Tea and Toast Part III- Toast

I was sure that John Thorne, in his first book, Simple Cooking, had discussed the topic of Toast in pretty exhaustive detail. It must have been in another of his essay collections; I haven't been able to find it. Now that bruschetta is everywhere, it is not so unusual to read about toast in food magazines, cookbooks, and weblogs. When I read that illusive Thorne article, it was a pretty odd idea to take toast seriously. A "Peanuts" cartoon of the same period made mild fun of Linus' Science Fair Project:"Toast" -after all, nothing could have been more obvious and self-explanatory.

I recall that he (Thorne, not Linus) talked about the crisp v. hot dilemma. That is, if your breakfast toast comes right out of the toaster, and is immediately slathered with butter, it will be hot, but a bit soggy. If, as many English people do, you put it in a toast rack as it pops up, so that it can all be served at once, it will be crisp, but cool. And your butter better be soft, or it won't spread nicely.

Personally, I tend to go for the crispness, and I keep my butter spreadable in one of those ceramic butterbell things. But not always, because I like my hot food, and coffee, really hot. One way to have a breakfast toast that's really hot and crisp is to toast some Nan. A kind of nan that you can buy at an Indian grocery, and has cumin and onion in it, is particularly good with breakfast eggs. It comes out of the toaster so absolutely boiling hot that you have to watch out for the roof of your mouth, and it is really nice and crisp, especially around the edges.

Helen Gustafson, who was apparently the Chez Panisse tea guru, in her nice, quirky and seemingly out of print autobiography/tea book, passed along instructions for Pepper Toast. This may be the plainest written recipe of all time. I cannot quote it exactly, because it was a library book, and I haven't found a copy for myself yet. As I recall, she credited David Lance Goines: Recipes Suitable for Framing, a sort of portfolio of prints of nicely decorated recipes, which was a collaborative effort with Alice Waters, in the sixties, I think.

Make some nice toast, the way you like it and spread with butter.
Top with freshly ground coarse black pepper.
Have this with your tea.

I do this frequently. Some people like it, though others have rolled their eyes. Other nice, non-sweet, no prep toppings for toast to have with tea include some really fabulous, posh salty stuff called Gentleman's Relish, which a visiting relative brought me from England. I scraped every last bit from the jar. You probably wouldn't like this if you are an anchovy hater, but rest assured it is nothing like marmite (ick) .

I do wish I had a copy of that recipe portfolio,as I am a fan of Mr. Goines posters. I have his Acme Bread poster, though, and a couple of others . I also wish I lived near Acme Bread, because if I did, my toast would be off to a much better start. As it is, there are some sorts of bread that are just not available around the Pittsburgh area. If I lived near Acme or a similarly excellent bakery, I would just buy my bread there, and be done with it. I don't think it's possible to equal that sort of thing at home, without going in for brick ovens and so on, which is not something I intend to try. Ever. But I have come up with a relatively uncomplicated way of making a baguette that I prefer to anything I've been able to buy so far locally, and I'll pass that along.

Of course, jams, conserves, jellies, etc. are also naturals with toast and tea. I'm beginning to make some, and am find the process weirdly engaging. I have just finished dealing with some very hot White Peach Conserve with Basil. I feel like a mad scientist. There are 6 cute little jars on a kitchen towel cooling.

Comments

[your daughter]

The John Thorne article on toast is in Pot on the Fire. It's one of my favorites.

[Lindy]

Aha. I don't own that one. Must have read it in the newsletter.

[Ana]

I prefer my toast soggy dripping with butter. And any kind of jam will go nicely. Pity it does interfere with your waist circumference.

I like yur blog and you're off to a good start. I have your daughter's blog in my list of "must reads" and I'm glad she tipped us on to you.

[Laurel]

I like your blog and appreciate your daughter mentioning it. I remember canning with my Mom and Nanny as a child. It was very hot in our summer and because of that and a big family we did large batches. I seem to remember that as the season passed and things cooled off, the batches got smaller. I can't say they were better because to my child's mind, they were all spectacular. I especially loved Nanny's clear red current jelly. Rhubarb and ginger was a close second. Mom has plums in season right now and wants me to do something with them so maybe we'll get out the jars and try some new small approaches.

[Lindy]

Actually, Laurel, my daughter and I are thinking maybe of doing a joint bulk-type jelly-making session to make multiple batches of green apple jelly this summer. We thought we might put up a bunch, divide it up and later use it to make various Christine Ferber-like preserves on our own.

Your family jam making sounds so pleasant. When the delightful redfox was a young one at home, we used to disintegrate rapidly while trying to put up the Christmas tree together each year. Hot jam would seem to have potential in that direction. But we do seem to mostly cook together pretty harmoniously, and we're big girls now.

[Rob Drimmie]

Just now, five minutes, I had toast with butter and cracked black pepper. I'd been thinking about it since yesterday afternoon when I caught up with the site so far and all that anticipation couldn't even compare to the payoff.

I am restraining myself from finishing the loaf in a flurry of warm buttery hot consumption, and looking forward to tomorrow morning, when I have buttered toast with freshly cracked black pepper again.

Thank you!

[Lindy]

Glad you tried it, Rob. You may find it good with all different sorts of bread, in different ways.

[Lynn]

Toast with pepper sounds so delicious, but I am trying to lose weight and haven't had buttered toast in quite a while. I came up with a wonderful substitute: pepper on your oatmeal or cream of rye (my current favorite)! There is no need for sugar on the cereal and with a cup of tea for breakfast it is divine. I also like to put pepper on a fruit salad.

[Lindy]

Sounds excellent. I do tend to add pepper alot. Pepper on strawberries with a little balsamic vinegar is particularly nice.( I want to try making it into a jam. )
I have not had cream of rye cereal, and am interested. Is this something which appears on supermarket shelves, and I have just missed, I wonder? Or a specialty store item? I love the flavor of rye bread, but am particularly attached to the caraway seed aspect, which, I guess, wouldn't do with cereal.
I will try some pepper on my oatmeal next time.

[Lynn]

I buy Roman Meal brand cream of rye at my local health food store. It comes in a round box with a plastic lid just like oatmeal. They also sell rye flakes in the bulk section. They take longer to cook. I'll try them next. I'm still working on my first box of cream of rye. Your blog continues to be wonderful. I think we definitely have the same food sensibility. The cauliflower pasta dish sounds fabulous and so easy. I'm sending the link to my son, a senior in college and sharing a house with other students for the first time.

[heather]

I have the book, "The Agony of the Leaves", and it introduced me to the sublime pleasure of "peppertoast", which I enjoy regularly with a nice pot of assam. Love the blog, will be stalking it often!!!!

[lindy]

Thanks heather, glad you'll be around. Just had some excellent Russian Caravan tea at The Cafe at the Frick.It's the first place I've been in a long time that makes its tea with loose tea, in a pot, and provides a strainer. (The best part being that I'm not the one who cleans up the pot.) Yum.

[heather]

Hi Lindy,
Must have been such a treat. I am all thrilled to bitsies because yesterday I found a lovely cast iron/enamel teapot with a basket infuser for a great price. Sure, I was supposed to be school shopping with my youngest, but heck, Mom needs a treat here and there to keep on keeping on, no?!! Love T.J. Maxx for just that reason!!! Your tomato post came just in time, btw, as I am dealing with an embarassment of tomatoes from my litle backyard garden. I'm looking forward to trying the soup tomorrow.

[Evelyn]

re: tea...i've been a tasseophile and past tea-shop girl for a while: regarding the aforementioned cast iron/enamel pots, also known as tetsubin, you can find them wholesale from the Kotobuki company much cheaper than in specialty shops. While they are the best way to brew, I got a little plastic brewer from Teavana that I use at work that makes a lovely cup (or two) and while it uses loose tea, the mess is at a minimum. Nothing like fresh hot vithanakande. :)