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French toast is a dish of bread soaked in beaten eggs (hence the nickname of eggy bread) and then fried. It’s typically eaten for breakfast, but French toast can really be eaten any time, for any meal or as a snack. Slices of bread are soaked or dipped in a mixture of beaten eggs, often with milk or cream. The slices of egg-coated bread are then fried on both sides until they are browned and cooked through. Day-old bread is often recommended by chefs because the stale bread will soak up more egg mixture without falling apart.

When French toast is served as a sweet dish, milk, sugar, vanilla or cinnamon are also commonly added before frying, and then it may be topped with sugar, butter, fruit, syrup, or other items.

Less common, French toast can also be served as a savory dish. When it is, it’s usually fried with a pinch of salt, and then served with some type of sauce or condiment such as ketchup, mayonnaise, or gravy.

Earliest known references to French toast:

Dating to the 4th or 5th century, French toast is in the Apicius, a collection of Latin recipes. The recipe mentions soaking in milk, but not egg, and gives it no special name, just Aliter Dulcia which means "another sweet dish."

There is a 14th century German recipe under the name Arme Ritter which means "poor knights." Additionally, French toast is also called "poor knights" in Sweden and Norway.

There are 15th century English recipes for pain perdu (French for "lost or wasted bread") which implies that the dish is a use for stale bread.

French Toast Recipe

INGREDIENTS:

1 egg
1/4 c. milk
dash of vanilla extract
1 tbsp. margarine
2 pieces of bread

PREPARATION:

1. Crack the egg into a medium-size bowl and beat well. Then mix in the milk and vanilla extract.
2. Put the margarine in a frying pan. Heat the pan on the stovetop on medium heat. It's hot enough when the margarine starts to bubble.
3. Dunk each piece of bread in the egg mixture. Make sure the bread is totally covered.
4. Cook the bread in the frying pan on low heat until the underside is light brown (about 5 minutes).
5. Use a spatula to flip the bread over, and cook again for another 5 minutes.
6. Use the spatula to transfer the French toast to a plate.