French toast, also known as eggy bread,German toast,gypsy toast,poor knights (of Windsor), or Spanish toast, is a dish made of bread soaked in beaten eggs and then fried.

History and names

The earliest known reference to French toast is in the Apicius, a collection of Latin recipes dating to the 4th or 5th century; the recipe mentions soaking in milk, but not egg, and gives it no special name, just aliter dulcia "another sweet dish".

Under the names suppe dorate, soupys yn dorye, tostées dorées, and payn purdyeu, the dish was widely known in medieval Europe. For example, Martino da Como offers a recipe. French toast was often served with game birds and meats. The word "soup" in these names refers to bread soaked in a liquid, a sop.

The usual French name is pain perdu 'lost bread', as it is a way to reclaim stale or otherwise "lost" bread. It may also be called pain doré 'gilded bread'. The term pain perdu was formerly used metaphorically to mean sunk costs.

A fourteenth-century German recipe uses the name Arme Ritter ("poor knights"), a name also used in English and the Nordic languages. Also in the fourteenth century, Taillevent presented a recipe for "tostées dorées".

French Toast is a band from Washington, D.C., formed in 2001 as a duo consisting of James Canty and Jerry Busher. They added a third member, Ben Gilligan, in 2005. Dischord's website has James Canty credited with guitar, vocals, keyboards and drums, and Jerry Busher is credited with bass, drums, vocals, and keyboards. However, all three members rotate instruments when the group is playing live. They released the Bugman EP in 2002 and the Hatred Mace single in 2003, both on Arrest Records. In 2005, they released their first LP, In A Cave, on Dischord Records. In 2006, they released their sophomore full-length album, and first as a three-piece Ingleside Terrace, also available on Dischord Records.

Discography

External links