by Bennett Kalafut

Created on: July 13, 2007   Last Updated: May 11, 2008

French toast, or pain perdu, is made by soaking day-old bread in a mixture of milk and eggs and frying in butter. The milk-and-egg batter is not unlike the beginnings of a custard like Creme brulee, traditionally made with heavy cream, egg yolks, vanilla, and a hard caramel topping.

The hard caramel topping is what makes Creme brulee "brulee", distinguishing it from flan, creme caramel, galactoboureko, and the like, and it may be achieved in one of two ways, either by pouring molten caramel on top of a custard ramekin and toasting it in the oven, or by direct heating of a thin layer of sugar. A creme brulee-style French toast must also have this topping, else it's just, well, French toast, no adjectives needed.

Ingredients:
8 egg yolks
Vanilla extract
Orange liqueur or 1 tsp grated orange zest
2 cups half-and-half
One loaf of French bread
Granulated sugar or, better yet, evaporated cane juice.

Nota bene: Evaporate cane juice can be had in the USA for an arm and a leg at health-food stores or very cheaply at grocers catering to the Mexican-American community.

Begin the night before serving by whisking together eight egg yolks, two cups of half-and-half, a teaspoon of vanilla extract, a teaspoon of orange zest or orange liqueur (some recipes call for Grand Marnier, but this is wasteful!), and a quarter of a cup of honey. Slice the bread into inch-thick pieces, and soak in the egg mixture overnight. If there is not enough custard for the bread, use the leftover bread for something else; don't stretch this recipe.

To cook, fry each slice piece in butter over medium heat until done until the egg absorbed into the bread cooks thoroughly. Keep warm.

Now for the "brulee" part: Evenly sprinkle one teaspoon of sugar evenly on each piece of toast. Arrange on a platter and caramelize the sugar with a blowtorch, of the same sort used to solder pipes.

Alternately, preheat an oven's broiler, grease a baking dish with butter, move the sugared slices to the baking dish, and heat in the broiler until the sugar caramelizes. The blowtorch method is superior, but this will do.

Serve hot.

Learn more about this author, Bennett Kalafut.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.