La prochaine fois que vous mangez du pain doré classique, pensez au chevaliers
Malgré son nom, le pain doré classique a été inventé dans la Rome antique, et non en France. Bien que cela n'ait absolument aucune incidence sur le goût, nous avons pensé que nous pourrions aider à éclaircir leur origine immédiatement. Examinons les autres noms attribués à cette populaire option du petit-déjeuner sucré. Il y a le pain d'œuf, le pain perdu, et les grillé gitans. Un autre nom amusant est celui des grillé de Bombay ou le grillé Masala ! Voyons si nous pouvons trouver d’autres noms.
Comment tout cela a-t-il commencé ? Eh bien, la première mention du pain doré nous vient du De re coquinaria, an old Roman cookbook with Latin recipes. It describes breaking “fine white bread, crust removed, into rather large pieces which soak in milk [and beaten eggs. You then] fry in oil, cover with honey and serve.” You can bet they didn’t call it French toast then, but aliter dulcia, ce qui se traduit par «un autre plat sucré». C'est nettement moins enthousiasmant que, disons, le pain grillé gitan ou le pain grillé de Bombay.
On the streets of Mumbai (formerly Bombay) Bombay toast appeals to tourists as it not only sounds fun and exotic, but it has a very familiar taste! For the name of gypsy toast, reasons are less clear. However, it’s thought to reference the repurposing stale bread by dressing it up in various ways. By far, one of the better names the German, Danish, and Norweigans use for the breakfast is "Poor Knights". This actually differs from the classic French toast as it contains sherry…
History of the Poor Knights
This name comes from an order of knights set up by King Edward III, after the Battle of Crécy (1346). The French captured many of knights and forced them to sell their estates to secure ransom funds and their safe release. These Alms Knights, or Poor Knights, were lodged in the Windsor Castle and paid a small pension in return for ongoing duties. This small pension meant they could normally only afford to eat fried bread… with no maple syrup in sight. Apparently, if any of the Poor Knights were to acquire assets over a certain amount, they would have to find their own lodgings.
It seems almost a cruel dig that some call the French toast Poor Knights. But what do the French call French toast? They call it pain perdu, or “lost bread” for obvious reasons.The French-Canadian name for French toast is just as simple: pain doré., which translates to “golden bread”.
Let’s look at the method of preparation, which is almost always the same regardless of its name. Calling for stale bread, eggs, and milk, it’s versatile enough to bounce between the realms of sweet and savoury. Our preference: sweet, of course! This generally means adding sugar, vanilla, cinnamon, and syrup. But in no way do you need to restrict the revived bread to just these ingredients – look for yourself to see différents ingrédients du pain perdu : baies, banane, Nutella, pommes sautées, pêches et crème, caramel, même les noix confites, et les figues et ricotta de fantaisie.
Quel que soit le nom que vous lui donnez et la façon dont vous l'habillez, nous sommes tous d'accord pour dire que rien ne vaut un pain perdu classique. En l'honneur de ces pauvres chevaliers, pourquoi ne pas voir où vous pouvez trouver du pain doré classique trempé dans du sirop près de chez vous !
