Last weekend I decided I was making French toast, and so I picked up some French bread, thinking it might be fun to go fancier than our standard whole grain sandwich loaf. Lo and behold, when I went searching for something a little more interesting than my standard French toast, I came across a recipe for a New Orleans style pain perdu, calling specifically for French bread. And Mardi Gras was coming. And I am a food blogger. So clearly that was the recipe I had to make.
I found the recipe in Bill and Cheryl Jamison’s A Real American Breakfast: The Best Meal of the Day, Any Time of the Day
Amusingly, Sammy, who dislikes the French toast I eat quite happily at our local breakfast place, adored this. Alex and I did too, but that was to be expected since we are French toast fiends. As for Sammy, I don’t know if it was the je ne sais quoi from the Irish whiskey or if it was the crusty French bread, but she pronounced this better than any French toast she had had before. She downed 2 thick slices–and she had not even been planning to eat any!
Closely adapted from Bill and Cheryl Jamison.
- 4 large eggs
- 3/4 cup heavy whipping cream
- 1/2 cup 1-2% milk
- 1-2 T good Irish whiskey (I used 1 because of kids)
- 1 T vanilla
- 2 T sugar
- 1/2 t fine sea salt
- 6-7 slices of French bread, sliced 1 1/2 inches thick
- 1-2 T unsalted butter
- 1-2 T vegetable oil
- powdered sugar for dusting
- maple syrup for serving
-
The more stale your bread, the better, but I just left my bread out overnight and this worked fine.
-
Whisk together the eggs, cream, milk, Irish whiskey, vanilla, sugar and salt. Pour into a shallow, wide bowl.
-
Soak each slice of bread for about 10 minutes--flip it halfway through if need be to saturate both sides. However, you do not want the bread to be falling apart.
-
Heat a large, heavy pan or griddle over medium heat (I used enameled cast iron, so as the toast cooked, I gradually turned the heat down to medium low).
-
Add 1 tablespoon of oil and 1 tablespoon of butter to the pan.
-
When it is hot, cook the French toast in batches, cooking to lightly crisp and browned on each side. If you need to add more oil or butter, do so.
-
If you are serving the French toast all at once, place the cooked slices in an oven on low heat. I of course always end up playing the short order cook and serving them to my family as they cook.
-
Sprinkle powdered sugar over the pain perdu before serving with maple syrup.
Amazon affiliate links were used in this post, but only to link to items I would be linking to and discussing anyway.
For the collage fans…
I’m planning on making some pancakes today for a good Fat Tuesday post next week! But now I’m thinking maybe I also need to fit some French toast into our weekend! This looks so good.
I made French toast with challah for the first time recently and it was amazing! Will have to try it with this recipe
Looks SO good!
This looks fantastic! I get pain perdu at a local breakfast spot occasionally, stuffed with delicious cream cheese and whatever the special fruit of the day is. Yum. This one looks fantastic!
I would have no self control whatsoever if my French toast was stuffed with cream cheese.
I’m a french toast fan so I definitely need to try this recipe 🙂
This looks good. I would really like to have this on the table for breakfast! Nice!
So it’s whiskey that makes the difference! Well I should have guessed. 🙂 We’ll be eating these tomorrow morning.
D-LISH-US. OH My I must make this soon. I have been craving french toast and this looks phenomenal.
From New Orleans here and just came across this. I have had French toast countless times in family homes and restaurants. It normally is made with day old French bread, eggs, milk, and sugar. Nothing is ever measured. No one puts any alcohol in it just like no one says N’Awlins. No one ever puts powdered sugar or syrup either because the the toast is already super sweet. My grandparents grew up in Louisiana speaking only French and they wouldn’t know what to think of this recipe. I’m sure it’s good–but it is not New Orleans French Toast.
I am from the north and have spent many vacations in New Orleans–I have relatives there–and it is most definitely pronounced very differently than we would say it up here. N’Awlins is an easy way to articulate that difference and references the way people in the north have been taught to say it–after being told we were saying it wrong previously. No offense is meant by it. It’s hard to know what to do with comments like this, because no single person ever speaks for an entire culture foodwise. I was adapting from a cookbook that connected the recipe to New Orleans. The idea that nothing is ever measured is irrelevant. I rarely measure it either but this is a recipe blog, and I promise you, even in New Orleans, there are some people who don’t have those cooking instincts and still need a recipe with measurements. I am currently staring at a food blog with powdered sugar sprinkled on pain perdu done by a chef born, raised and still living in New Orleans. Not only is powdered sugar common in America on French toast, but it also makes the food look much more attractive. That same chef calls for serving it with maple syrup. Some simple googling tells me that yes people do put alcohol in pain perdu in New Orleans–which is not to say that it must have it or that your grandparents used it, but one of the wonderful things about New Orleans is its different districts and the fact that has its roots in multiple cultures, leading to differences throughout the city. Its roots are not just French, but also Spanish and African American, which I am sure has led to variations on the recipe. As to the sweetness issue, that one is on the tongue of the eater. My younger daughter and husband never put syrup on pancakes either. Everyone likes things to a different sweetness level. If I made it so sweet that I did not want maple syrup on it, I am guessing my husband and daughter would not like it. Food should be made to the taste of the people who are going to eat it. One last thought: pain perdu is always made with French bread. But French Toast? Go almost anywhere else in the country and they will say it is made with brioche or challah.
Apologies for getting back late to you, I had a craniotomy in March and quite frankly did not open my laptop for a long time. You actually wrote your message when they were operating.