There’s not a lot of data out there on exactly who at the Northern Pacific line might have come up with this recipe, or when. It was, though, plainly current during the 1920s, when the dining cars of the major railroads were in full flower.
There is absolutely nothing all that special about the basic egg-and-milk mixture in which the slices of French-toast-to-be are dipped before. There’s a little cinnamon in it, but that’s hardly going to count as exotica. Nonetheless, when made with the Northern Pacific’s designed-to-purpose French toast bread, the final result’s frankly a lot better than might routinely be expected.
I strongly recommend that you wait to try this until you’ve had time to bake their bread and let it dry out a little. (I confess that I hurried my two slices of it a bit by putting them in a 100º-C oven for an hour. …Also, if you don’t mind my advice: don’t over-sweeten the toast after it’s been cooked. You want to be able to taste that bread.
This recipe, along with a goodly number of others from the Northern Pacific, was first revealed in James D. Porterfield’s definitive railway cooking-and-cooking-history work Dining By Rail* .
*Please note that if you should elect to buy Porterfield’s book using the link above, our website gets a wee tiny commission on the sale. But you probably knew that. 😊
You’ll need: shallow dish, large skillet, Heat oil for frying to hot
Preparation time: 20 minutes
Yield: 1 serving
Cut bread into ½-inch slices and cut slices in half diagonally.
(As my loaf was only a day old, after slicing and cutting the bread, I then let it sit in a 100°-C oven for an hour or so. This dried it out pretty well. …Don’t let the color around the edges confuse you: that was the color it had when it came out of the bread pan.)
Mix eggs, milk, sugar, salt, and cinnamon well…
(A note here: I discovered I was out of cinnamon before I got to the point where I could stop this whole process. [shrug] I’ll do it again with the cinnamon later in the week.)
(Also: Since I know the sugar’s here to help the French toast be a pretty color when it’s done frying, I warmed the milk a little bit in the microwave and dissolved the sugar in it: then let it cool back down before mixing it with the eggs.)
Pour some of the combined mixture into a shallow dish and dip bread into it. (I poured in about half the mixture for each divided slice of bread.)
(Don’t rush this step. Let the bread sit on each side for a minute or so: then turn. Repeat this step once. You’ll find the bread really eager to sop up the egg-and-milk mixture.)
Once both slices are ready, fry them in a little butter or shortening until golden brown on both sides.
(As I wanted to be careful these didn’t scorch, I clarified some butter first to fry them in.)
Serve hot with the topping of your choice.
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