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You are here: Home / Boozy Desserts / New Orleans Style Pain Perdu (French Toast)

New Orleans Style Pain Perdu (French Toast)

March 2, 2014 By Laura 9 Comments

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Pain Perdu with Irish Whiskey (Creole French Toast)

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. Pain perdu is, of course, French for the concept of French toast (a fact that is somewhat ironic if you ask me), but the literal translation is “lost bread,” and the concept of French toast (or pain perdu) is not French in origin. Go figure. In France, pain perdu would be a dessert, but in New Orleans, pain perdu is breakfast, just like French toast is everywhere else in America. And the secret “N’Awlins” ingredient? Booze of course.

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!

Pain Perdu with Irish Whiskey (Creole French Toast)

5 from 1 vote
Pain Perdue with Irish Whiskey (Creole French Toast)
Print
New Orleans Style Pain Perdu (French Toast)

Closely adapted from Bill and Cheryl Jamison.

Course: Breakfast
Cuisine: Creole
Author: TheSpicedLife
Ingredients
  • 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
Instructions
  1. The more stale your bread, the better, but I just left my bread out overnight and this worked fine.
  2. Whisk together the eggs, cream, milk, Irish whiskey, vanilla, sugar and salt. Pour into a shallow, wide bowl.
  3. 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.
  4. 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).
  5. Add 1 tablespoon of oil and 1 tablespoon of butter to the pan.
  6. 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.
  7. 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.
  8. 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…

Pain Perdu with Irish Whiskey: New Orleans style French Toast

Filed Under: Boozy Desserts, breakfast, Creole/Cajun, eggs, french toast Tagged With: bread, breakfast, brunch, creole, eggs, french toast, Irish whiskey, mardi gras, pain perdu, whiskey

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Comments

  1. Joanne says

    March 2, 2014 at 9:52 am

    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.

    Reply
  2. Elizabeth says

    March 2, 2014 at 1:10 pm

    I made French toast with challah for the first time recently and it was amazing! Will have to try it with this recipe

    Reply
  3. Marie @ Little Kitchie says

    March 2, 2014 at 4:07 pm

    Looks SO good!

    Reply
  4. Ashley @ Big Flavors from a Tiny Kitchen says

    March 13, 2014 at 10:30 pm

    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!

    Reply
    • Laura says

      March 13, 2014 at 10:40 pm

      I would have no self control whatsoever if my French toast was stuffed with cream cheese.

      Reply
  5. Allie says

    February 6, 2015 at 10:40 am

    I’m a french toast fan so I definitely need to try this recipe 🙂

    Reply
  6. Patricia @ Grab a Plate says

    February 6, 2015 at 11:59 pm

    This looks good. I would really like to have this on the table for breakfast! Nice!

    Reply
  7. Susan@LunaCafe says

    February 7, 2015 at 2:17 am

    5 stars
    So it’s whiskey that makes the difference! Well I should have guessed. 🙂 We’ll be eating these tomorrow morning.

    Reply
  8. Michelle @ The Complete Savorist says

    February 7, 2015 at 2:20 am

    D-LISH-US. OH My I must make this soon. I have been craving french toast and this looks phenomenal.

    Reply

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Hi! I’m Laura and I am a recovering history major who has re-channeled all of my passion for learning about the history of different countries to learning about their food culture. That doesn’t mean every dish on here is strictly authentic, but it does mean that even my adaptations are not undertaken lightly. My goal is to show you–by doing–that these dishes are possible in your kitchen. Including desserts because I have quite the sweet tooth! Read More…

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