It’s no secret that French toast is not my favorite sweet. My personal boredom does not reach the level of the half-raw cheesecake -please, enough-, but every Easter I have to bite the bullet and accept that, after Carnival, the torrejil passion of this country is unleashed.
Do not take this the wrong way; I don’t hate pancakes. In fact, they bring back very good memories of my first steps in the kitchen and of the love with which my grandmother prepared them for all his grandchildren, with a mastery of the technique that seemed like magic before my pipiolos eyes of a greedy girl. My grandmother, who for me will always be the best cook in the world and who unfortunately left us orphans too soon.
Those somewhat idealized memories represent part of the reason why I hate torrijas at this time, which also has to do with the oversaturation. For some time now, French toast has become fashionable, something that, when you look at it, doesn’t make much sense in such an old, humble and popular elaboration.
The curse of fashion
Reject torrijas because they are a trend it’s not just posturing countercurrent. Yes, it is true tiresomeness to have to endure the umpteenth compilation of the supposed best, the most original, the most “authentic” or the most “gourmet”. to those empty discussions debating how the best French toast should be or if they are better with syrup, sugar or honey. To the last madness of the fashionable chef with his “brutal” touch.
In WTP we sing the mea culpa for collaborating with this torrejil indigestion, but you can’t always swim against the current, at least not if you want to survive in this jungle of digital media. For some reason, there are very typical dishes that always attract clicks and become viral, such as croquettes, paella or potato omelette. And at Easter the torrijas steal all the limelight.
The problem with fashions is not so much saturation as depravity what is committed ** with them. I understand that you have to take advantage of the pull and stand out is not easy, but enough of allegedly modern French toast with ridiculous ingredients that they do not contribute anything at all. They only raise the price and often hide a mediocre product and a misunderstood technique.
In addition, the most exotic flavored French toast has not been invented yet. Already in the 19th century, versions with coconut, almond, chocolate or egg yolk were lavish. Nobody like the nineteenth-century middle class to boast of refinement with ornate recipes. But perhaps it was not necessary to invent the spirulina French toast or matcha tea. And we come to another problem, the fusion of fashions. We have turned it into a mutant dessert that absorbs the lowest of trends current (diets fitsuperfoods, black truffle…) or, worse, merging with other desserts.
They may be good, but they are no longer French toast. lose that charm of turning old bread into a sweet tooth with no pretensions other than to make us a little happier. That magic of grandmother’s kitchen that she mentioned at the beginning. A toast that costs seven, eight or up to twelve euros and served with a quenelle of ice cream, caramelized with a torch or with spicy mole sauce, it is no longer the torrija that arouses nostalgia. It becomes a rich dessert.
The other sweets of Easter
My last big but regarding the Easter toast is that it has monopolized almost all the prominence of these holidays, leaving aside more and more these regional specialties that can be as or richer. Sweet shops that even belong more to these festivities than the torrija, whose origin, let us remember, is not at all linked to Easter. That it became a perfect snack for Lent and abstinence was pure convenience.
Monas de Pascua, toñas, panquemaos, rolls and donuts, pestiños, rice pudding, buñuelos, Rubiols, buns, fried milk, crespells, sea grass, flakes, Borrachuelos, flowers, cakes, biscuits, porridge, wafers… the traditional cookbook associated with these festivities is so wide and varied that it can even compete with Christmas. Let’s not let the torrija phagocytize everything.
Indulging in some sweet whim in these festive seasons is not going to destroy anyone’s diet, as long as it is, like nougat, in moderate portions and without getting to the top every day since the Lenten season opens. Set aside other temptations such as those mentioned because we stuffed ourselves with torrijas saturated with oil, sugar and other trimmings, it would be a shame.
Torrijas are also for summer
I was late in associating French toast with the commemoration of the passion of Christ. My mother does remember that my grandmother prepared torrijas at Easter -she was very fond of following traditions-, but she also I made them all year, as in so many other places, when I wanted to treat my grandfather or his grandchildren. In my memory, the Easter of my childhood are full of monkeys, chocolate eggs and rabbits, and the first paparajotes.
My grandmother too soon lost the ability to cook and no one made them anymore at home. Years passed until I tried a torrija again, and I didn’t even remember them. Until one summer afternoon, in the countryside, several cousins found that the bread to make the sandwiches was too hard and dry.
I don’t know who suggested making French toast but we thought it was a really fun plan; we lost everything and I got my first burn, but that greedy snack-dinner became a summer tradition and it tasted like glory to us. And it didn’t have to be Holy Week.
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