The history of the Soo Line goes back into the 1880s, and since then—like many of the great “legacy” US railways—it changed hands and management a number of times. Its name comes from the phonetic pronunciation of part of the name of its antecedent and parent company, the Minneapolis, St. Paul and Sault Ste, Marie Railroad. It’s still in business, though most of its rolling stock is now badged/does business as Canadian Pacific / CP.
The Soo Line was never a huge passenger carrier, but nonetheless it had four well-known overnight trains that operated in the US Midwest and as far north as Vancouver. All of these carried dining cars, even though on a couple of these sleeper trains there were no seating coaches. The Soo Line dishware still turns up here and there on Ebay or at other online sources, some of it extremely beautiful.
Of the group of French toast recipes we’re looking at right now, this is possibly the least interesting one, with nothing particularly unusual going on in its batter. Its main difference from all the others is that it’s deep-fried instead of shallow-fried or done on a flattop grill.
This recipe turns up in splendid isolation as the only Soo Line recipe in James D. Porterfield’s definitive railway cooking-and-cooking-history work Dining By Rail*. It’s a pity there aren’t more that are as accessible. (If you’re interested to see what else was on a typical morning menu, there’s a PDF copy of a Canadian Pacific-branded breakfast menu here at the Streamliner Memories website.)
*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: deep fryer, shallow dish
Preheat frying oil to hot (345° F / 170º C)
Preparation time: 30 minutes
Yield: 1 serving
Cut bread in ½-inch slices and cut slices in half diagonally.
Make a batter of well-beaten egg, salt, sugar and cream.
Dip bread in batter and allow the batter to soak in well: then fry to a golden brown in hot, deep fat. (About 350° F / 170º C.)
…I didn’t put the sugar in mine: if you do, keep a careful eye on it in the fryer, as the sugar will render the toast more liable to scorching.
Remove and drain. Sprinkle with fruit, maple syrup, or honey and serve immediately.
…And in retrospect, they were serious about the “immediately”. This take on French toast puffs up very nicely while it fries, and the longer it’s left lying around without being served, the less impressive the puff becomes.
That said: the crunch on this toast’s edges is terrific, while the interior remains tender (with just a little crunch of its own around the edges).
They”ll be listed here, bear with us
Stuff we’ve seen and found interesting, things we want, things you might want, who knows…?
Other people’s recipes that have worked really well
