotzelschnitten" according to this recipe from time to time, especially during the winter.
❤
It's still in the TipTopf these days 🙂But we never prepared in class. Probably because we used to have housekeeping classes during lunchtime. 🤷♂
My father did it the way your recipe calls for it with the exception of the butter my mother made it the way Americans do by mixing it all together which is kind of interesting because she had that recipe she grew up in Switzerland and it was part of the Swiss curriculum very booked you mentioning my father said it followed the French recipe and it was what he used minus the fat again the fat could be because a it brings the cholesterol business up higher but also it could be that my family kept kosher in my mother's case and my grandmother's case they were what you would call traditionalist they kept kosher but there were a lot of other things they didn't so much keep at least my grandfather didn't. Like I said that recipe you have their my father would have followed that one I don't know if it's because he it's like I said he said it's the French recipe and basically that's pretty much what you're saying there and yet my mother would make it the American way mixing it all together in a bowl the milk the eggs Etc and then frying it in a pan. Go figure but at least they Now understand where's that recipe in my grandmother's cookbook had a lot of separate recipes in that cookbook I mean like they were like markers inside the cookbook where some of them came from and since in Swiss German it now makes sense thank you.
@@Gilgwathir my mother remembers her classes where they taught how to cook and so and if you didn't do it right they took out all the stitches but mind you this is going back some ways my mother on the child of my parents old age and my mother was born in the 1930s latter half mid-1930s I should say I got my grandmother's cookbook from her but my mother had recipes in it but she put in and one of those recipes was in Swiss German I would not doubt that it came from one of her classes that she was taught in school. Do they still teach it that way into someone's I don't know it's been too long I haven't been to Switzerland in I think it's closer to 40 years with the last time I saw my grandfather. Apparently he was quite a well-known columnist one of the bigger newspapers. Please bear in mind and using voice to text it has a very bad habit of writing things incorrectly and I can't constantly go back and forth to try to correct it my hands don't work and I can barely see at the moment... the first sentence should read I remember my mother telling me about her classes they were like home economics in America... I hope this now make sense of the line at the very beginning. By the way my mother and my grandparents lived in burned for a short. Of time before moving elsewhere into Switzerland before the second World War so her having that recipe now that this other person has mentioned it makes sense again thank you for the information at least now things make more sense. Including the argument over the recipe but that's another story and that was in French so they often spoke French at home my mother spent quite some time in one of the French come tones in Switzerland
This reminds me how my grandmother would make hers when I was young. I've not had this in years. I will have to make me some. Thank you for sharing the recipe.
I made French toast with stale Italian bread last night, it seems to me the staler the bread the better as you can dip it multiple times.
Yep, harder breads don't fall apart in the egg batter. I use frozen fresh bread to the same effect.
30 seconds per side. Rest for 30 seconds to allow your mix to penetrate thoroughly. Cook it. I like mine on a flat top very hot.
"Pain perdu" is actually the name the French use for "french toast" to this day :) Over in Canada, the french name for this is "Pain doré" (golden bread)
I’m so thrilled to have found this when it’s only been up four minutes!
When I lived in Russia my wife made me a savory French toast of bread soaked in eggs with salt, fried up, and topped with cheese. Which leads me to believe that "French Toast" has been made as long as humans had had bread and eggs.
We have savoury French toast in the uk too!
It’s a good way to fully utilize old bread. You cook bread for “supper” it sits out in the open air over night becomes stale and hard. While edible. It turns something ok into something fantastic. So just based off the Roman recipe at the beginning you’re probably right.
Great minds think alike! Although, there was a very strong French influence in Russia in the 18th and 19th centuries.
@@gray_mara There definitely was but I think it may have also just occurred naturally as the Russian words for them aren't loan words.
Like for example the Russians also make a crepe-like thin pancake but their word for it is "Blini" and oftentimes they are savory and filled with meat, onions, smoked fish or even mashed potatoes.
@@michaelthayer5351 Yes, I think it's a case of everyone having the same good idea, too. Everyone had the problem of old bread and many cultures found similar ways of dealing with it.
I love how so many things we take for granted are from a far away past. Thank you
That's a traditional dish in Spain as well and very ancient. Probably from roman origin. We eat it in easter time the most.
I eat my french toast with just butter and honey. No syrup. So good. A chunk of butter in-between each slice, honey poured on top. The butter melts and blends with the honey at just the right pace
Honey is basically syrup though
French Toast tips: combine nutmeg and cinnamon with honey, Enough to gather all the spice into the honey glob. Use brandy to thin out the honey. This will ensure your spices won't clump as well as give the sweet sharpness of brandy to the dish. Then it's more or less the same. The alcohol will thicken the eggs considerably so use milk to thin out the concoction to the desired runny-ness.
In Portugal and Brazil, we call this food "rabanada". There are Portuguese texts from the 15th century saying that rabanadas or fatias paridas ("new mother's slices") are good for new mothers yield more milk.
"Pain perdu" means indeed "wasted or lost bread".
Soaking in milk was critical as, even today, in France, this is made with old, stale and dry bread. Soaking in milk is critical, as it softens the slice, as well as brings some moisture and sweetness.
If bread was beyond "rescuing" in this manner, it would be used to make "panade", a long-cooked bread soup (the bread need to literally disintegrate) that usually involves generous amount of garlic, and if fancier, butter and cream.
I really need a Townsends soundtrack. I love the guitar work in this one.
These videos are so great to watch before going to bed. Puts me in such a relaxed state. I dream of a cozy little cottage out there in the woods, enjoying these meals by a fireplace.
My dad used to make my french toat. Good times. Never knew it had such a history. thank you for the upload.
Omg live on Friday and French toast on Sunday! You spoil us and I'm here for it! I can't wait to make that sauce! 😍
I just found your channel a few days ago and I just want to say I love what you do! I have been binge watching and I definitely can't wait to try some of the recipes that you've done. I'm from Malaysia but somehow I get nostalgic with the 18th century European vibes. Keep up the great work you do on the channel 😊👍
you've got years worth of a lot of great content to enjoy. Have fun
I love how all your videos are now using an actual 18th century style cabin rather than the German Kitchen set! It makes it feel even more real.
Looks yummy. I always enjoy your background music 🎶
Thanks for the breakfast food episode!
I used to serve this for dinner for my 4 kids. It made it less obvious that we didn't have something else good to eat.
As a Canadian, I love maple syrup. That would be absolutely perfect to pour over the French toast. Wild blueberries, or Saskatoon berries would be another great thing to go with the French toast, as a topping. A good side for it would be some nice bacon, or sausages. That looks so good. Cheers! ✌️
As one of your southern neighbors, Maple syrup is my go to also on my French Toast! Blueberries, too. Cheers to you this morning!
I was also thinking maple syrup or blueberry syrup. I've also used raspberry jam and was very happy with that choice.
Merci ! Magnifique .
The lighting throughout this episode is phenomenal. Great job.
Woke up to a Townsends video on French Toast! Oh what a great idea for today. I have some white bread that I was going to use for bread pudding this afternoon, but I think I will use a couple of slices this morning to make me some French toast. I don’t have recipes that I use for either but have made them so many times, I just make a little of this and that and viola perfect use of old bread. Love you Townsends, Happy Sunday. 🥰💕❤️👍👍 oh and by the way, I think of you every time I make scrambled eggs. I learned to make them from you!
You know a recipe is solid when we essentially use the same ingredients and prep a thousand years later all over the world.
Always loved the simplicity of French toast. I half expected you to use the recipie from "The English Huswife" lol
Like how more in depth this pain perdu video goes into than the one before. Hope all old recipes get updates, especially the bean ones.
We have a major storm keeping us in this weekend (80cm = 30 inches of snow) and when I woke up this morning all I could think of was this video on comfort food. The freshly grated nutmeg in the pain perdu is just incredible. I like it better than cinnamon! I never tire of your content and am so glad to have found this channel years ago!
Keeping it accurate with a historically correct sauce shows the eye for detail and care. Other creators wouldn't care about just slapping some syrup on em.
Tasting History with Max Miller is of the same mould as the Townsends.
I like to make french toast of all sorts of leftover breads including croissants and donuts
Dunking the bread first in milk then in egg is how I make french toast. It gives them a golden coating.
I love French Toast. Good to know it has been enjoyed for so long!
Looks delicious, I found that sprinkling the nutmeg an cinnamon on each slice after it's battered works very nicely
I was wondering, is there anyway to listen to find the music you have playing in the back of your videos? It's incredibly soothing and I'd love to be able to listen to leisurely 😄 Thank you for another wonderful video!
I like the way they don't change the lighting, it's very period appropriate natural lighting with lots of shadows.
It's easy on the eyes too.
you are the only youtuber where every video makes me smile. thank you! i really love your food remaking series.
I was just making french toast and thinking about this channel when this video dropped lol
me to
@@UC0FVA9DdusgF7y2gwveSsng clearly, yes
Would they have used ginger and nutmeg combined for these? We love them like that with honey.
That sounds great. I sure wouldn't want them with rosewater. We tried rose flavored Turkish Delight a while back and just felt it tasted like soap. I think we're too conditioned to think of it as perfume or lotion to ever see it as an edible aromatic.
I have trouble classifying day old as stale. In my experience, stale takes a bit longer
well more important to avoid using fresh bread, but 3day old potato bread is the best, the extra starch make it flexible and not crumble. Create a bread sponge that soak egg.
Breads back in the day would go stale quicker
Looks delicious! ❤
Not gonna lie, I was looking forward to that rose water 😢
Always a pleasure to see these terrific receipts
Still popular here in Quebec... and since we are Canadian we of course use maple syrup. Here it is called "Pain doré"
How appropriate. Looking for a video while my brioche toasts and custard melds for french toast. This is perfect
My seven year old son Tyr is a huge fan and this morning we made the French toast and had a great time. We used French bread it was great 👍
Thank you for existing! i love this channel & this is my favorite food ever ❤️
I wish there was a Townsends music play list. All the music played during these videos is so happy and soothing.
The music in this video was written and performed by Caleb Lewis. He’s one of our videographers. ua-cam.com/play/OLAK5uy_n5PE4aHeF-ySbrBLSk1JPR5sdz-t0QhUE.html
Even watching this video makes me feel all warm & fuzzy inside. I hope you continue with the great work king!
@townsends, your channel is just great. You can tell by just watching the videos how much love they put in every episode. ❤
Today you brought back some childhood memories. My late mother used to make "Poor Knights", this is how we call French Toast in Germany. Watching your video makes me feel like the child I used to be sitting at the kitchen table next to me my mother frying the Toast. So delicious, and saved as a warm memory.
I enjoy the essentialness of these ancient recipes...
Got Loadshedding again in South Africa. This'll be a good dish to make for hubby when he gets home from work. Thank you.
This channel is some of the best UA-cam has to offer.
Because of your channel at least once a month I have to make Payn Perdu at every event I attend and at least twice a month at the house.
Your channel recently showed up on my recommended and I'm so glad it did. I haven't been especially interested in cooking or in 18th century life, but your videos are so captivating and heartwarming, and they provide me with so much peace. Thank you so much :)
Thanks from Brazil
Love you guys thank you for all your hard work and videos
Awesome! Loved the history, and I look forward to trying the recipe!
Looks much better than the bowl of cereal I'm eating while watching this...
even more healthy and less caloric
Excellent work, Mr. Townsend!
Haven’t watched a Townsends vid in a while; seems the production has been upgraded a bit. It’s fantastic!
2:26 That's the way we do it in Portugal. We call it Rabanadas(in my area of Portugal). Milk, eggs cook it and cover it in sugar and cinnamon.
During Christmas, some you can find a bread that's made especially to make it.
I have never bothered to comment here but have been a sub for a LONG while now. This show has gotten me through some hard times working terrible Jobs. I am very happy it's still going strong today. It is a great reprieve from the daily drama of everyday life. Keep it up!
Thank you for so may years of awesome content! And nutmeg is always a winner with me!
I'm a new subbie. Was sick today, so was in bed watching YT & found your channel. Loving it. Thanks
Austin TX USA
I love freshly grated nutmeg. I have a cookie recipe from my great Aunt that calls for 1/2 a grated nutmeg. A fantastic cookie.
Sometimes I forget that it's not just John cooking alone in the cabin
Thanks for the great video Les Stroud!!
Thank you for sharing. it is always a pleasure to watch your channel. Stay safe. Atb. Nigel
Thank you, you always amaze me.
I love this, I made French toast today, how cool is it to be eating something that has been enjoyed for over 1000 years!
In a book printed in the UK I've seen it referred to as eggy bread.
The way that recipe was worded had me laughing hard. Some parts were worded so delicately and other parts hilariously crass "Fair butter" and "Fresh grease" Lol.
I'm loving that the problem of it sticking to the pan irked cooks right back to the invention of the dish 😂
Plus ça change, eh?
The origin of comfort videos... Townsends. Much love to everyone brought together here.
dont ever stop doing what you do, this channel is one of the few wholesome places left on UA-cam.
Loves from Vietnam.
Excellent thanks for sharing 👍
Eggy bread or Gypsy bread in Shropshire uk. Almost a main breakfast for the farm labourers and seasonal labourers as very cheap. I learned rabbiting and hedging from them. Especially how to make a proper pot of tea. Happy days.
Love French toast
I enjoyed the watching the recipe being made (French toast is one of my favorites) and the nice guitar music.
I love watching james, he is one of the good ones
I'm french and 26 years old and only from this video did I realize that "pain perdu" meant lost bread as in you'll lose/waste it otherwise.
I have a copy of "The Settlement Cookbook" from about 1912. They call it 'German Toast' in there. I was speculating that maybe the name got changed after WW I since the Germans were our enemies. It looks much more like it was never really French at all.
More like Italian (Roman) then French. So... how did it get to be called "French Toast"?
7:40 "Great bread flavor"
That will be the bread sir.
I love thick slices like this, very thoroughly soaked in the custard. You get the decadence of a baked version along with a golden brown surface. This meal lets a pauper eat like a king.
Thanks again for sharing, we love watching the show and how people used to cook way back in the 17th and 18th century.
My favorite dish to make for breakfast. I learned from a native British woman who owned a coffee shop in Brunswick, Maryland. Her daughter was my boss and on Sundays, the mother would prepare french toast for the red hat ladies that would come for brunch. She taught me to whisk eggs with milk and nutmeg, add thickly cut toast, fry then top with maple syrup.
I had french toast for the first time recently. This recipe looks good, I'd like to try making it some time
Omg this looks amazing ❤❤❤
I had no idea french toast went back as far as the ROMAN EMPIRE! Its amazing to think that we are still ordering something at Denny's today that a Centurion could have been enjoying in much the same way. Great video as always!
Mom used cinnamon instead of nutmeg, but it was our favorite breakfast by far while growing up. I miss those days. Thank you, Townsends!
I was just thinking about who came up with French toast thank you!
God I love this channel!!!!!
looks great!
While not traditional by any means, if I put nutmeg in my french toast batter, I also put a splash of orange juice in there