Le French Toast

The thing about french toast is, I love it but I hate it. I like it at most restaurants, but most attempts at home-made I can't stand. The problem lies in the eggs. I'll let y'all in on a little secret - I was an extremely picky eater as a child. I mean, bad. If it wasn't Mac 'n Cheese, PB&J and maybe the occasional apple, I wasn't interested. My food couldn't touch my other food, and sauces - fawgitabowtit! So, to say my tastes have matured is an understatement. I'd like to think I'm not "picky" now, so much as - there are distinct things I don't like, for distinct, vocalizable reasons. For instance, I still like to dip into sauces/dressings, etc. rather than pour them on. And I still hate seafood, no matter how many ways I've tried it. And, well, eggs. I can't stand them. Omlettes, scrambled, over easy, under hard, whatever else the choices may be - I just can't stand them. It makes me feel icky just thinking about the way all of those things would taste. Which brings me to my problems with french toast. Cooked the wrong way, it runs the risk of tasting like cooked egg on bread. When done right, it's a melty deliciousness that I can't get enough of.

I don't know what came over me tonight, but, without so much as a recipe I made myself french toast for dinner. And, for the first time ever, it came out great. I used some honey whole grain bread, complete with nuts in the bread (Mom, are you reading this - NUTS. In the bread! And let me say, this was the bread from my cupboard, as in, I've been making my sandwiches with this bread!) I took two eggs, a cup of milk, a tsp of cinnamon and a tsp of vanilla and whisked it up good. Then I poured the mixture onto a large plate (my plates have quite a lip, so there was no spillage). I took each slice of bread and I dipped it quickly into the mixture, flipping it once, to coat both sides. Then I set it out on a wire rack to drip out a bit*. I pre-heated my griddle pan, and melted about a tablespoon of butter on it. I kept the burner heat at medium*, and put on the first four slices of bread. I allowed the first side to sizzle a little, and flipped them quickly. Then I let them cook a little longer and slower on each side. Once they were done, I kicked up the heat a touch to brown them, and then put them on a cookie sheet that was already in my just-warm oven. I repeated with the next set of slices.

Viola, there was no egg-y taste at all. I topped them with some warmed up strawberry preserves, powdered sugar, and pure maple syrup (a gift brought to me from Canada!) It was a perfect Easter dinner!

*I think these are the key steps that made the difference.