@@devinmichaelroberts9954 yep, they had it. It was expensive since most of it had to come from the far east, but any wealthy household would have had it in their supply of spices. It wouldn’t get cheaper until they brought it to the new world and started growing it in the Caribbean.
I think "french toast" is the way to make easy meal from few ingredients. There is no preservation in the past like a fridge, may be it is better let it to dry properly and then make from it french toast or kvass.
I'm surprised people get Max's name wrong... it's in the channel name! Max, of the guild of Millers, producing true Roman bread, for true Roman citizens.
@@tichtran8792 No, in the context he is using it in it's Guild of Millers Rome was a masterpiece that Bruno Heller still rages about being screwed over to this day and rightfully so
It's hard to forget for Brits of a certain age, since Max Miller was the name of a popular Music Hall stand up comedian and singer. Often billed as The Cheeky Chappy, he was regarded as the best stand up comedian of his generation. While pretty tame by modern standards, he was regarded as risque - it was entirely innuendo but the BBC, in their god like omniscience banned his song 'Let's Have a Ride On Your Bicycle' as late as 1953. TBH, "She Had to Go and Lose It At The Astor' by Harry Roy in 1939 was considerably more overt.
I'm swedish and as you pointed out, we also call it "poor knights". An possible explaination for the name is that it is a poor quality ingridient, stale bread, covered in a more expensive coating, much like a poor knight is covered in an expensive armour even thou the knight himself is poor. It's a theory, but it makes sense 😊
That would definitely make sense. A set of fitted plated armor was exorbitantly expensive through out most of history. There's a reason that a knight's armor and his horse were often ransomed separately from the knight himself and it wasn't due to fear of them fighting on or something. Ransoms generally included an oath to not fight further in the current conflict. Once captured a knight was effectively "dead" for the remainder of the current situation. Instead the armor itself along with a trained war horse were considered incredibly valuable commodities.
There are some very approachable "recipes" in sources on knights of the temple, for example one where you take a fish (it's free because you have people working for you, bake it in closed container with herbs (anything local I suppose I don't think any details were mentioned in what I have read) and consume it. 10/10 newbie recipe, would cook/10 PS Most likely said baking was actually steaming in its own water cuz fresh fish are very watery and it's closed in a pot or whatever but process is irrelebant, just treat it with heat lmao
In Hungary they are called "bundás kenyér", meaning furry bread. They are eaten savoury or sweet. Personally I eat it with salt and crushed raw garlic on the top, with a side of sliced and salted tomatoes. Your channel is amazing!
Imho "pelted" or "coated" would be more accurate translation of "bundás". I wonder why we never flavour it sweet, when apparently that is the typical elsewhere.
To add to the confusion in Britain regarding french toast, that you mentioned, there is also something called 'Eggy Bread' which is basically french toast without sugar. It is slices of bread soaked in an egg/milk mix and then fried. It is eaten for breakfast, often with bacon, and is definitely savoury
egg custards are so good at playing both sides. it's just like kugel, replacing the bread with noodles and adding hella more dairy than just milk to your eggs, but the same basic idea. It's gonna thicken up that cheap starch into a rich, tender thing that can be sweet or savory with ease.
Slice of bread, one egg, spot of milk, and a touch of salt and pepper with a scatter of grated cheese added towards the end of frying in butter. I’m not very keen on sweet French Toast, though. Fancy bread pudding, imo 🤔
@@gormm1709 Not just sugar/syrup. French toast also is made with vanilla and cinnamon, so it is a totally different flavor profile than simple eggy bread (egg and milk).
Max reads the British recipe and I'm "that's meatloaf?" Followed by him saying the same thing, and "I love you but you've totally lost the plot." I literally had to pause the video I was laughing so hard. That kind of humor is just one of the many reasons that Max is the best cooking TH-cam around.
In Greece they are called “avgofetes” meaning egg slices. They are eaten without topping sometimes. My grandma’s favorite that I grew up with had a topping of a lot of honey and cinnamon. In some households you can find it with feta and oregano, between other variations. Your channel is amazing! Please give us more Ancient Greek recipes! 🥰
This is actually reminiscent of Shahi Tukra, which is a Mughal dessert popular in India, Pakistan and Bangladesh. Sliced bread fried in ghee, then soaked in sugar syrup infused with rose water and or saffron and then garnished with cream and sliced almonds and pistachios. I am now wondering about the origin of the dish. There was a lot of Italian influence on the Mughal courts through traders and architects. May be that’s how the dish got introduced?
The Brothers Grimn were philologists by profession. And that dictionary is still in use! I remember one of my German profs talking about using it to clarify the meaning of a rather confusing sentence in a story he was reading. It turns out the meaning of some key words had changed since it was written. The phrase "wegen ihrem blóden Gesicht" meant "because of her poor eyesight" and not "because of her stupid face."
Many people do not realize that all languages evolve. Some words stop being used, some the meaning changes. Very confusing, often funny. In just my lifetime in the US , "gay " went from happy to homosexual. I watched a TV show from the 1950's and someone called a guy's tie "gay". Because it was colorful , cheerful.
@@MrYfrank14 Umm.. gay didn't change meanings, gay is a homonym, it's a word spelt the same, sometimes pronounced the same, but means something else. It's kind of like how the word set has 20 different meanings depending on the context.
In my Navy days, I was responsible for making the French toast and pancakes every morning. I would mix eggs, milk, sugar, cinnamon, vanilla and a few drops of something called egg shade. It was a reddish Orange liquid that would make the mixture more yellow. Then I’d dip regular white bread and set it into pans where it would wait until it was time to go onto the grill. Those French toasts were VERY popular! I think we served 5 times as many French toasts as pancakes! They were a hit! I wonder who is making the French toast now.😆
a touch of corn starch emulsified and added prior to the liquid ingredients will take it and crisp it up very nicely try it sometime. ty for your time at sea
Thank you for this! I just found your comment here. I wondered why my family's recipe was so different! We're a military family, for several generations. Now I know where our version of it came from!
I'm in Switzerland but my mother is French, and she used to make pain perdu as a full sweet meal on Sunday evenings, using leftover bread from the week before. It was quick and easy, reduced food waste and always made us happy. :)
Growing up we had our own variation of French toast - prepared like French toast, but cooked in a waffle iron. Grandma used to prepare the bread, and then passed it to Grandpa who sat proudly at the head of the table making “bumpy toast” for everyone. They have since passed on, but “bumpy toast” remains a family favorite. 😋
Heads up: using lard does raise the smoke point of butter but it doesn’t prevent the milk solids in butter from burning, which is where most of the acrid flavor of butter at high heat comes from. So if you’re cooking with butter for a long time at a medium temp or any time at a high temperature, use clarified butter (ghee) regardless to avoid that bitter taste.
I took a French bread making masterclass and they talked about pain perdue and how it does refer to kinda rescuing the stale bread. It kinda has the same effect as toasting it, since the bread is stale it soaks up the liquid and that's what makes it so good. Which is why it drives me nuts when I see people making French toast with fresh bread and then complaining it's eggy. Fresh bread just can't soak up the eggs and/or milk like stale or toasted bread so all that stays on the outside and doesn't get into the slices. Anyway congratulations on the cookbook. That's so exciting. I can't wait to get it.
We here in Finland eat Poor Knights as a dessert. There's also a variation called the Rich Knights which uses coffee bread baked into a loaf instead of normal white bread. Both are usually eaten with strawberry jam and whipped cream.
In Germany, there ist also a hearty version of Poor Knights called Blinder Fisch (Blind Fish)... Your version seems like a really tasty treat for the wintertime.
For the longest time my family has made "French Pastry" for every significant event. It consists of layers of graham crackers and chocolate pudding left covered to soak overnight in the fridge until it turns into something like a cake. None of us had any idea where we got the recipe or why we called it "French Pastry" since it didn't seem to actually be either of those things. Recently I decided to see if I could track something, anything, down for it and lo-and-behold it's a Canadian derivation of a "Napoleon Pastry" making it pretty darn French indeed. Food history is fun.
My family makes something similar, but with vanilla pudding and topped with chocolate frosting, and calls it eclair. It's definitely not real eclair, but its easy and close enough when you have a few dozen people to serve.
@@locke03 YES! my family did this as well, Chocolate eclair cake was one of my most requested birthday desserts, I always found it so hard to wait for it to fully soften in the fridge, but when it did oooooo that almost cakelike softness of the grahmcracker, one of my favorite things to this day
My mother made banana pudding, layers of graham crackers, banana slices, and homemade vanilla pudding in a rectangular cake pan, and chilled overnight. It was always incredibly delicious. I've never heard of the chocolate pudding with graham crackers, that sounds great.
Your pronunciation of the ö in Wörterbuch is SO good. I'm in awe. I love that you put so much effort in getting foreign words as correct as possible. So respectful.
The vocals do remind me of older german tho, like 1930s german recordings, which is kind of funny. But that doesnt mean its bad, the pronounciation is very good.
I love the origins of food, but I also have to say I love how poor Max almost had a breakdown at the meatloaf variant of "French toast". I was crying with laughter.
The Grimm brothers were philologists, so they were looking at the origins of language. This meant researching the etymologies of words (as in a dictionary), but also doing things like collecting and comparing regional dialects, and local folklore as well. Their collection of folklore led to what we now know as "Grimms' Fairy Tales."
They are probably some of the most important historical figures in regards to Indo European folk heritage. They are simply regarded as "those guys who wrote down the fairy tales".
They are the "Grimm" of Grimm's Law, one of the major insights into how Proto Indo-European (PIE) evolved into the different Central Asian ("Indo") and European languages. This was their day job; the folklore just came along with their field research.
A variation of these is made in Portugal tipically for Christmas, called rabanadas. We make them in our house with the tipical eggs, milk, cinnamon and sugar, and we add a good Port wine and orange peels to the "custard". They're incredibly good, they're absolutely the biggest contributor for the Christmas kgs I put on every year.
Nice! I never heard of anyone adding oranges peels but I am going to give that a try. My family is original from Portugal so we also make Rabanadas for Christmas in a very similar fashion
I'm French Canadian and where I grew up in Québec we referred to French Toast as Pain Doré, golden bread. The flavour profile is very different in this and I keep thinking adding a little cardamon to this would be delicious! Thank you for the history as always!
You can never go wrong with adding a little cardamom - it improves just about everything. My favourite low-effort use is mixing some in with a jar of sugar, letting that sit for a few months, then using the infused sugar to make my own hot chocolate mix. Can do the same with black cardamom for a complex, smokey flavor :D
My goodness, never knew what TEEF really referred to, glad I do now. I also though of femal dogs or of a slanderous name for loose women. Relieved it was linked to pastry. 👍🏻😅
Same here in Germany: Armer Ritter! Interestingly, my grandma of Canadian descent called them German Toast, which, according to Wikipedia, is a old name for French Toasts...
Another addition from Germany: I also know them as Karthäuserklöße, possibly referring to some monastic order, but I am not at all familiar with those, so I can't say for certain.
Most likely the Carthusian order of monks. Though some chapters are very strict and forbid monks from speaking for extended periods of time, not the kind of order I’d expect French toast from though they also emphasize religious poverty so maybe that’s why it’s a variation on « Poor Knights ».Watching the video makes me crave pain perdu (since I’m French)
In Romania we call it ''frigănele" which translates approximately to : little fried ones. It realy resembles the medieval recipe. Stale bread, soaked in egg without milk, fried in lard or vegetable oil. Served with sugar on top.
The Russian version is made exactly the same as the Romanian one. They are called "гренки" (grenki), but I'm not sure where the word comes from (either from the word "греть", which means "to heat", or from the French word for grains).
There's also "bundás kenyér" in Transilvania, which is Hungarian for "bread in a coat" and the bread is first soaked in milk, then in egg. Much tastier than the milk-less version.
In Portugal, we have a version of French toast called «Rabanadas», but they are not breakfast fare. We make them mainly as one of the Christmas desserts. We use a baguette-type bread, sliced. The slices are soaked in milk, then egg and deep-fried in oil. Then they are covered in a simple syrup flavored with lemon rind and a cinnamon stick or just cinnamon and sugar. There are also regional recipes that use wine instead of milk
Brazil inherited Rabanada from Portugal, but I've only seen the version with sugar and cinnamon, also in milk, never wine. I'm actually starting to be a little curious about the wine version, gonna give it a try someday
I'm from Bulgaria and here we call it fried toast. We don't usually add any sugar or other flavorings in the batter because we eat it sweet with jam or savory with feta type cheese or both 😁😋
Mum, who had Scottish parents, used to make French toast occasionally. Her recipe consisted of an egg beaten with milk and the bread was dipped in that. It was then fried in a small amount of regular cooking fat and used to pad out inadequate amounts of some other dish (such as the last of a pot of soup). It was savoury, not sweet. In her turn, she remembered it as something used to stretch the WW2 egg ration, as it shared one egg around 3 or 4 people.
In most of former Yugoslavia, they’re called przenice. They’re usually made with stale bread dipped in eggs and fried on oil. This version is more savoury and is usually eaten with prosciutto and cheese. This version would align a bit more with the poor knight etymology as most of the time, the recipe is used to avoid throwing away stale bread. Edit. Small spelling correction
I am so happy to hear about your version of this. I grew up eating it with cheese. I was about 15 when I heard about it being eaten sweet, and that was because a friend asked for jam to put on her French toast. I still prefer it with cheese, though I have had it with honey.
Yep, in Czech Republic we also eat it this way. We fry stale bread both dipped in egg and not dipped and then eat it with lots of garlic and salt. Shredded cheese and ketchup is also favorite nowadays. :D
In Vojvodina (or Northern Serbia) we call them "moče", probably because of the word "zamoče", which means "to dip in". In Belgrade and south Serbia they call them prženice. The main thing we agree is that we eat them with sour cream or yogurt.
I like the Dutch word best: "wentelteefjes", which in modern Dutch translates into "wentel" = "to turn" and "teefje" = "female dog ie b*tch". So perhaps someone thought that turning them kind of looked like a female dog rolling on her back and that somehow became our national term. Much better than "Frans Geroosterd Brood" = "French Toast" anyway.
That's in northern Dutch, anyway. I suspect if you're asking for "wentelteefjes" anywhere in Belgium not many people will know what you're talking about. In these regions, I've heard both "verloren brood" ("lost bread", I guess from the French) or "gewonnen brood" ("won bread" or more likely "saved bread")
I grew up in the American South calling it cream toast or custard toast. Mamaw always made it with bread that she'd baked a day or two before, with cream and eggs in the liquid, and usually flavored with almond or vanilla in the custard liquid. Soaked for about 5 minutes each side, then fried in butter. Usually served with molasses, maple syrup, or honey, all of which my grandparents produced themselves. 😊
Respect. That sounds delicious. I've not heard it called cream toast, but considering my MawMaw called them cream potatoes, I'm wondering if I just never had french toast with her and if I had she'd have called it cream toast. I'm from Georgia. Where are you from?
I’m French Canadian 🇨🇦, and they are a very classic dish to make here, especially with maple syrup. We call them “pains dorés”, which translates to golden bread. 😊
When I was a lass, in the UK back in the 60s and 70s, we called it 'Eggy Bread.' We had it for supper, with Heinz Baked Beans and Sausages or Bacon and lashings of Tomato Ketchup! Congrats on The Cookbook, it looks superb!
In Brazil (and I believe in Portugal too), we call them Rabanadas. Instead of putting sugar in the egg and milk mixture, we tend to put condensed milk and is very often made with stale "pão francês" (a baguette-ish kind of bread) instead of brioche. And a interesting fact is that we almost exclusively eat them at christmas.
The use of condensed milk in "Rabanadas" recipes is quite recent. My grandma, for example, still uses the mixture with sugar and milk when she makes this recipe for Christmas, and that's how I learned.😊
@@annainspain5176 Well it must be a difference between portuguese of Portugal and Brazil, because ive never heard of this meaning. My confusion is based on the fact the word "rabanada" looks a lot with "rabada" that is a tipical dish made of the cow tail
The Grimm Brothers were really big in early linguistics in germany. In the german Wikipedia the first thing mentioned is that they were linguists^^ Great Job as always on the video!
Not just Germany, the dictionaries and multiple other books they thoroughly researched and penned are literally the largest contributor to our understanding of modern european languages. The dictionary they co-authored together specifically has helped us understand many root words and the history of no less than 9 languages in pretty explicit detail
Funny thing about the alleged origin story of the name "french toast": This has happened to at least one other dish. There's a cake that is commonly referred to as German Chocolate Cake which does not come from germany, but rather, the cake is named after an american baker called Samuel German who developed a new type of baking chocolate in 1852. The cake was originally called German's chocolate cake but of course, that little 's didn't last long.
I appreciate Max's effort to pronounce foreign words correctly. I can only judge for the German ones, but it sounds incredibly similar to how I would say it, and it feels nice when creators put in the effort
The fact that you started this channel as a hobby and then now you’ve garnered a huge following AND you’re dropping a cookbook!? You are SO inspiring Max!! Im so proud to be a fan and I can’t wait to get my hands on your book 😊💕
In German, we also call it "Poor Knights". (Actually, I usually call them "Warm Knights", as the German wors for 'poor' is 'arm', which rhymes with 'warm' and besides meaning the same as English "warm" also has the connotation of "gay"... and the poof I am loves that.)
My Latvian mother called them "nabaga brunenieki" which means "poor armored soldiers" (knights!) I always wondered about it. Thank you for clearing up one of my childhood mysteries 😄
Oh that's so interesting! All the while I was sitting here in Latvia, wondering super hard as to whether I ever encountered that type of dish here... (I came to the conclusion that I haven't.) Paldies for the clarification! :)
I'm a French-Canadian from Ontario. We'd call it "French toast" or in French I'd call it "pain doré" (golden bread). I'm pretty sure it was my french grandmother who taught me how to make it. I'm sure my mom had also made some previously, but I have a special memory of when my grandmother was showing us how to cook it. It's always served with copious amounts of real maple syrup.
En France, on l'appelle _pain perdu_ , puisque c'est fait avec du pain qui serait jeté sinon. Mais, au Québec (où j'ai vécu pendant 6 ans), le nom est comme en Ontario: _pain doré_ .
I'm a former English Quebecois living in Ontario. I once did a linguistics project on the evolution of the French language. Quebec French (especially Joile) preserves a lot of archaic French terms no longer used in France (and, oddly, are not used by Franco-ontarians next door). Foulard/Écharpe, Corridor/Couloir, Souliers/Chaussures, are just examples I've come across frequently since moving to the RoC. Now I have a new one: The immigrants to New France must have come while the name of French Toast was still "Tostées Dorées" (and shoes were sill Chaussures, etc), becoming "Pain Dorées" with time here. Also, Max, kudos on yout pronunciations. It is rare to hear an American not butcher other languages. Your French pronunciation is pretty good, you're just a bit off on the "u" in "perdu" (and also "tu"). If you want to get it, hold an "eeeee" and then round your lips. Keep your tongue and cheeks tense (the English "ooo" is lax), and you should get it. Keep up the amazing work!
When I was a kid, one of my aunties in Italy used to make a savoury version, with sliced mozzarella sandwiched between two slices of bread, dipped in egg and milk, then breaded and fried. I absolutely loved it, not least because of the name! She called it "mozzarella in carrozza" - mozzarella in a carriage 😊
There's a variant of the French dish Croque Monsieur that's similar. In the U.S. it's often called a Monte Cristo sandwich. The filling is ham and cheese (classically Gruyère or Emmental), and the sandwich, or sometimes just the bread, is dipped in beaten egg and fried. Usually it's just savory, but some add sugar or syrup. Your aunties version sounds great. Did she use aged mozzarella or fresh?
@@winfieldjohnson125 For all I know, it was a regional or even a family name given to that dish! Besides, I've lived out of Italy most of my life, so if you go there and ask for a "mozzarella in carrozza" and no one understands, I apologise in advance 🤣
Fresh, I think (I was very young at the time). I imagine anything that melts will do. One of the happiests moments of my adult life was when I was able to veganise this dish, it's lovely 🤤
Hi Max, my boyfriend and I have been binge watching your videos for the past week. They are really interesting and very informative, we really appreciate the efforts you have put into research and reviving these amazing food. Your videos have also spiked my interest in creating new recipes. Thank you very much and please keep up with it, we are always looking forward to your new vids!
As someone who has grown up in the South (of the US), my main association of French Toast is from how we jokingly call snow days 'French Toast Day', because everyone rushes the supermarket/grocery stores for bread, eggs, and milk (usually clearing the shelves, tbh -- we don't handle ice and snow well around these parts)....and so making French Toast goes perfectly hand in hand with said ingredients. 😆😆😆
I live in the northeast and they raid the grocery stores like looters when it snows , too. I blame the weather forcasters for the impending doom forcasts. " YOU ARE ALL GOING TO DIE! This storm dropped 4 feet of snow on the rocky mountains last week! You will have to eat the dog!
I don't know when the split came but, in France, Pain Perdu is the name we use. Mainly because we use stale bread. The preparation of french toast allows for stale baguettes to not be toothbreakers upon consumption.
@@lhazarus7188 its because the baguette was invented in 1839 while new france (now québec) dated from the 1600's so baguette was never a thing in québec , also back then some region in france used to call it '' pain doré'' too and they are probably those who bring the recipe to new france
I grew up with arme riddere in Denmark. My mother would make them and serve them with fruit soups like elderberry soup. Hers were very similar to croutons. It was cubed stale bread, fried in butter and sprinkled with sugar. They were way smaller than what you made, so keep that in mind. It was a poor man’s dish. The fruit soups was made from the leftovers, from making elderberry syrup, and had a few apple or pear slices in it too. The small sweet crouton like roasted “arme riddere” goes perfectly with fruit soup. Fruit soup was also a way to stretch your fruits and berries for more people.
I've really been enjoying your videos. I'm from New Orleans. My father was born in 1920, and spoke French as his first language. We grew up calling it Pain Perdu. However, as a child, and not knowing any French, I thought it was "pan pan do". When we got older, we learned that was one of many ways to use "lost bread". Another popular use of stale bread was Bread Pudding. Tossing that out there in case you are looking for ideas for future episodes.
Here in Romania we have "bread with egg" which is basically bread soaked in beaten eggs with salt. it's fallen out of fashion for quite a few years, but we used to use it just as we would bread, in the morning or in sandwiches OR we would sprinkle it with sugar at the end
I ate something simmilar in Serbia just bread slices (with crust) dipped in salted eggs and fried there's many names depending on the region I remember przhenica (fried one) and pofezna (no idea what it means.)
15:37 its called bread containing egg in turkey and its generaly made with egg bread and salt. It generaly eaten with dryed tomato paste, cream cheese, white cheese , olives ... basicly breakfast foods in turkey.
As a German raised person, I have my favorite story of Arme ritter or French toast. The story my mother would tell me is that poor Knights would soak stale bread in egg, but then served with cheese or cured meats. No clue where she got the story from but I always liked it
My mom’s British friends called it ‘eggy bread” and it was your choice and depending on what time of day it was served, if you made it savory or sweet. They said it was a good way to “stretch” eggs, butter, milk and sugar when those items were hard to come by. Just like boiled potatoes could be stretched into mashed potatoes or stretched into potato soup if more people showed up for supper than planned.
@@TastingHistory, I would venture to say Banana Bread can hold up if it's sliced thick enough. Thanks for this wonderful video and I hope José & you, along with everyone here, has a very Happy Valentine's Day! 💖
I've done this with pumpkin bread, which is pretty much the same texture / consistency as banana bread. It's not easy to work with, as the custard won't penetrate very deeply on its own, and when you soak it long enough to make it work, the bread just falls apart. What I've found works best is to actually slightly undercook the pumpkin/banana bread, then soak the slices just long enough to get a thin layer of custard on the outside. After it's fried, the interior is still moist, just not with the custard.
Funny thing is that in Denmark that we usually call white bread for franskbrød, translated to mean mean french bread. And it's not the only thing we call french with no real connection to french cuisine. Like the a type of hotdog we call fransk hotdog, simply meaning french hotdog. And also chips being called franske kartofler, meaning french potatoes.
@tasting history with max miller I am Finnish and Köyhät Ritarit always came with this tale (at least in my family): a knight had just returned from a war, during which his household was running low on supplies. Suprisingly the King informed he would be staying with this knight, this night. The household had to quickly device something for the king to eat, but all they had left was stale bread, milk, butter, eggs, some spices and jam. They are always eaten with whipped cream and jam here.
In Brazil we inherited the portuguese "rabanada", a version of french toast made with bread soaked in milk, eggs, sugar and vanilla, and then fried and sprinkled with sugar and cinnamon. It's a Christmas staple dessert. But my mom makes it all year long!!
And we generally use some kind of hard bread instead of brioche. It can be French baguette, "Brazilian style" French bread, Portuguese bread or Italian bread.
I was shocked to hear that to have rabanadas for Christmas is a tradition only in some parts of Brazil. There are places where they don't even know what rabanadas are...
In Bulgaria, we call them "fried bread slices" (a translation :D) but we don't add sugar - it's the eater's choice whether to add jam, honey, sugar, etc to it afterwards, or cheese. I usually choose cheese 🥰
@@spartanalex9006 it's our local cheese; imagine feta, but from cow's milk. It has a tangy taste which helps downplay the oiliness of the fried egg bread 😁
When I make French Toast, I generally add a bit of nutmeg or cinnamon to the egg mixture. My mother claimed that it was called German toast in her home until WWII, when it changed to French toast after the invasion of France. This could be entirely within the family, though. My grandfather was of German descent and if Granny got the recipe from his family, she might just have called it German toast from that.
I doubt it was exclusive to your family There were many MANY things with german as part of the name of the language specifically being involved as were a lot of things especially here in the US. Then once The Great War happened there were DISGUSTINGLY gut wrenching examples of anti-German propaganda both abroad and in the US from people being attacked to forcing businesses to close to people changing their last names out of fear to I kid you not tens of thousands of german shepherds being outright murdered(worst of which because they had all escaped the slow degeneration of the cross breeding and genetic altering done to the breed elsewhere) P.S.- Nutmeg has been mentioned therefore John Townsend must also be mentioned
@@victorkreig6089 There were very likely many over-reactions during the WWII era. These things happen when collective emotions run high, especially in response to atrocity. However I can assure you that my grandfather was fully on board with the US efforts. His mother was a Jewish girl who had married into a gentile family.
@@herbwitch5681 I never said ww2, and the majority of anti-german sentiment for that war and such happened well before they were even pushed out of France It was manufactured just like how 60% of the country didn't want to even join the war
New Zealand here - my family have always called it french toast, and that is what you call it when you order in a cafe, but I've also known many people to call it 'Eggy Bread'. I also, weirdly, grew up on savoury french toast, with just some salt on top and in the egg mix, and was appalled as a child to learn it was commonly eaten sweet. To this day salted french toast is still one of my go-to comfort foods.
My partner is from NZ and he does the same thing. Serves it to me on a plate and expect that it's going to be sweet but take a bite and it's cheese and onion flavour😅. Sometimes he will make the sweet version, just to confuse me even more.
I would suggest that a possibility for the "poor knight" name may come from the color of the tar or paint used by less wealthy knights to preserve their steel armor.
it's so interesting to know that the name "poor knights" is common across languages because that's what we call french toast in finnish! (köyhät ritarit)
Growing up on the Maine/Canada border, French was our first language. We always called "French toast" "golden toast". I was quite pleased that was one of the names you called it in your video.
I'm from the province of Quebec, and here we call it "pain doré" (golden bread). It's called pain perdu in cookbooks but hey, Quebeckers have a mind of their own. LOL
Funny thing: in Italy we don't really use to eat french toast, especially at breakfast but it still exists here and there hidden in more complex recipes as the classic crostino toscano con fegatini di pollo where, in Lucchesia and Garfagnana, the older version of the bread base is bread soaked in chicken stock then soaked again in eggs then fried. On top of this you put a paté of chicken livers. Typically is a kind of dish that you do as a starter for a celebration lunch (Christmas, Easter etc)
I grew up in NY. We always called it French toast. An Englush fruend of mine said they call it eggy bread, and that it's a savory dish. He'd never heard of having it with syrup or jam
While in Marine Corps bootcamp I was on a very strictly monitored eating plan (I was a few pounds over the allowed weight for my height) but every once in a while if weigh in happened before breakfast I would manage to get french toast made from raisin cinnamon bread, with butter and syrup. For so many reasons it was the Best French Toast EVAH!!!! Even now, 40 someone years later, thinking of it makes me smile and remember that TREAT!
Semper Fi. I remember the multi-layered omelets at MCRD Dago 73/74. They had the West Coast Cook School there then. About 10% of candidates wash out of the Naval Aviator process. Over 80% wash out of Force Recon training. But Marine Corps Cook School is the toughest -- in 248 years No One has sucessfully passed the course...
@@HootOwl513 HA!!!! Did my time on Mess Duty (good old mess and maintenance before the contractors came in), got my name/face in the Camp Pendleton newspaper for putting together two massive cold cut trays for some event. Having family in the restaurant industry, I knew how to fancy up some bologna and cheese. Cooks tried to keep me for 30 days instead of the 14 scheduled. That‘s a BIG HELL NO!
@@cherryllcooper679 I pulled a 2 week stretch of mess duty in Korea, during a deployment with the ROK Marines, They grew their own beefsteak tomatoes [in on-base greenhouses, I guess.] I sliced them up with my new Buck knife. Before going in, one of my best drinking buddies in junior college was a cook/Food Service Specialist with the 4th Marine [Reserve] Tank Bn in San Diego. I learned his Chili recipe. He used to joke about the Messman's tattoo he was [someday] gonna get: Crossed GI Knife and Fork under a grinning, drooling Skull, with the inscription, ''HEAD COOK/ DEATH FROM WITHIN'' .
In German they are most of the time called "Arme Ritter" - poor knights since it is a way to eat stale bread. Oh he even mentions it. We mostly eat it with Cinnamon Sugar and all kinds of preserved fruit compot - for example pears or plums.😋
Long live Max! The first of his name! Lord of Cookery and Amusement and Education. Master of his craft and wisdom and witts. I love French toast ❤️❤️❤️❤️ (greetings from Austria) 🇦🇹
@@acboesefrau7729 My wife's granny's cookbook says that they call them "Pofesen" in Vienna, but my 100 % Viennese wife didn't know the name. I have no idea what Pofesen means, though I'm German and use Austrian words myself meanwhile.
In Brazil we call it rabanada and it’s served only on Christmas. There’s also a special bread that is usually produced in the bakeries only during Christmas time to be used in the rabanada recipe, called pão de rabanada.
I have heard the name "pain perdu" in Quebec, but most often my family would call it "pain doré", which would be very close to that tostees dorees that we're mentioned in the video, essentially just meaning golden bread
I love how much food defies language - it just is, and we just come up with our own words for it. Consensus is rare, and it just goes to show how fleixble and creative food as a medium for cultural expression really is.
In Brazil, the name we give it (or at least one region of the country would give it) is "rabanada", and though the name has no where the same origin as the ones you cited, it still is the same dish. Fried bread that has been soaked in eggs, milk, or both, spiced or not. Most interesting, however, is that my first exposition to it was an 80's recipe booklet/magazine for Christmas dishes! I presume some people treat it like a holiday dish, perhaps.
Sou do Rio Grande do Sul e rabanada (e é esse o nome aqui) é basicamente o pão dormido envolto em ovos, leite, um pouco (bem pouco) de açúcar e um pouco de sal. Frito por imersão. Minha mãe fazia no café da manhã mais ou menos a cada três dias (tempo pra juntar os restos de pão). E é uma delícia. O modo de fritar por pouco tempo faz com que o interior fique seco e é essa a idéia mesmo. Portanto, não é uma sobremesa ou prato doce. Mas temos a rabanada de Natal. Essa sim uma sobremesa. Pão dormido embebido (por meia hora) em ovos, leite, açúcar e baunilha e frito na manteiga, polvilhado com açúcar e canela
When I was in culinary school, in the 90's in Connecticut, our Chef told us to add orange juice to our French Toast. Love you Max, Thanks for another Awesome video!
@@15BubblesOrigami Citrus is often used in professional settings as a flavor enhancer -- basically doing the job of salt when you've already added as much as you can.
South of Germany here - Arme Ritter. Definitely made to use up the stale bread, soaked in eggs and milk and then fried, given to us children for lunch covered in sugar and cinnamon. I really need to ask my Mum to make it again… Edit: My husband, who is also from the South of Germany, but most emphatically NOT a Swabian, but from Baden, recalls a similar dish made in casserole style called Pyre (Scheiterhaufen).
I was an American student staying with a family in Ludwigsburg, Germany and I asked if I could make French toast for them one morning. They didn’t recognize I was talking about Arme Ritter as I hadn’t known it was called that and they hadn’t heard it called French toast. For some reason,they pulled out applesauce without saying a word and they all put it on the toast? Still bewildered to this day.
It's Arme Ritter in northern Germany as well! Never seen anyone eat it with apple sauce though... that must be a regional thing. 😅 or those people were just confused.
@@sanablue I'm from swabia and I've always had Armer Ritter with Applesauce, even at friends houses, so probably it's a regional thing. Edit: I also remember eating it with maple syrup and cinnamon, so it's not like applesauce was the only option, but definitely the most common one.
In the UK we call that eggy bread - it's different from French Toast because it only uses egg instead of egg and milk or cream. However, most people I know eat it savoury rather than sweet - usually with salt and either ketchup or brown sauce. But I have both saffron and rose water in so I'm tempted to make a version
Glad I'm not the only one. Wondered if I was just ignorant - we didn't really do eggy bread in my family, but I had it at a Scout camp. I feel almost as though bread and butter pudding has as much in common with French toast as it's made today as eggy bread does.
I’m from Shropshire, & had no idea there was a savoury version until I read these comments! Always made with sugar & cinnamon. I grew up knowing it as Poor Knights of Windsor (from old recipe books we had) but we called it Eggy Bread as it’s less of a mouthful to say. I didn’t hear French Toast being mentioned until I started seeing them on the menu in fancy cafes in my 20’s, but they always seem to have dollops of cream & fruit/coulis on them & lacked cinnamon.
Firstly, many congratulations on the publication of your book! And secondly, when I was growing up, it was called "eggy bread" (so descriptive!), and was a popular breakfast at boarding-school over fifty years ago. Having said that, it was not sweetened in any way, shape or form; on the contrary, it was seasoned with salt and pepper, and very good it was, too. I sometimes make it for my breakfast, even today! And mentally I think of the sweet version as "French toast", which I honestly don't think I'd like very much, and the savoury version, still, as "eggy bread".
Ah, interesting. Savory French toast was the way to go breakfast in my family. Coming from eastern European roots (Russia and Ukraine), we called it "grenki". Etymologically, sounds like the word comes from "gret'" meaning to heat-up in many Slavic languages and something small (suffix -ki). Apperantly also made sweet (with just sugar) but no no, not in my family 😂
Interesting! My mom grew up in a more rural region of Texas (well it's not so rural now, but it was when she was a small kid in the 50s) and her family made French toast with just egg, milk, bread and butter - when she was an adult and ordered some at a restraunt she was surprised that it was sweetened since her family had never prepared it that way. (She had a similar experience encountering sweet tea at a restraunt as a teen because her dad was a crazy person who'd steep it for ten minutes then drink it. She was also shocked that normal tea tasted good because the wierd stuff her dad made didn't.)
I've always known it as eggy bread too, but my family has always eaten it with jam, which my boyfriend refuses to try even though he only eats it with ketchup!
In the UK we tend to call this 'eggy bread' and it can be topped with basically anything you want, sweet or savoury. It acts more like a rich base than as a dish of its own. Personal favourites are cinnamon sugar, candied bacon (fry the bacon in brown sugar to caramelise) or fruit with chocolate spread/sauce.
In the northern part of Mexico, at least in my family, we call it "pan de huevo", egg bread or perhaps eggy bread as you call it. However, it's a family thing, most of my friends call it french toast or "torrejas" (the version from spain that the video mentions).
Norwegian french toast (arme riddere) is white bread soaked in a mix of milk, egg, sugar, cardamom and cinnamon. The cardamom and cinnamon makes it really truly delicious. It is often served with a bit of jam or chocolate sauce on top
@@jchow5966 I think the norwegian name for french toast is really funny, because it (arme riddere) translates to "poor knights", and i have no idea why we call it that
French toast being one of my life-long FAVORITE breakfast treats, this video delighted me, and now I'm desperately craving it. I do have to say, I think here in the States we've achieved maximum decadence by the creation of stuffed French Toast, which is so glorious and soul-lifting it may someday avert the apocalypse and usher in world peace. Keep doing what you do, Max - Life is better with Tasting History!
There is an Italian version of French Toast called “Mozzarella in Carrozza” (Mozzarella in a carriage). Take two slices of (lightly stale) bread. Cut off the crusts (dice those and fry separately for croutons). Stick a slice of fresh mozzarella in between the slices. Pinch the edges if you’re not feeling confident the cheese will stay put. Dip the stuffed slices in beaten eggs or in an egg-and-milk mixture. Fry in a pan until golden. Either add salt and pepper to the egg, or season the toast after frying. For extra decadence, you can add fresh basil, or olive tapenade, or pesto, or truffle paste between the bread along with the mozzarella. Or anything else you might like (sun-dried tomatoes, salami, mortadella, …). Major cheese pull and satisfying crunch. This is extremely yummy.
The version of this that I grew up with in Romania is just bread dipped in eggs and fried. You can add a little salt or serve it with some white cheese. I always knew it as a savory dish and it is actually a good way to use stale bread. You can try frying it in lard, it's extra yummy. We call these a variety of names that would roughly translate as 'little fried', 'eggy bread', and the non translatable 'gigi papa'
Here in the Czech Republic we mostly use this recipe when we have some stale bread, but instead of sweet toppings we tend to use mustard, then layer it with cheese, ham, pickles, pretty much any other leftovers you have in a fridge
I'm from the US, so I've always known it as French Toast, but the French Toast I had growing up is actually a bit different to what you see served at restaurants & the like. My family makes French Toast as a savory dish, with just the egg custard, salt, & pepper soaked into the bread, then pan fried. We don't top it with any sugar, syrup, whipped cream, or anything of the like. So, when I first encountered sweet French Toast, it was quite a shock for me.
I saw a recipe for a French toast style dish in a Cuban cookbook. Thick slices of bread are split open and stuffed with cream cheese and guava paste. I never have guava paste around so I use orange marmalade or whatever sort of preserves I have on hand. The pieces are then soaked in the egg/milk mixture (don't forget the vanilla) and fried until golden brown. It's so tasty no syrup is necessary, but top with a wee bit of butter.
Do you happen to have the name of the Cuban cookbook? It sounds like the origin of a recipe that my husband's family makes, and I'm very curious to read it. :)
This Cuban dish is a type of "sandwich" - I'll have to look up the name. Very, very sweet - guava and cream cheese mix are sweet - also used in Cuban "danishes" - pastelitos de guayaba.
many places in the states serve that and it is usually called stuffed french toast. cream cheese and different fruit preserves are the usual filling options.
As someone that grew up with savory French toast I find this fascinating. The first time I had something sweet with my French toast, I was about 15 and a friend asked for jam to put on her French toast. Had it with honey about a month ago.
Regarding the comment about poor people not having sugar or saffron: As a person who has been "poor" I can tell you poor people do buy expensive ingredients and use them sparingly. I would not have a case of saffron, for example, but I do have a little pouch I got on sale and stuffed it away for when it is needed. Other similar things would be expensive liquor or vanilla beans - you get the point. Just buy what you can afford and use it now and then so you can feel rich without spending a lot. I love your channel, Mr. Max.
Hi Max! In England we have a recipe for 'Eggy Bread', which is just simply bread soaked in beaten eggs then fried (along with all the excess egg). Normally served savory with baked beans but I personally love it with bacon and maple syrup! Give it a go :)
I grew up in the deep south USA, and we did the same thing, cooking the last of a loaf of bread with excess egg. We'd add a pinch of salt to the eggs before cooking and then add maple syrup to the finished toast. I personally like to use strawberry jam on mine instead of syrup.
In Poland, we have a few names. Chleb w jajku, which means egg-soaked bread, or jajochlebki which means something like "eggybreads", or chleb na jajku, which would mean "bread on eggs"
@@cobaltchromee7533 I was deployed to Poland last year and I found y’alls language super interesting. I got some laughs when I asked for Chleb, I pronounced it how it’s spelled, and didn’t know it was pronounced “fleb” lol
Here, in Hungary we don't normally make a custard based sweet french toast. It's only the bread dipped into salted beaten eggs. This version is called bundás kenyér or furry bread (as in bread in a fur coat).
In Turkey, we call it "Yumurtalı Ekmek" which translates into "Egg Bread." Which might be partly due to how we (or at least we, in this household, using a late 80s cookbook given out for coupons by one of the more popular newspapers of the time) don't add milk to it either, like the medieval Italians. Though unlike the medieval Italians, we don't necessarily sweeten it either. We serve it alongside a number of sweet and savory toppings you can choose from, and it goes very well with tulum cheese.
Check out these other interesting Medieval recipes:
Medieval Tournaments: th-cam.com/video/wxypUB5K0KE/w-d-xo.html
Peasant Food: th-cam.com/video/zKa5GRu4LwE/w-d-xo.html
Medieval Outlaws: th-cam.com/video/IfcQcAPt5vk/w-d-xo.html
Medieval Saint Diet: th-cam.com/video/jBRVvMm3xv0/w-d-xo.html
Medieval Monks: th-cam.com/video/zz0y1d6IIpY/w-d-xo.html
@@devinmichaelroberts9954 yep, they had it. It was expensive since most of it had to come from the far east, but any wealthy household would have had it in their supply of spices. It wouldn’t get cheaper until they brought it to the new world and started growing it in the Caribbean.
I think "french toast" is the way to make easy meal from few ingredients.
There is no preservation in the past like a fridge, may be it is better let it to dry properly and then make from it french toast or kvass.
I'm surprised people get Max's name wrong... it's in the channel name! Max, of the guild of Millers, producing true Roman bread, for true Roman citizens.
Not of the guild of miller but of the HOUSE of Miller. A fine gentleman. LOL.
@@tichtran8792 No, in the context he is using it in it's Guild of Millers
Rome was a masterpiece that Bruno Heller still rages about being screwed over to this day and rightfully so
Yep, I can't believe how many people get Matt's name wrong. Rediculous
It's hard to forget for Brits of a certain age, since Max Miller was the name of a popular Music Hall stand up comedian and singer. Often billed as The Cheeky Chappy, he was regarded as the best stand up comedian of his generation. While pretty tame by modern standards, he was regarded as risque - it was entirely innuendo but the BBC, in their god like omniscience banned his song 'Let's Have a Ride On Your Bicycle' as late as 1953. TBH, "She Had to Go and Lose It At The Astor' by Harry Roy in 1939 was considerably more overt.
Squidward.... TENNISBALLS?!
I'm swedish and as you pointed out, we also call it "poor knights". An possible explaination for the name is that it is a poor quality ingridient, stale bread, covered in a more expensive coating, much like a poor knight is covered in an expensive armour even thou the knight himself is poor. It's a theory, but it makes sense 😊
same in here Finland, Köyhätritarit = poor knights. but we dont use bread, we use stale baked roll
@@Greedyjama A semla? 😊
Wow, maybe so! Good inquisitiveness!◇
Honestly, lots of history can be concluded or understood through common sense analogies. This seems plausible and believable to me.
That would definitely make sense. A set of fitted plated armor was exorbitantly expensive through out most of history. There's a reason that a knight's armor and his horse were often ransomed separately from the knight himself and it wasn't due to fear of them fighting on or something. Ransoms generally included an oath to not fight further in the current conflict. Once captured a knight was effectively "dead" for the remainder of the current situation. Instead the armor itself along with a trained war horse were considered incredibly valuable commodities.
Medieval French toast feels like the most approachable medieval recipe we've been taught so far ✍️👩🍳
And one of the tastiest
@@TastingHistory not as tasty as the everlasting syllabub 😊
the harvester sauce is also quite nice :) there's a delicious clove sauce from the same cookbook
@@TastingHistory just want you to know that you are the first channel i’ve ever subscribed to. Keep it up.
There are some very approachable "recipes" in sources on knights of the temple, for example one where you take a fish (it's free because you have people working for you, bake it in closed container with herbs (anything local I suppose I don't think any details were mentioned in what I have read) and consume it. 10/10 newbie recipe, would cook/10
PS Most likely said baking was actually steaming in its own water cuz fresh fish are very watery and it's closed in a pot or whatever but process is irrelebant, just treat it with heat lmao
In Hungary they are called "bundás kenyér", meaning furry bread. They are eaten savoury or sweet. Personally I eat it with salt and crushed raw garlic on the top, with a side of sliced and salted tomatoes.
Your channel is amazing!
I agree that garlic is must on bundás kenyér, but I also put sour cream on it.
That sounds fantastic!
Wow, sounds delicious. Definitely going to try this, thanks!
Imho "pelted" or "coated" would be more accurate translation of "bundás". I wonder why we never flavour it sweet, when apparently that is the typical elsewhere.
Furry bread in the USA is MOLDY BREAD! Lmfao.
Impresses me how Max just effortlessly throws out German, French and Latin names of things with pretty good pronunciation.
Marx Willer has an amazing way with words!
I'm going to guess the secret is that it's not effortless.
He's got the tongue of a polyglot.
I wonder if he practices in the mirror first?
@@We1mann Exactly. He's mentioned in some videos that he gets pointers and help with the pronunciation and works at it to get it as right as he can.
To add to the confusion in Britain regarding french toast, that you mentioned, there is also something called 'Eggy Bread' which is basically french toast without sugar. It is slices of bread soaked in an egg/milk mix and then fried. It is eaten for breakfast, often with bacon, and is definitely savoury
egg custards are so good at playing both sides. it's just like kugel, replacing the bread with noodles and adding hella more dairy than just milk to your eggs, but the same basic idea. It's gonna thicken up that cheap starch into a rich, tender thing that can be sweet or savory with ease.
i grew up eating eggy bread in australia, covered in bacon and barbeque sauce. i was surprised to learn most people eat with sugar and syrup.
As a Brit I would still call that French Toast though not Eggy Bread. Perfect breakfast when combined with HP Sauce.
Slice of bread, one egg, spot of milk, and a touch of salt and pepper with a scatter of grated cheese added towards the end of frying in butter.
I’m not very keen on sweet French Toast, though. Fancy bread pudding, imo 🤔
@@gormm1709 Not just sugar/syrup. French toast also is made with vanilla and cinnamon, so it is a totally different flavor profile than simple eggy bread (egg and milk).
Max reads the British recipe and I'm "that's meatloaf?" Followed by him saying the same thing, and "I love you but you've totally lost the plot." I literally had to pause the video I was laughing so hard. That kind of humor is just one of the many reasons that Max is the best cooking TH-cam around.
Honestly, THAT one sounds like a typo, potentially made by the cookbook's typesetter, or something.
In Greece they are called “avgofetes” meaning egg slices. They are eaten without topping sometimes. My grandma’s favorite that I grew up with had a topping of a lot of honey and cinnamon. In some households you can find it with feta and oregano, between other variations.
Your channel is amazing! Please give us more Ancient Greek recipes! 🥰
This is actually reminiscent of Shahi Tukra, which is a Mughal dessert popular in India, Pakistan and Bangladesh. Sliced bread fried in ghee, then soaked in sugar syrup infused with rose water and or saffron and then garnished with cream and sliced almonds and pistachios. I am now wondering about the origin of the dish. There was a lot of Italian influence on the Mughal courts through traders and architects. May be that’s how the dish got introduced?
Sounds wonderful!
Sounds amazing 👏
Makes me wish Desi bakeries would serve such a dish more alongside other lesser known pastries
Now I want Max to do a follow up with this recipe.
That sounds wonderful.
The Brothers Grimn were philologists by profession. And that dictionary is still in use! I remember one of my German profs talking about using it to clarify the meaning of a rather confusing sentence in a story he was reading. It turns out the meaning of some key words had changed since it was written. The phrase "wegen ihrem blóden Gesicht" meant "because of her poor eyesight" and not "because of her stupid face."
works either way for me though, hahaha. my eyesight is horrible so i call my eyes stupid
🤣🤣
Maybe like how "dumb" used to refer to someone who was mute
Many people do not realize that all languages evolve.
Some words stop being used, some the meaning changes.
Very confusing, often funny.
In just my lifetime in the US , "gay " went from happy to homosexual.
I watched a TV show from the 1950's and someone called a guy's tie "gay". Because it was colorful , cheerful.
@@MrYfrank14 Umm.. gay didn't change meanings, gay is a homonym, it's a word spelt the same, sometimes pronounced the same, but means something else. It's kind of like how the word set has 20 different meanings depending on the context.
In my Navy days, I was responsible for making the French toast and pancakes every morning. I would mix eggs, milk, sugar, cinnamon, vanilla and a few drops of something called egg shade. It was a reddish Orange liquid that would make the mixture more yellow.
Then I’d dip regular white bread and set it into pans where it would wait until it was time to go onto the grill.
Those French toasts were VERY popular! I think we served 5 times as many French toasts as pancakes! They were a hit!
I wonder who is making the French toast now.😆
a touch of corn starch emulsified and added prior to the liquid ingredients will take it and crisp it up very nicely try it sometime. ty for your time at sea
Egg shade is just Yellow 5 in water!
Same stuff they use to color Mountain Dew!
My uncle was a navy cook and boy does he host good parties!
Thank you for this! I just found your comment here. I wondered why my family's recipe was so different! We're a military family, for several generations. Now I know where our version of it came from!
I know who's making the French toast now.
Someone not as skilled as you!
I'm in Switzerland but my mother is French, and she used to make pain perdu as a full sweet meal on Sunday evenings, using leftover bread from the week before. It was quick and easy, reduced food waste and always made us happy. :)
Growing up we had our own variation of French toast - prepared like French toast, but cooked in a waffle iron. Grandma used to prepare the bread, and then passed it to Grandpa who sat proudly at the head of the table making “bumpy toast” for everyone. They have since passed on, but “bumpy toast” remains a family favorite. 😋
Aww that’s such a lovely memory and tradition to keep going. Bumpy toast sounds delightful
Love love love your family story bumpy toast ❤❤❤
Max really is a master of many languages! Hats off to his pronounciation of “Deutsches Wörterbuch” in particular. It was absolutely on point! :D
Haaa nice that you noticed too :D
I paused to make this same point. Excellent pronunciation!
His pronunciation in French and Spanish is usually also spot on! 😃
Italian too!
That's one of the reason why I love his channel: The respect and love he shows for all these languages and cultures! 👍❤
Heads up: using lard does raise the smoke point of butter but it doesn’t prevent the milk solids in butter from burning, which is where most of the acrid flavor of butter at high heat comes from. So if you’re cooking with butter for a long time at a medium temp or any time at a high temperature, use clarified butter (ghee) regardless to avoid that bitter taste.
That's what Max said
He said this in the video
@@FireflyOnTheMoon Well, no, he said use butter and clarified butter together. The OP is saying you should just use clarified butter altogether
I took a French bread making masterclass and they talked about pain perdue and how it does refer to kinda rescuing the stale bread. It kinda has the same effect as toasting it, since the bread is stale it soaks up the liquid and that's what makes it so good. Which is why it drives me nuts when I see people making French toast with fresh bread and then complaining it's eggy. Fresh bread just can't soak up the eggs and/or milk like stale or toasted bread so all that stays on the outside and doesn't get into the slices.
Anyway congratulations on the cookbook. That's so exciting. I can't wait to get it.
We here in Finland eat Poor Knights as a dessert. There's also a variation called the Rich Knights which uses coffee bread baked into a loaf instead of normal white bread. Both are usually eaten with strawberry jam and whipped cream.
Rich knights sound delicious
We call them poor knights in germany aß well!
In Germany, there ist also a hearty version of Poor Knights called Blinder Fisch (Blind Fish)... Your version seems like a really tasty treat for the wintertime.
Coffee bread? Please tell me more!
That sounds amazing!
For the longest time my family has made "French Pastry" for every significant event. It consists of layers of graham crackers and chocolate pudding left covered to soak overnight in the fridge until it turns into something like a cake. None of us had any idea where we got the recipe or why we called it "French Pastry" since it didn't seem to actually be either of those things. Recently I decided to see if I could track something, anything, down for it and lo-and-behold it's a Canadian derivation of a "Napoleon Pastry" making it pretty darn French indeed. Food history is fun.
My family makes something similar, but with vanilla pudding and topped with chocolate frosting, and calls it eclair. It's definitely not real eclair, but its easy and close enough when you have a few dozen people to serve.
In Venezuela its called Marquesa de Chocolate....its exactly as you described. They do it in Mexico as well
@@locke03 YES! my family did this as well, Chocolate eclair cake was one of my most requested birthday desserts, I always found it so hard to wait for it to fully soften in the fridge, but when it did oooooo that almost cakelike softness of the grahmcracker, one of my favorite things to this day
My mother made banana pudding, layers of graham crackers, banana slices, and homemade vanilla pudding in a rectangular cake pan, and chilled overnight. It was always incredibly delicious. I've never heard of the chocolate pudding with graham crackers, that sounds great.
Your pronunciation of the ö in Wörterbuch is SO good. I'm in awe. I love that you put so much effort in getting foreign words as correct as possible. So respectful.
I agree. Max, you are like the hosts on classical radio stations who can properly pronounce the non-English titles and names!!!
I agree 💯 percent....Max is a true historian!!
I paused your video to make my breakfast. You guessed it, French toast. It was great, just a touch of pure maple, and cinnamon. ❤
agree! His spoken german is rly rly good👍
and I always thought arme ritter and french toast arent the same thing but with similar ingredients 😅😂
The vocals do remind me of older german tho, like 1930s german recordings, which is kind of funny. But that doesnt mean its bad, the pronounciation is very good.
I love the origins of food, but I also have to say I love how poor Max almost had a breakdown at the meatloaf variant of "French toast". I was crying with laughter.
The Grimm brothers were philologists, so they were looking at the origins of language. This meant researching the etymologies of words (as in a dictionary), but also doing things like collecting and comparing regional dialects, and local folklore as well. Their collection of folklore led to what we now know as "Grimms' Fairy Tales."
They are probably some of the most important historical figures in regards to Indo European folk heritage. They are simply regarded as "those guys who wrote down the fairy tales".
And as Terry Gilliam, Matt Damon, and Heath Ledger taught us, they were also great monster hunters! 😃
They are the "Grimm" of Grimm's Law, one of the major insights into how Proto Indo-European (PIE) evolved into the different Central Asian ("Indo") and European languages. This was their day job; the folklore just came along with their field research.
A variation of these is made in Portugal tipically for Christmas, called rabanadas. We make them in our house with the tipical eggs, milk, cinnamon and sugar, and we add a good Port wine and orange peels to the "custard". They're incredibly good, they're absolutely the biggest contributor for the Christmas kgs I put on every year.
Uh, that sounds delicious. I'll add orange peels and port next time I'll make some
Rabanadas for Christmas in Brasil as well. Some regions call it fatia parida ou fatia de parida. I have no idea why
Nice!
I never heard of anyone adding oranges peels but I am going to give that a try. My family is original from Portugal so we also make Rabanadas for Christmas in a very similar fashion
Similar to torrijas but we make them for Easter
Omg I have some port handy, and I'm so tempted to make these!
I'm French Canadian and where I grew up in Québec we referred to French Toast as Pain Doré, golden bread. The flavour profile is very different in this and I keep thinking adding a little cardamon to this would be delicious! Thank you for the history as always!
I was just wondering if that was the name in Quebec in general or just in the Montreal hotel restaurant I ate it in every morning.
I was about to mention pain doré. It's so good, drenched in maple syrup.
You can never go wrong with adding a little cardamom - it improves just about everything. My favourite low-effort use is mixing some in with a jar of sugar, letting that sit for a few months, then using the infused sugar to make my own hot chocolate mix. Can do the same with black cardamom for a complex, smokey flavor :D
Cardamom does appeal.
Did you forget about canned bread?
Hi Max, in The Netherlands we call them "wentelteefjes". Wentel meaning to turn and Teef is an early word for pastry.
I always thought Teef referred to the name for a female dog! It makes so much more sense that it has a different meaning.
I'm glad to know this, my family came from the Netherlands, and I'm trying to learn different things about it.
My goodness, never knew what TEEF really referred to, glad I do now. I also though of femal dogs or of a slanderous name for loose women. Relieved it was linked to pastry. 👍🏻😅
In Icelandic it's also called Poor Knights, Fátækir Riddarar. Thanks for another epicuriously epic episode!
Also same in estonian Vaene rüütel.
Same here in Germany: Armer Ritter! Interestingly, my grandma of Canadian descent called them German Toast, which, according to Wikipedia, is a old name for French Toasts...
Another addition from Germany: I also know them as Karthäuserklöße, possibly referring to some monastic order, but I am not at all familiar with those, so I can't say for certain.
Most likely the Carthusian order of monks. Though some chapters are very strict and forbid monks from speaking for extended periods of time, not the kind of order I’d expect French toast from though they also emphasize religious poverty so maybe that’s why it’s a variation on « Poor Knights ».Watching the video makes me crave pain perdu (since I’m French)
In Romania we call it ''frigănele" which translates approximately to : little fried ones. It realy resembles the medieval recipe. Stale bread, soaked in egg without milk, fried in lard or vegetable oil. Served with sugar on top.
The Russian version is made exactly the same as the Romanian one. They are called "гренки" (grenki), but I'm not sure where the word comes from (either from the word "греть", which means "to heat", or from the French word for grains).
There's also "bundás kenyér" in Transilvania, which is Hungarian for "bread in a coat" and the bread is first soaked in milk, then in egg. Much tastier than the milk-less version.
Oh damn, is this up the evolutionary tree of faworki?
Never heard this word in my entire life lol. Where I live we just call them "paine cu ou" or "bread with egg" in english
I know them as "friganele", not with ă, but very close
In Portugal, we have a version of French toast called «Rabanadas», but they are not breakfast fare. We make them mainly as one of the Christmas desserts. We use a baguette-type bread, sliced. The slices are soaked in milk, then egg and deep-fried in oil. Then they are covered in a simple syrup flavored with lemon rind and a cinnamon stick or just cinnamon and sugar. There are also regional recipes that use wine instead of milk
Brazil inherited Rabanada from Portugal, but I've only seen the version with sugar and cinnamon, also in milk, never wine. I'm actually starting to be a little curious about the wine version, gonna give it a try someday
In some places in Portugal they're called "fatias douradas" (golden slices).
The wine version is interesting. I wonder how it tastes like.
Same in Brazil !
In my family (we're originally from the North), we add vinho do Porto to add flavour to the cinnamon and lemon sugar "syrup"..... Mmmmmmm.
I'm from Bulgaria and here we call it fried toast. We don't usually add any sugar or other flavorings in the batter because we eat it sweet with jam or savory with feta type cheese or both 😁😋
Mum, who had Scottish parents, used to make French toast occasionally. Her recipe consisted of an egg beaten with milk and the bread was dipped in that. It was then fried in a small amount of regular cooking fat and used to pad out inadequate amounts of some other dish (such as the last of a pot of soup). It was savoury, not sweet.
In her turn, she remembered it as something used to stretch the WW2 egg ration, as it shared one egg around 3 or 4 people.
Like some of the other comments say, here in the UK that would be a dish called eggy bread which is usually served with a cooked breakfast
In most of former Yugoslavia, they’re called przenice. They’re usually made with stale bread dipped in eggs and fried on oil. This version is more savoury and is usually eaten with prosciutto and cheese. This version would align a bit more with the poor knight etymology as most of the time, the recipe is used to avoid throwing away stale bread.
Edit. Small spelling correction
That’s a new one to me!
Sounds yummy. It's a bit like the sandwich the monté Cristo
I am so happy to hear about your version of this. I grew up eating it with cheese. I was about 15 when I heard about it being eaten sweet, and that was because a friend asked for jam to put on her French toast. I still prefer it with cheese, though I have had it with honey.
Yep, in Czech Republic we also eat it this way. We fry stale bread both dipped in egg and not dipped and then eat it with lots of garlic and salt. Shredded cheese and ketchup is also favorite nowadays. :D
In Vojvodina (or Northern Serbia) we call them "moče", probably because of the word "zamoče", which means "to dip in". In Belgrade and south Serbia they call them prženice. The main thing we agree is that we eat them with sour cream or yogurt.
Mark Mailer is just fantastic isn’t he? The way he pulls these recipes together. The cookbook looks great.
Lol!
How many different names has he been called?
You'd think Max is an easy name to remember!
Don't you mean Mike Miler
Mike Millar
I believe you mean Marc Muller.😉
Someone told me he changes his name frequently. Goes by Mack now? Anyhow Mack’s book should do well. He’s got a good channel.
I think that your cats would benefit from a tasting history episode surrounding historic cat foods!
I like the Dutch word best: "wentelteefjes", which in modern Dutch translates into "wentel" = "to turn" and "teefje" = "female dog ie b*tch". So perhaps someone thought that turning them kind of looked like a female dog rolling on her back and that somehow became our national term.
Much better than "Frans Geroosterd Brood" = "French Toast" anyway.
Teefje is an old dutch word that simply means 'a slice' So 2 teefjes with butter and ham in between you could call a 'boterham'
Another theory is that it comes from "wentel 't even", meaning "flip it a bit".
I was surprised this didn't get a mention!
That's in northern Dutch, anyway. I suspect if you're asking for "wentelteefjes" anywhere in Belgium not many people will know what you're talking about. In these regions, I've heard both "verloren brood" ("lost bread", I guess from the French) or "gewonnen brood" ("won bread" or more likely "saved bread")
@@FrankGevaerts And in (Dutch) Limburg, I've heard it called "broods-ei" (can't write dialect).
I grew up in the American South calling it cream toast or custard toast. Mamaw always made it with bread that she'd baked a day or two before, with cream and eggs in the liquid, and usually flavored with almond or vanilla in the custard liquid. Soaked for about 5 minutes each side, then fried in butter. Usually served with molasses, maple syrup, or honey, all of which my grandparents produced themselves. 😊
Mamaws make the best!
Sounds delicious 😋
Nice recipe. Respect.
Respect. That sounds delicious. I've not heard it called cream toast, but considering my MawMaw called them cream potatoes, I'm wondering if I just never had french toast with her and if I had she'd have called it cream toast. I'm from Georgia. Where are you from?
@@DrGlynnWix I'm originally from Tennessee!
French toast, Medieval history, and an upload from Max? I couldn't be happier.
I’m French Canadian 🇨🇦, and they are a very classic dish to make here, especially with maple syrup.
We call them “pains dorés”, which translates to golden bread. 😊
When I was a lass, in the UK back in the 60s and 70s, we called it 'Eggy Bread.' We had it for supper, with Heinz Baked Beans and Sausages or Bacon and lashings of Tomato Ketchup! Congrats on The Cookbook, it looks superb!
It's still eggy bread up north :)
Without sugar, I presume?
@@pattheplanter Of course!
Eggy bread or gypsy toast in our house, and always savoury. Quite often 2 slices was the entirety of dinner.
Eggy bread in the Midlands too!
In Brazil (and I believe in Portugal too), we call them Rabanadas. Instead of putting sugar in the egg and milk mixture, we tend to put condensed milk and is very often made with stale "pão francês" (a baguette-ish kind of bread) instead of brioche. And a interesting fact is that we almost exclusively eat them at christmas.
Good old sgushenka
Yes, and I must say the name Rabanada is very confusing.
The use of condensed milk in "Rabanadas" recipes is quite recent. My grandma, for example, still uses the mixture with sugar and milk when she makes this recipe for Christmas, and that's how I learned.😊
@@HassassinCat Not if you speak Spanish or Portuguese. It means "slice".
@@annainspain5176 Well it must be a difference between portuguese of Portugal and Brazil, because ive never heard of this meaning. My confusion is based on the fact the word "rabanada" looks a lot with "rabada" that is a tipical dish made of the cow tail
The Grimm Brothers were really big in early linguistics in germany.
In the german Wikipedia the first thing mentioned is that they were linguists^^
Great Job as always on the video!
Not just Germany, the dictionaries and multiple other books they thoroughly researched and penned are literally the largest contributor to our understanding of modern european languages. The dictionary they co-authored together specifically has helped us understand many root words and the history of no less than 9 languages in pretty explicit detail
"Köyhät Ritarit" has always been a perplexing name. We sometimes put jam and whipped cream on top of them here in Finland. Great video as always!
Funny thing about the alleged origin story of the name "french toast": This has happened to at least one other dish.
There's a cake that is commonly referred to as German Chocolate Cake which does not come from germany, but rather, the cake is named after an american baker called Samuel German who developed a new type of baking chocolate in 1852.
The cake was originally called German's chocolate cake but of course, that little 's didn't last long.
I appreciate Max's effort to pronounce foreign words correctly. I can only judge for the German ones, but it sounds incredibly similar to how I would say it, and it feels nice when creators put in the effort
The fact that you started this channel as a hobby and then now you’ve garnered a huge following AND you’re dropping a cookbook!? You are SO inspiring Max!! Im so proud to be a fan and I can’t wait to get my hands on your book 😊💕
In German, we also call it "Poor Knights". (Actually, I usually call them "Warm Knights", as the German wors for 'poor' is 'arm', which rhymes with 'warm' and besides meaning the same as English "warm" also has the connotation of "gay"... and the poof I am loves that.)
My Latvian mother called them "nabaga brunenieki" which means "poor armored soldiers" (knights!) I always wondered about it. Thank you for clearing up one of my childhood mysteries 😄
In Germany also call them "Arme Ritter" = poor knights. 🙂
In finland, we also have "köyhä ritari", which translates to Poor knight
Oh that's so interesting! All the while I was sitting here in Latvia, wondering super hard as to whether I ever encountered that type of dish here... (I came to the conclusion that I haven't.) Paldies for the clarification! :)
In swedish we call them "fattiga riddare" which also translates to poor knight's
I'm a French-Canadian from Ontario. We'd call it "French toast" or in French I'd call it "pain doré" (golden bread). I'm pretty sure it was my french grandmother who taught me how to make it. I'm sure my mom had also made some previously, but I have a special memory of when my grandmother was showing us how to cook it. It's always served with copious amounts of real maple syrup.
En France, on l'appelle _pain perdu_ , puisque c'est fait avec du pain qui serait jeté sinon. Mais, au Québec (où j'ai vécu pendant 6 ans), le nom est comme en Ontario: _pain doré_
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I’m a Quebecer and I always say and hear « pain doré » as a breakfast. I’ve seen « pain perdu » but it’s more in a fancy restaurant for a desert.
I'm a former English Quebecois living in Ontario. I once did a linguistics project on the evolution of the French language. Quebec French (especially Joile) preserves a lot of archaic French terms no longer used in France (and, oddly, are not used by Franco-ontarians next door). Foulard/Écharpe, Corridor/Couloir, Souliers/Chaussures, are just examples I've come across frequently since moving to the RoC. Now I have a new one: The immigrants to New France must have come while the name of French Toast was still "Tostées Dorées" (and shoes were sill Chaussures, etc), becoming "Pain Dorées" with time here.
Also, Max, kudos on yout pronunciations. It is rare to hear an American not butcher other languages. Your French pronunciation is pretty good, you're just a bit off on the "u" in "perdu" (and also "tu"). If you want to get it, hold an "eeeee" and then round your lips. Keep your tongue and cheeks tense (the English "ooo" is lax), and you should get it. Keep up the amazing work!
When I was a kid, one of my aunties in Italy used to make a savoury version, with sliced mozzarella sandwiched between two slices of bread, dipped in egg and milk, then breaded and fried. I absolutely loved it, not least because of the name! She called it "mozzarella in carrozza" - mozzarella in a carriage 😊
I have had this dish, thank you for the name.
There's a variant of the French dish Croque Monsieur that's similar. In the U.S. it's often called a Monte Cristo sandwich. The filling is ham and cheese (classically Gruyère or Emmental), and the sandwich, or sometimes just the bread, is dipped in beaten egg and fried. Usually it's just savory, but some add sugar or syrup. Your aunties version sounds great. Did she use aged mozzarella or fresh?
@@winfieldjohnson125 For all I know, it was a regional or even a family name given to that dish! Besides, I've lived out of Italy most of my life, so if you go there and ask for a "mozzarella in carrozza" and no one understands, I apologise in advance 🤣
Fresh, I think (I was very young at the time). I imagine anything that melts will do. One of the happiests moments of my adult life was when I was able to veganise this dish, it's lovely 🤤
You are my new best friend
Hi Max, my boyfriend and I have been binge watching your videos for the past week. They are really interesting and very informative, we really appreciate the efforts you have put into research and reviving these amazing food. Your videos have also spiked my interest in creating new recipes. Thank you very much and please keep up with it, we are always looking forward to your new vids!
Glad you both enjoy!
Never I would have expected such a mysterious history for such an overall straight-forward dish...
As someone who has grown up in the South (of the US), my main association of French Toast is from how we jokingly call snow days 'French Toast Day', because everyone rushes the supermarket/grocery stores for bread, eggs, and milk (usually clearing the shelves, tbh -- we don't handle ice and snow well around these parts)....and so making French Toast goes perfectly hand in hand with said ingredients. 😆😆😆
I live in the northeast and they raid the grocery stores like looters when it snows , too.
I blame the weather forcasters for the impending doom forcasts. " YOU ARE ALL GOING TO DIE! This storm dropped 4 feet of snow on the rocky mountains last week! You will have to eat the dog!
French Canadian here and I've never heard it called Pain Perdu, the usual name for it in Quebec is "Pain Doré" which translates to Golden Bread.
I don't know when the split came but, in France, Pain Perdu is the name we use. Mainly because we use stale bread. The preparation of french toast allows for stale baguettes to not be toothbreakers upon consumption.
@@lhazarus7188 But the internet has taught me that the best use for stale baguette is to make it into a knife!
@@lhazarus7188 that's how its done in Portugal as well. My mom use a a stale baguette to make it for Christmas
@@lhazarus7188 its because the baguette was invented in 1839 while new france (now québec) dated from the 1600's so baguette was never a thing in québec , also back then some region in france used to call it '' pain doré'' too and they are probably those who bring the recipe to new france
I grew up with arme riddere in Denmark. My mother would make them and serve them with fruit soups like elderberry soup. Hers were very similar to croutons. It was cubed stale bread, fried in butter and sprinkled with sugar. They were way smaller than what you made, so keep that in mind.
It was a poor man’s dish. The fruit soups was made from the leftovers, from making elderberry syrup, and had a few apple or pear slices in it too. The small sweet crouton like roasted “arme riddere” goes perfectly with fruit soup. Fruit soup was also a way to stretch your fruits and berries for more people.
I've really been enjoying your videos. I'm from New Orleans. My father was born in 1920, and spoke French as his first language. We grew up calling it Pain Perdu. However, as a child, and not knowing any French, I thought it was "pan pan do". When we got older, we learned that was one of many ways to use "lost bread". Another popular use of stale bread was Bread Pudding. Tossing that out there in case you are looking for ideas for future episodes.
Pain perdu was my favorite breakfast as a kid growing up in Lake Charles (I thought it was pan pan do to 😂)
And what NOLA does with stale bread! Yummmmm.
Congrats Matt Diller on having your own cooking book! You are doing amazing and entertaining content!
It's actually Marc Biller
No, it's Marc Muller.
Here in Romania we have "bread with egg" which is basically bread soaked in beaten eggs with salt. it's fallen out of fashion for quite a few years, but we used to use it just as we would bread, in the morning or in sandwiches OR we would sprinkle it with sugar at the end
We have the same in the uk called eggy bread but no sugar at the end
I ate something simmilar in Serbia just bread slices (with crust) dipped in salted eggs and fried there's many names depending on the region I remember przhenica (fried one) and pofezna (no idea what it means.)
15:37 its called bread containing egg in turkey and its generaly made with egg bread and salt. It generaly eaten with dryed tomato paste, cream cheese, white cheese , olives ... basicly breakfast foods in turkey.
As a German raised person, I have my favorite story of Arme ritter or French toast. The story my mother would tell me is that poor Knights would soak stale bread in egg, but then served with cheese or cured meats. No clue where she got the story from but I always liked it
My mom’s British friends called it ‘eggy bread” and it was your choice and depending on what time of day it was served, if you made it savory or sweet. They said it was a good way to “stretch” eggs, butter, milk and sugar when those items were hard to come by. Just like boiled potatoes could be stretched into mashed potatoes or stretched into potato soup if more people showed up for supper than planned.
Yes, I've been waiting for this one. I kinda want to take banana bread, leave it overnight to stale, and then make it into french toast.
Not saying you shouldn' try it, but isn't banana bread a bit dense? Might not absorb the custard 🤔, but you do you! And tell us how it turned out 🤗
That sounds delightful. I wonder if it would hold up to frying.
@@TastingHistory, I would venture to say Banana Bread can hold up if it's sliced thick enough. Thanks for this wonderful video and I hope José & you, along with everyone here, has a very Happy Valentine's Day! 💖
Whoa, how high were you when you figured that out? Sounds like the most delicious way to get a heart attack haha
I've done this with pumpkin bread, which is pretty much the same texture / consistency as banana bread. It's not easy to work with, as the custard won't penetrate very deeply on its own, and when you soak it long enough to make it work, the bread just falls apart. What I've found works best is to actually slightly undercook the pumpkin/banana bread, then soak the slices just long enough to get a thin layer of custard on the outside. After it's fried, the interior is still moist, just not with the custard.
Funny thing is that in Denmark that we usually call white bread for franskbrød, translated to mean mean french bread. And it's not the only thing we call french with no real connection to french cuisine. Like the a type of hotdog we call fransk hotdog, simply meaning french hotdog. And also chips being called franske kartofler, meaning french potatoes.
@tasting history with max miller I am Finnish and Köyhät Ritarit always came with this tale (at least in my family): a knight had just returned from a war, during which his household was running low on supplies. Suprisingly the King informed he would be staying with this knight, this night. The household had to quickly device something for the king to eat, but all they had left was stale bread, milk, butter, eggs, some spices and jam. They are always eaten with whipped cream and jam here.
In Brazil we inherited the portuguese "rabanada", a version of french toast made with bread soaked in milk, eggs, sugar and vanilla, and then fried and sprinkled with sugar and cinnamon. It's a Christmas staple dessert. But my mom makes it all year long!!
And we generally use some kind of hard bread instead of brioche. It can be French baguette, "Brazilian style" French bread, Portuguese bread or Italian bread.
This is exactly how I make it in upstate New York by way of Pennsylvania. I never use brioche. Always vanilla and sometimes a bit if orange peel.
This is exactly how I make french toast here in New England America! 🇺🇸
“Rabanadas”, in Portugal we never use vanilla, we always infuse the hot milk with lemon peel.
I was shocked to hear that to have rabanadas for Christmas is a tradition only in some parts of Brazil. There are places where they don't even know what rabanadas are...
In Bulgaria, we call them "fried bread slices" (a translation :D) but we don't add sugar - it's the eater's choice whether to add jam, honey, sugar, etc to it afterwards, or cheese. I usually choose cheese 🥰
Sweet cheese or savory cheese because both sound great?
@@spartanalex9006 it's our local cheese; imagine feta, but from cow's milk. It has a tangy taste which helps downplay the oiliness of the fried egg bread 😁
@@bib4eto656 That sounds aboslutely delicious!!!
I personally like mine without anything.
I just love bread and eggs.
In Brazil we have something similar also but instead of maple syrup we use sugar and cinnamon on top. We call it Rabanada.
acabei de comentar isso! alguma idea sobre a etimologia da palavra? não faço ideia 🤔
When I make French Toast, I generally add a bit of nutmeg or cinnamon to the egg mixture.
My mother claimed that it was called German toast in her home until WWII, when it changed to French toast after the invasion of France. This could be entirely within the family, though. My grandfather was of German descent and if Granny got the recipe from his family, she might just have called it German toast from that.
I doubt it was exclusive to your family
There were many MANY things with german as part of the name of the language specifically being involved as were a lot of things especially here in the US. Then once The Great War happened there were DISGUSTINGLY gut wrenching examples of anti-German propaganda both abroad and in the US from people being attacked to forcing businesses to close to people changing their last names out of fear to I kid you not tens of thousands of german shepherds being outright murdered(worst of which because they had all escaped the slow degeneration of the cross breeding and genetic altering done to the breed elsewhere)
P.S.- Nutmeg has been mentioned therefore John Townsend must also be mentioned
@@victorkreig6089 There were very likely many over-reactions during the WWII era. These things happen when collective emotions run high, especially in response to atrocity. However I can assure you that my grandfather was fully on board with the US efforts. His mother was a Jewish girl who had married into a gentile family.
@@herbwitch5681 I never said ww2, and the majority of anti-german sentiment for that war and such happened well before they were even pushed out of France
It was manufactured just like how 60% of the country didn't want to even join the war
Nutmeg *or* cinnamon? I add nutmeg *and* cinnamon, and a bit of vanilla extract. Top with maple syrup and fresh fruit.
Congrats on having your book published Max! in Greece we call them αυγοφέτες , basically eggslices.
New Zealand here - my family have always called it french toast, and that is what you call it when you order in a cafe, but I've also known many people to call it 'Eggy Bread'. I also, weirdly, grew up on savoury french toast, with just some salt on top and in the egg mix, and was appalled as a child to learn it was commonly eaten sweet. To this day salted french toast is still one of my go-to comfort foods.
Worth a Try !
My partner is from NZ and he does the same thing. Serves it to me on a plate and expect that it's going to be sweet but take a bite and it's cheese and onion flavour😅. Sometimes he will make the sweet version, just to confuse me even more.
Eggy bread in northern England too. Not sweetened, and usually eaten with ketchup or chutney
Me too (in Australia).
...and just wait 'til you use real maple syrup, that prince of syrups.
I would suggest that a possibility for the "poor knight" name may come from the color of the tar or paint used by less wealthy knights to preserve their steel armor.
it's so interesting to know that the name "poor knights" is common across languages because that's what we call french toast in finnish! (köyhät ritarit)
Growing up on the Maine/Canada border, French was our first language. We always called "French toast" "golden toast". I was quite pleased that was one of the names you called it in your video.
I'm from the province of Quebec, and here we call it "pain doré" (golden bread). It's called pain perdu in cookbooks but hey, Quebeckers have a mind of their own. LOL
Funny thing: in Italy we don't really use to eat french toast, especially at breakfast but it still exists here and there hidden in more complex recipes as the classic crostino toscano con fegatini di pollo where, in Lucchesia and Garfagnana, the older version of the bread base is bread soaked in chicken stock then soaked again in eggs then fried. On top of this you put a paté of chicken livers. Typically is a kind of dish that you do as a starter for a celebration lunch (Christmas, Easter etc)
That sounds very good!
@@IcamefromJeddahAgree,,,,,, minus the Liver !
That sounds fantastic!
Ew.
Yumm!
I grew up in NY. We always called it French toast. An Englush fruend of mine said they call it eggy bread, and that it's a savory dish. He'd never heard of having it with syrup or jam
While in Marine Corps bootcamp I was on a very strictly monitored eating plan (I was a few pounds over the allowed weight for my height) but every once in a while if weigh in happened before breakfast I would manage to get french toast made from raisin cinnamon bread, with butter and syrup. For so many reasons it was the Best French Toast EVAH!!!! Even now, 40 someone years later, thinking of it makes me smile and remember that TREAT!
Semper Fi. I remember the multi-layered omelets at MCRD Dago 73/74. They had the West Coast Cook School there then. About 10% of candidates wash out of the Naval Aviator process. Over 80% wash out of Force Recon training. But Marine Corps Cook School is the toughest -- in 248 years No One has sucessfully passed the course...
@@HootOwl513 HA!!!! Did my time on Mess Duty (good old mess and maintenance before the contractors came in), got my name/face in the Camp Pendleton newspaper for putting together two massive cold cut trays for some event. Having family in the restaurant industry, I knew how to fancy up some bologna and cheese. Cooks tried to keep me for 30 days instead of the 14 scheduled. That‘s a BIG HELL NO!
@@cherryllcooper679 I pulled a 2 week stretch of mess duty in Korea, during a deployment with the ROK Marines, They grew their own beefsteak tomatoes [in on-base greenhouses, I guess.] I sliced them up with my new Buck knife.
Before going in, one of my best drinking buddies in junior college was a cook/Food Service Specialist with the 4th Marine [Reserve] Tank Bn in San Diego. I learned his Chili recipe. He used to joke about the Messman's tattoo he was [someday] gonna get: Crossed GI Knife and Fork under a grinning, drooling Skull, with the inscription, ''HEAD COOK/ DEATH FROM WITHIN'' .
In Brazil French toasts are referred to as 'Rabanadas' and besides being a breakfast dish it is also very popular during Christmas time as a dessert
Came here to say that, glad I decided to run a quick search first. *Brazilian fist bump*
Same in Portugal
@@henrilopes7337 Makes sense! Much of our culinary culture was inherited from Portugal :)
In German they are most of the time called "Arme Ritter" - poor knights since it is a way to eat stale bread. Oh he even mentions it. We mostly eat it with Cinnamon Sugar and all kinds of preserved fruit compot - for example pears or plums.😋
Long live Max! The first of his name! Lord of Cookery and Amusement and Education. Master of his craft and wisdom and witts.
I love French toast ❤️❤️❤️❤️ (greetings from Austria) 🇦🇹
Heissen die in Österreich auch arme Ritter?
Hear, here!
@@acboesefrau7729 My wife's granny's cookbook says that they call them "Pofesen" in Vienna, but my 100 % Viennese wife didn't know the name. I have no idea what Pofesen means, though I'm German and use Austrian words myself meanwhile.
In Brazil we call it rabanada and it’s served only on Christmas. There’s also a special bread that is usually produced in the bakeries only during Christmas time to be used in the rabanada recipe, called pão de rabanada.
I have heard the name "pain perdu" in Quebec, but most often my family would call it "pain doré", which would be very close to that tostees dorees that we're mentioned in the video, essentially just meaning golden bread
I love how much food defies language - it just is, and we just come up with our own words for it. Consensus is rare, and it just goes to show how fleixble and creative food as a medium for cultural expression really is.
In Brazil, the name we give it (or at least one region of the country would give it) is "rabanada", and though the name has no where the same origin as the ones you cited, it still is the same dish. Fried bread that has been soaked in eggs, milk, or both, spiced or not. Most interesting, however, is that my first exposition to it was an 80's recipe booklet/magazine for Christmas dishes! I presume some people treat it like a holiday dish, perhaps.
Sou do Rio Grande do Sul e rabanada (e é esse o nome aqui) é basicamente o pão dormido envolto em ovos, leite, um pouco (bem pouco) de açúcar e um pouco de sal. Frito por imersão. Minha mãe fazia no café da manhã mais ou menos a cada três dias (tempo pra juntar os restos de pão). E é uma delícia. O modo de fritar por pouco tempo faz com que o interior fique seco e é essa a idéia mesmo. Portanto, não é uma sobremesa ou prato doce. Mas temos a rabanada de Natal. Essa sim uma sobremesa. Pão dormido embebido (por meia hora) em ovos, leite, açúcar e baunilha e frito na manteiga, polvilhado com açúcar e canela
There’s a Portuguese comment above yours that has the same name, interesting to see how similar, or different they are!
@@Nunyabizn3ss It's basically the same thing.
@@bargu thanks 👍
Parts of South Louisiana still call French toast "pain perdu."
When I was in culinary school, in the 90's in Connecticut, our Chef told us to add orange juice to our French Toast.
Love you Max, Thanks for another Awesome video!
Sounds like a variation of the famous French desert using Crepes - minus the alcohol lol. Sounds good 👍
I assume to cut the eggy-ness a bit?
@@15BubblesOrigami Citrus is often used in professional settings as a flavor enhancer -- basically doing the job of salt when you've already added as much as you can.
South of Germany here - Arme Ritter. Definitely made to use up the stale bread, soaked in eggs and milk and then fried, given to us children for lunch covered in sugar and cinnamon. I really need to ask my Mum to make it again…
Edit: My husband, who is also from the South of Germany, but most emphatically NOT a Swabian, but from Baden, recalls a similar dish made in casserole style called Pyre (Scheiterhaufen).
I was an American student staying with a family in Ludwigsburg, Germany and I asked if I could make French toast for them one morning. They didn’t recognize I was talking about Arme Ritter as I hadn’t known it was called that and they hadn’t heard it called French toast. For some reason,they pulled out applesauce without saying a word and they all put it on the toast? Still bewildered to this day.
It's Arme Ritter in northern Germany as well! Never seen anyone eat it with apple sauce though... that must be a regional thing. 😅 or those people were just confused.
@@sanablue I'm from swabia and I've always had Armer Ritter with Applesauce, even at friends houses, so probably it's a regional thing.
Edit: I also remember eating it with maple syrup and cinnamon, so it's not like applesauce was the only option, but definitely the most common one.
@@MrBlack-ei4jy We ate potato pancakes with applesauce, too.
"Poor knight" what about rich knight?
In the UK we call that eggy bread - it's different from French Toast because it only uses egg instead of egg and milk or cream. However, most people I know eat it savoury rather than sweet - usually with salt and either ketchup or brown sauce. But I have both saffron and rose water in so I'm tempted to make a version
Glad I'm not the only one. Wondered if I was just ignorant - we didn't really do eggy bread in my family, but I had it at a Scout camp.
I feel almost as though bread and butter pudding has as much in common with French toast as it's made today as eggy bread does.
I usually put a splash of milk in my eggy bread to help mix the eggs and I eat it with jam.
I’m from Shropshire, & had no idea there was a savoury version until I read these comments! Always made with sugar & cinnamon. I grew up knowing it as Poor Knights of Windsor (from old recipe books we had) but we called it Eggy Bread as it’s less of a mouthful to say. I didn’t hear French Toast being mentioned until I started seeing them on the menu in fancy cafes in my 20’s, but they always seem to have dollops of cream & fruit/coulis on them & lacked cinnamon.
This Matthew Moller is the best history cook! I love his videos! 👋
Firstly, many congratulations on the publication of your book! And secondly, when I was growing up, it was called "eggy bread" (so descriptive!), and was a popular breakfast at boarding-school over fifty years ago. Having said that, it was not sweetened in any way, shape or form; on the contrary, it was seasoned with salt and pepper, and very good it was, too. I sometimes make it for my breakfast, even today! And mentally I think of the sweet version as "French toast", which I honestly don't think I'd like very much, and the savoury version, still, as "eggy bread".
Ah, interesting. Savory French toast was the way to go breakfast in my family. Coming from eastern European roots (Russia and Ukraine), we called it "grenki". Etymologically, sounds like the word comes from "gret'" meaning to heat-up in many Slavic languages and something small (suffix -ki).
Apperantly also made sweet (with just sugar) but no no, not in my family 😂
Yes! Savoury all the way!
Interesting! My mom grew up in a more rural region of Texas (well it's not so rural now, but it was when she was a small kid in the 50s) and her family made French toast with just egg, milk, bread and butter - when she was an adult and ordered some at a restraunt she was surprised that it was sweetened since her family had never prepared it that way. (She had a similar experience encountering sweet tea at a restraunt as a teen because her dad was a crazy person who'd steep it for ten minutes then drink it. She was also shocked that normal tea tasted good because the wierd stuff her dad made didn't.)
Here in the UK, I've always known it as "eggy bread" and it is a savoury dish with salt and pepper, no sugar.
I've always known it as eggy bread too, but my family has always eaten it with jam, which my boyfriend refuses to try even though he only eats it with ketchup!
In the UK we tend to call this 'eggy bread' and it can be topped with basically anything you want, sweet or savoury. It acts more like a rich base than as a dish of its own. Personal favourites are cinnamon sugar, candied bacon (fry the bacon in brown sugar to caramelise) or fruit with chocolate spread/sauce.
In the northern part of Mexico, at least in my family, we call it "pan de huevo", egg bread or perhaps eggy bread as you call it. However, it's a family thing, most of my friends call it french toast or "torrejas" (the version from spain that the video mentions).
In my family we always had ‘egg bread’ for breakfast.
Norwegian french toast (arme riddere) is white bread soaked in a mix of milk, egg, sugar, cardamom and cinnamon. The cardamom and cinnamon makes it really truly delicious. It is often served with a bit of jam or chocolate sauce on top
Thank you!! I am a norwegian American who is always looking for Norwegian recipes!!!!! I am looking forward to making this!!!!!!! ☮️💟
@@jchow5966 I think the norwegian name for french toast is really funny, because it (arme riddere) translates to "poor knights", and i have no idea why we call it that
French toast being one of my life-long FAVORITE breakfast treats, this video delighted me, and now I'm desperately craving it. I do have to say, I think here in the States we've achieved maximum decadence by the creation of stuffed French Toast, which is so glorious and soul-lifting it may someday avert the apocalypse and usher in world peace. Keep doing what you do, Max - Life is better with Tasting History!
There is an Italian version of French Toast called “Mozzarella in Carrozza” (Mozzarella in a carriage). Take two slices of (lightly stale) bread. Cut off the crusts (dice those and fry separately for croutons). Stick a slice of fresh mozzarella in between the slices. Pinch the edges if you’re not feeling confident the cheese will stay put. Dip the stuffed slices in beaten eggs or in an egg-and-milk mixture. Fry in a pan until golden. Either add salt and pepper to the egg, or season the toast after frying.
For extra decadence, you can add fresh basil, or olive tapenade, or pesto, or truffle paste between the bread along with the mozzarella. Or anything else you might like (sun-dried tomatoes, salami, mortadella, …).
Major cheese pull and satisfying crunch. This is extremely yummy.
The version of this that I grew up with in Romania is just bread dipped in eggs and fried. You can add a little salt or serve it with some white cheese. I always knew it as a savory dish and it is actually a good way to use stale bread. You can try frying it in lard, it's extra yummy. We call these a variety of names that would roughly translate as 'little fried', 'eggy bread', and the non translatable 'gigi papa'
Oh, we have the same thing in Hungary called „bundás kenyér“ or „bread in a pelt“
Reading everyone’s childhood stories of eating French toast is so wholesome 😌
Here in the Czech Republic we mostly use this recipe when we have some stale bread, but instead of sweet toppings we tend to use mustard, then layer it with cheese, ham, pickles, pretty much any other leftovers you have in a fridge
Ňam, to zní výborně! 😃
I'm from the US, so I've always known it as French Toast, but the French Toast I had growing up is actually a bit different to what you see served at restaurants & the like. My family makes French Toast as a savory dish, with just the egg custard, salt, & pepper soaked into the bread, then pan fried. We don't top it with any sugar, syrup, whipped cream, or anything of the like. So, when I first encountered sweet French Toast, it was quite a shock for me.
my family also ate it this way
You are from England!
@@concettaworkman5895 No, I can assure you, I am not.
@@concettaworkman5895 no, I am American, my Dad's grandads were English/Irish though
I saw a recipe for a French toast style dish in a Cuban cookbook. Thick slices of bread are split open and stuffed with cream cheese and guava paste. I never have guava paste around so I use orange marmalade or whatever sort of preserves I have on hand. The pieces are then soaked in the egg/milk mixture (don't forget the vanilla) and fried until golden brown. It's so tasty no syrup is necessary, but top with a wee bit of butter.
Do you happen to have the name of the Cuban cookbook? It sounds like the origin of a recipe that my husband's family makes, and I'm very curious to read it. :)
This Cuban dish is a type of "sandwich" - I'll have to look up the name. Very, very sweet - guava and cream cheese mix are sweet - also used in Cuban "danishes" - pastelitos de guayaba.
many places in the states serve that and it is usually called stuffed french toast. cream cheese and different fruit preserves are the usual filling options.
As someone that grew up with savory French toast I find this fascinating. The first time I had something sweet with my French toast, I was about 15 and a friend asked for jam to put on her French toast. Had it with honey about a month ago.
Maple syrup and bacon is the way to go!
Explain this "savory French toast". I can't imagine any.
@@salaltschul3604 that warms my Canadian heart
Regarding the comment about poor people not having sugar or saffron: As a person who has been "poor" I can tell you poor people do buy expensive ingredients and use them sparingly. I would not have a case of saffron, for example, but I do have a little pouch I got on sale and stuffed it away for when it is needed. Other similar things would be expensive liquor or vanilla beans - you get the point. Just buy what you can afford and use it now and then so you can feel rich without spending a lot.
I love your channel, Mr. Max.
Hi Max! In England we have a recipe for 'Eggy Bread', which is just simply bread soaked in beaten eggs then fried (along with all the excess egg). Normally served savory with baked beans but I personally love it with bacon and maple syrup! Give it a go :)
same thing in Czech Republic and Slovakia. I tend to put a bit of spicy ketchup on mine. or slap a slice of cheese on them while still hot.
I grew up in the deep south USA, and we did the same thing, cooking the last of a loaf of bread with excess egg. We'd add a pinch of salt to the eggs before cooking and then add maple syrup to the finished toast. I personally like to use strawberry jam on mine instead of syrup.
In Poland, we have a few names. Chleb w jajku, which means egg-soaked bread, or jajochlebki which means something like "eggybreads", or chleb na jajku, which would mean "bread on eggs"
@@cobaltchromee7533 I was deployed to Poland last year and I found y’alls language super interesting. I got some laughs when I asked for Chleb, I pronounced it how it’s spelled, and didn’t know it was pronounced “fleb” lol
Here, in Hungary we don't normally make a custard based sweet french toast. It's only the bread dipped into salted beaten eggs. This version is called bundás kenyér or furry bread (as in bread in a fur coat).
Ha! I like that. Our french toast always had hairy parts, lol!
In Turkey, we call it "Yumurtalı Ekmek" which translates into "Egg Bread." Which might be partly due to how we (or at least we, in this household, using a late 80s cookbook given out for coupons by one of the more popular newspapers of the time) don't add milk to it either, like the medieval Italians. Though unlike the medieval Italians, we don't necessarily sweeten it either. We serve it alongside a number of sweet and savory toppings you can choose from, and it goes very well with tulum cheese.