# food - French toast - really French?



## Encolpius

Hello, 
I wonder if other nations know that food, according to Wordreference some don't have the proper word. And I wonder if French toast is common in other countries and if you eat it sweet or poor? And of course names in other langauges are also welcome. Thank you.
And of course what I mean by FRench toast? piece of bread that was soaked in an egg batter and then fried.


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## Agnès E.

This does exist in France; it is called *pain perdu* (i.e., _lost bread_). It was intended to avoid waisting food in poor families. We actually soak it in a mixture of milk and egg with a spoon of sugar. It's purely delicious.


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## Hakro

In Finnish we call it "poor knight", I don't know why. It's usually served with jam and whipped cream.


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## .   1

I have French Toast once or twice a week for breakfast.
It is stale grain bread soaked in egg and milk with finely chopped spring onions and chilli.
It is most delicious.
I have no idea as to why it is called French Toast and I was considering starting a thread similar to this one.

.,,


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## charlie2

It does exist in Hong Kong. This still holds true.


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## Brioche

Hakro said:


> In Finnish we call it "poor knight", I don't know why. It's usually served with jam and whipped cream.


 
Poor Knight [armer Ritter] is what it is called in German.

My family eats it with a sprinkling of cinnamon and sugar


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## Hakro

Brioche said:


> Poor Knight [armer Ritter] is what it is called in German.


So that's where the Finnish name comes from. Thanks for information!


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## Outsider

Encolpius said:


> piece of bread that was soaked in an egg batter and then fried.


Oh, _douradas_! 

Yummy.


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## ElaineG

I suppose it is only in the United States and Canada that we eat it with maple syrup, given that that it doesn't seem to be that widely available in most other parts of the world that I've been to? (Tip to American/Canadian travelers abroad: Real maple syrup makes a great gift, I've made many European converts to vanilla ice cream with maple syrup).

It's really freakin' good with butter and maple syrup, though.

I have never heard of the savory version that dot.commas likes. Sounds interesting though.


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## geve

It took me 25 years to finally discover the taste of pain perdu/French toast.  It was simply not a habit in my family I guess! What a shame.

You can find maple syrup in French supermarkets; it goes very well with crêpes too!


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## ShOoK

ElaineG said:


> I suppose it is only in the United States and Canada that we eat it with maple syrup....


I'm an Aunt Jemima person myself.  
French toast is one of my favorites. It's so simple and so delicious. Just eggs, milk and a slice of bread. Doesn't matter which kind, but I suppose it's best with homemade, or thicker breads.


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## mytwolangs

Agnès E. said:


> This does exist in France; it is called *pain perdu* (i.e., _lost bread_). It was intended to avoid waisting food in poor families. We actually soak it in a mixture of milk and egg with a spoon of sugar. It's purely delicious.


 
Here is another one - 
Mix eggs, milk, a teaspoon of vanilla extract, and some cinnamon. 
So we prolly call it Frech toast as that is where it was probably invented. 

Serve with syrup and butter and MAN is it good or what?
Oh yeah it needs to be cooked on a hot skillet...


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## french4beth

It has to be _real_ maple syrup for me! Vermont, Maine, or Quebec syrup (I don't care what grade or color - as long as it's real maple!).

My French mother-in-law's secret technique (called _pain doré_ in Quebec):

Use stale bread (or lightly toast fresh bread, preferably French or Italian bread).
Spread one side with butter, and dip the other side quickly in beaten eggs or beaten eggs with milk.
Place the bread in a medium hot skillet _butter side down_. The egg will soak through to the other side.
Once browned, turn over & cook the egg-coated side til nearly crispy.
It will melt in your mouth!

P.S. If you have very small children, cook the bread in maple syrup - it gives a nice, sweet taste without the sticky hands (works for pancakes, too).


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## Cereth

In Mexico the french toast is not common...and I am afraid that for us is a little bit excentric to eat eggs with maple syrup.....
Hot cakes go with syrup
i guess that if someone has the french toast for breakfast it will be served with any desired chili sauce never syrup


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## HUMBERT0

In my house we eat it for breakfast, with jelly(jam) "No syrup, please  ". And we call it "*Pan Francés*" "French toast", we most probably got it thru our neighbors to the north.


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## Cereth

hola Humberto!
Pero a tu pan francés no le pones huevo verdad?


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## HUMBERT0

Cereth said:


> hola Humberto!
> Pero a tu pan francés no le pones huevo verdad?


Sí, leche, huevo, azucar, canela.
Pero, yo vivo a escasos 2 kilometros de la frontera, así que debe de haber un tráfico secreto de recetas entre ciudades fronterizas... je je je


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## Bettie

Yeah, I know the french toast from Mexico!!! I met it when I was a little girl in Mexico City, we called it tostada francesa, el caballero pobre is with french bread, what is the difference?? Well the french toast is with sliced bread and the other one is with the other kind we called it pan francés... but I don't know how to explain it.


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## Cereth

Ahh ya entendí!
el huevo va batido como si hicieras una "masa" no tan espesa como la del hotcake verdad?
ah entonces si va el huevo batido junto con leche, azucar, canela y luego mermelada ha de saber muy bien!!
de verdad que yo no conocía la tostada francesa


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## whattheflock

French toast: stuffed with whipped cream and topped with fruit jam. Nevermind the syrup, pancakes and waffles are the thing for it.
Growing up in Mexico I can remember having french toast in restaurants that boasted a more "international" cuisine, but it was not a staple of breakfast in a city where people would rather have tamales and atole for breakfast.


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## GenJen54

While I'd hate for any thread to turn into a recipe exchange (this one already has), I can't resist adding my take on French toast.

Add a bit of organge extract (or fresh orange juice, if you have it), vanilla and about 2-3 tablespoons sugar to the milk/egg mixture. It really enhances the flavor and gives it an "exotic" taste.

Delicioso!


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## maxiogee

GenJen54 said:


> While I'd hate for any thread to turn into a recipe exchange (this one already has), I can't resist adding my take on French toast.
> 
> Add a bit of organge extract (or fresh orange juice, if you have it), vanilla and about 2-3 tablespoons sugar to the milk/egg mixture. It really enhances the flavor and gives it an "exotic" taste.
> 
> Delicioso!



Is this some sort of medical procedure, extracted organges?


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## mplsray

Encolpius said:


> Hello,
> I wonder if other nations know that food, according to Wordreference some don't have the proper word. And I wonder if French toast is common in other countries and if you eat it sweet or poor? And of course names in other langauges are also welcome. Thank you.
> And of course what I mean by FRench toast? piece of bread that was soaked in an egg batter and then fried.


 

I did a bit of research a while back on pound cake and French toast. One thing I learned was that it is rare to find spices put into the French equivalents of these: quatre-quarts and pain perdu. In the US, on the other hand, spices--some combination of cinnamon, allspice, nutmeg, or mace--are often put into pound cake and almost always put into French toast before cooking.


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## Encolpius

Hello again, I found the answers interesting then and would be glad if the new membres would contribute, too. Thanks again.


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## בעל-חלומות

In Israel we eat it too, but we call it לחם מטוגן ("fried bread" - lehem metugan), and don't associate it with France. I thought it was Ethiopean food when I was younger, but now I have no idea where is it from.


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## Dr. Quizá

In Spanish they're called "torrijas" and here they are mostly eaten during lent. It seems they were already explained in recipes books from 2000 years ago, so they have nothing to do with France.


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## Gévy

Hola Dr. Quizá:

Las torrijas no son equivalentes al pain perdu. Tienen en común una parte de la preparación: pan remojado en leche. Pero el parecido termina allí.

Bisous,

Gévy


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## sokol

At first I thought what you meant is 'Scheiternhaufen' (an Austrian food also, it seems, known in Southern Germany) but then I remembered that _'Pofesen' _(= Austrian German only) is more like what you've described - and indeed there is a Wiki article where _Bundesdeutsch _equivalents are mentioned - of which I didn't know a single one (!): _'Arme Ritter, Rostige Ritter, Fotzelschnitten, Semmelschnitten, Kartäuserklöße, Weckschnitten, Gebackener Weck, Blinder Fisch oder French Toast' _- I only knew _'Pofesen'._

And I am _quite _sure that the above mentioned 'French Toast' of the Wiki article is _not _a native German word.


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## Dr. Quizá

Gévy said:


> Hola Dr. Quizá:
> 
> Las torrijas no son equivalentes al pain perdu. Tienen en común una parte de la preparación: pan remojado en leche. Pero el parecido termina allí.
> 
> Bisous,
> 
> Gévy



Bueno, las posibilidades de que una misma comida tenga exactamente la misma receta que en casa del vecino son pocas; no digamos ya en otro país  Las torrijas se inventaron para aprovechar el pan duro y según la Wikipedia es el equivalente del "pain perdu" y de las "French toasts". De todos modos, es una receta tan sencilla y debe de ser tan común la necesidad de aprovechar el pan duro que seguro que éste es un invento reinventado muchas veces en muchos sitios.


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## EmilyD

There is a delicacy eaten during Passover which I always considered to be an offspring of French Toast:

*Matzah brei*

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matzah_brei

It may be completely unrelated from a culinary etymology  nonetheless, I think it deserves mention.

Great thread, this!  My gratitude to *all* the contributors...

Nmi


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## mplsray

mplsray said:


> I did a bit of research a while back on pound cake and French toast. One thing I learned was that it is rare to find spices put into the French equivalents of these: quatre-quarts and pain perdu. In the US, on the other hand, spices--some combination of cinnamon, allspice, nutmeg, or mace--are often put into pound cake and almost always put into French toast before cooking.


 
As a follow-up to this, I see that the Wikipedia article on French toast has a link to a New Orleans version of "pain perdu," which, as in the case of French toast generally in the US, contains spices, in this case nutmeg and cinnamon.


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## Encolpius

And I realized I didn't mention the Hungarian word. 
It's called *bundás kenyér* (literally: fur-coated bread)


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## Encolpius

sokol said:


> ...'*Scheiternhaufen*' (an Austrian food also, it seems, known in Southern Germany) but then I remembered that _*'Pofesen'* _(= Austrian German only) is more like what you've described...



Scheiterhaufen, yummy, yummy, Czechs call it žemlovka. 

But I'd like to have a question. 
As a native speaker can you guess the etymology of *Pofesen*??? 
And you eat Pofesen sweet or not sweet? 
Thank you.


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## chics

In Spain they are *torrijas* and definitely not sawn at all as something French but a very local thing. I was very surprised to know that they're also eaten in France and I'd say most of people don't know it.


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## dudasd

Encolpius said:


> can you guess the etymology of *Pofesen*???
> Thank you.


 
Somehow I always connected this word with Pavese (see http://www.e-rcps.com/pasta/rcp/soup/pavese.shtml ). They are called pofeze or pofezne in northern Serbia as well. Otherwise they are called prženice (meaning something that's fried) or topljenice (something something that's soaked). They seem to be a very old "dish" (food of the poor, or just when you are lacking time), and they are never connected with any specific country here. Really, it's not a high philosophy, to find out the way how to use your old bread istead of throwing it away. We have some more dishes where old bread is the main ingredient.  

PS I haven't noticed that anyone mentioned yogurt. Some people here (including me) add yogurt to battered eggs. Also, you could say there are two "clans": those who prefer soaking the bread into milk first, and then in eggs, and those who prefer soaking the bread in the prepared mix.


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## Nanon

chics said:


> In Spain they are *torrijas* and definitely not sawn at all as something French but a very local thing. I was very surprised to know that they're also eaten in France and I'd say most of people don't know it.


 


On the contrary, I would say most people do, but:
people don't take enough time to cook proper "pain perdu" anymore;
it is exclusively home made, and so far has no ready-made industrial surrogates;
it is absolutely delicious and somehow reminiscent of childhood, but since the recipe recycles bread, nobody would serve it outside the family circle. Cakes - either homemade or bought - are more likely to impress guests!
nowadays many people tend to throw bread away instead of using it all! Maybe with the financial crisis going on this habit will change...
Something obviously has to do with social prestige in food, because I saw a couple of recipes using _brioche_ instead of bread in women's magazines...


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## Zsanna

This "brioche" thing gives the whole thing a totally new dimension! Taking away just the point... 
On the other hand, there has been a precedent for this: last time it was Marie-Antoinette who suggested that people should eat _brioche_ if they don't have bread! 

I though it was my own invention when I put a little sour cream (instead of milk) in with the eggs before beating them. (As a third version applied in our family: my grandad added a little milk to the eggs before beating them, my mum did not use anything else apart from bread and eggs.)


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## chics

Hello Nanon, here we keep in the freezer all the bread we haven't eaten during the day, so it's no anymore stale. But we keep doing _torrijas_ at home at bread with tomato, and we can find them in some bakeries.

It's true that, as we don't see them in French bakeries or anywhere, we asume that they aren't eaten or known, and it's only when we are very close to some Frenchs that we notice that they eat them, too.

Here we'd never put an onion soupe in a restaurant, for example, as a matter of a non-prestigious dish.


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## xymox

Hi,

This is very interesting!

Indeed in Quebec, the name is "pain doré" and " pain perdu" in France.

Here in Spain the word "torrija" comes from "torrar" (which is the same as "tostar" according to the RAE).
It is even more traditional during lent and I read an explanation for this. Apparently, for C_tholics, the bread (dead) represents the death of J_sus. The milk and the eggs fried in oil represent what J_sus would have suffered. Interesting legend (or not).
It 's especially traditional during "Semana Santa" because it supposedly helped people get through those days during which meat is not permitted.

If you'd like to read this in Spanish, you can google it with "historia torrija", there are all kinds of articles on the subject, all of them interesting..... and recipes too!

Se puede consultar "historia torrija" en google, hay muchos artículos sobre el tema y todos son muy interesantes.

Now, I wonder what the correct word is in Catalan since torrar is definitely the word for "to toast". It isn't a torrada because that's something very different. I looked but didn't find anything.

¿Alquién sabría decirme si existe una palabra en catalán?


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## bb008

Hola 

En Venezuela el pan francés es este: 
	

	
	
		
		

		
			





 incluso hay unos un poquito más larguitos. Este es campesino 

 y este otro le decimos _pan_ _sobado_ (sobao, generalmente lo pronunciamos así) 

 y estas _las canillas_ por que son flaquitas 

. 

En Venezuela hay muchísimas clases de pan, el pan dulce lleva generalmente azúcar por encima y hay muchas variedades, está el francés dulce, hay unas redonditas pequeñitas llamadas _piñitas_ y otras un poco más grandes llamadas _acemitas_. Hay unas que llevan frutas confitadas que le llamamos _ambrosías o ambrosias_. También hay un pan andino que es muy suave y tiene un sabor dulce.

Saludos.-


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## javier8907

chics said:


> Hello Nanon, here we keep in the freezer all the bread we haven't eaten during the day, so it's no anymore stale. But we keep doing _torrijas_ at home at bread with tomato, and we can find them in some bakeries.
> 
> It's true that, as we don't see them in French bakeries or anywhere, we asume that they aren't eaten or known, and it's only when we are very close to some Frenchs that we notice that they eat them, too.
> 
> Here we'd never put an onion soupe in a restaurant, for example, as a matter of a non-prestigious dish.



Not to mention garlic soup. But there are some restaurants where you can eat "migas" (a dish based on old bread and pork fat).

Chics, you are the second person I know that keeps the bread in the freezer (the other one lives in a house on the countryside, so it's not always possible for him to buy bread every day). Perhaps it's usual in Barcelona.

Torrijas with tomato! Never heard of that. I only knew those sweet ones soaked in milk (or wine), and then fried in batter (and sprinkled with sugar and cinnamon). I didn't know they (or a similar thing) existed outside Spain, but given that not only Spanish people have been historically poor, one could expect that people in other places would also try to make their old bread edible, and tasty if possible.


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## PABLO DE SOTO

I think that keeping the bread in the freezer is becoming common in Spain.
Many people do not want, or they can't go the baker's every day as our mothers did, so freezing the bread is a good solution that I also do.
Some people defrost it in the microwave, but I don't do it like that.


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## Mate

*Moderator note:*

Regrettably, we have to close this interesting thread because it doesn't fulfil the current forum's guidelines any more.

The forum has changed, the rules for Cultural Discussions have changed, and it is time for this thread to retire.

Thank you all for taking part in this  interesting discussion, and for you understanding.


*Thread closed.*


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