I grew up during an era of eternal Soviet Military parades and lengthy, recurrent bread lines. I remember playing in the fresh snow with the other children, while my grandma was standing in a seemingly endless line. The waiting time and the length of the line didn’t matter as much as the fear that the store would run out of bread. It had happened before, many times. The line had formed well ahead of the store opening.

My presence was important because the store only sold a loaf of bread per person. With some families having many children, each claiming a loaf of bread, the playing ground was naturally formed along the line. Rationing was part of life.

My grandma, Busya, didn’t allow anybody to throw dry bread away. It was considered a sin. No unfinished slice of bread. No bread lost!

When bread got stale, it soaked in a mixture of whipped egg with milk and sugar and then fried in a buttered pan until brown. We called it “grenki”.

For many years, “grenki” were associated with my grandma’s frugal habits. Yet, the smell and the taste of burnt butter and sugar was very delicious. The miraculous transformation of stale unappetizing bread into buttery, eggy, sweet toasts is still memorable. 

Many years later I realized that “Babushka’s grenki” are commonly known as French Toast, and that the earliest mention of its recipes was found in “Apicius”, a collection of Roman cookery, dating to the very first centuries AC.  

It is remarkable that the main ingredients and method of cooking are essentially still the same, regardless of the past two millennia: you dip slices of dry bread in a mixture of beaten eggs, with or without milk, sugar, and vanilla, and then fry the egg-coated bread in a buttered pan until browned.

In France and in the 15th century English Court of Henry V, a version of French toast was called “Pain Perdu,” meaning “lost bread.” Why lost bread? Because, if not used, they would throw it away, and although it was slightly different than the version, we are familiar with today, it still consists of stale bread, milk, and eggs and still goes by the name, Pain Perdu. 

I recently read that the French did not invent modern French toast. So who did? According to a legend, it was an innkeeper from Albany, New York, named Joseph French. He created the dish in 1724 and advertised it as “French Toast” because he was grammatically inept and forgot to use an apostrophe after his name, yet whatever the origin,  both the name and the recipe remain in use to this day. As does grammatical ineptness. 

Bon Appetit!

My grandma Busya’s Recipe:

1 cup half-and-half or whole milk;

2 large eggs or 3 small;

2 tbsp of sugar or honey;

8 slices day-old or stale country loaf, 1/2-inch thick; brioche or challah is good, too;

2 tbsp butter.

1 tbsp of olive oil.In a medium-size mixing bowl, whisk together the milk, eggs, and honey. Soak slices of bread in the mix. Over medium-low heat, melt butter and olive oil in a nonstick saute pan. Place slices of bread into the pan and cook until golden brown, approximately 2 minutes per side.

Remove from the pan and place it on the plate. Serve immediately with thick yogurt and fruit or plain.

P.S. All the food, featured in this post, has been prepared and photographed by Tanya.