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Gold Coast French Toast Recipe
September 6, 2005 | 26 Comments
My collection of vintage cookbooks is small, but growing. Sometimes I find them. More times than not - they find me. I've tripped over short piles of hardbacks abandoned on sidewalks and driveways, and backed up into towers of dusty paperbacks at yard sales. Not all are worth taking, mind you - but the ones that are can be real treasures. Particularly when between the faded covers, you find a treasure of a french toast recipe like the one we are going to talk about today.
Many old cookbooks are beautifully illustrated. Some with simple black-and-white line drawings, others with colorful interpretations of ingredients. With the hard backs, I love to flip them right open to look at the end papers - the space before the first and after the last page of a book. They are often detailed with wonderful patterns - hundreds of lines of simple shapes, polka-dots, diamonds, flowers, or hand sketches.
The Spice Island Cookbook - detail, end papers
I thought it would be fun for me to share some of these finds now and then - the ones with the best detailing, most fanciful illustrations, and strongest personalities - and at least a few recipes that make it out of the era of deviled eggs unscathed. Today I am going to peel back the cover of the Spice Islands Cookbook. I found it trapped at the bottom of a huge box of musty books at the Alameda Flea Market about a year ago.
The Spice Island Cookbook - detail, illustration
It was published here in San Francisco by the Lane Book Company in conjunction with the Spice Islands Company to help consumers understand how to use different herbs and spices. The book includes recipes, idea charts, and of course cocktails. I loved spices as a kid and used to sit high on the counter in my parents kitchen where I would sniff my way through all their spices. We had a wooden, lazy Susan spice rack that must have held at least 20 jars covering the spice spectrum - cinnamon sticks, cloves, dried thyme, celery, cumin, dill...
The quirky, colorful illustrations that grace the pages are a big part of what make this book special. Alice Harth was the illustrator, and I will include a few samples of her work from this book. Also take note of the font treatment, and how the recipes were layed out. I love the selective, strategic use of all caps for emphasis. The pages are clean and crisp while at the same time being full and uncluttered.
The Spice Island Cookbook - detail, fonts
The book also happens to have a great French toast recipe in the bread chapter. It calls for undiluted evaporated milk, plenty of cinnamon and nutmeg, a kiss of sugar, and a single egg. Golden where the bread hits the pan, a slightly sweet batter, and sog-free toast make this recipe a keeper. One of the things that makes this recipe different from many dunk and sizzle French toast recipes is the evaporated milk. It is thicker than whole milk, and seems about two or three times thicker than percent milk - so it really coats the bread instead of running right through it.
I used a special bread - see my notes in the recipe section.
Gold Coast French Toast Recipe
Notes: I used a Hawaiian sweet bread sliced about 1-inch thick (and cut it into heart shapes). Choose your bread wisely - challah or any eggy or sweet bread would be equally good. I like to slice my French toast thick - it tends to collapse down a lot as it gets dunked and cooked. It will serve 2-4 depending on how hungry people are. I recommend a double batch.
1 egg
1 cup undiluted evaporated milk
1 tablespoon sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon salt
6 slices bread
Beat egg; add milk, sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt. Mix thoroughly. Cut bread into triangle, dip into egg and milk mixture. Brown on both sides on a well-greased griddle or frying pan. Serve with soft butter and maple syrup.
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Your Comments
Have you considered that fans might like a section, or a publication, by you entitled "The Poetry of Cooking?" It simply seemed a natural thing to inquire about, since much of what you say seems quite poetic, particularly your attention to detail and your phrases. For example:
--Today I am going to peel back
the cover of the Spice Islands Cookbook. I found it trapped ...
I was delighted to see Alice Harth mentioned as the illustrator of the Spice Islands cookbook. Do you know her? Perhaps your readers will be interested to learn that Alice is still living and working in SF. Though so many publishers and other clients have turned to computer images, Alice remains steadfast (and some say downright stubborn) in her belief that only original illustrations will do.
I notice that this book can be found quite easily on ebay
http://search.ebay.com/search/search.dll?submit42=ebay&query=The+Spice+Islands+Cookbook+&MfcISAPICommand=GetResult&ht=1&SortProperty=MetaEndSort
and for cheap!
Hi Heidi,
You prompted me to dig out my 1976 copy of The Spice Islands Cook Book ($1.95) only to discover all over again what a treasure it is! In quickly leafing through the brown-aged pages, I've seen many interesting and enticing recipes. The extensive Spice, Herb, Seasoning and Aromatic Seed Charts in the back of the book are terrific, and it's the first time I've ever seen a Vinegar Chart!
101cookbook is always delightful. Many Thanks!!!
I can't wait to try this recipe, but I've never heard of Hawaiian sweet bread. Is that common to find?
Paz
That sounds like an outstanding french toast recipe. And I love how you did them in little hearts.
You made me think that I shouldn't be so quick to pass up the older-looking cookbooks at the used bookstores I frequent.
I love old cookbooks! I am happy that you are starting a collection and look forward to hearing more about your finds.
I don't have this particular book but will now look for it when I am out an about.
I would like to know where you get the Hawaiian Sweet Bread also. Lo.
Oops! I forgot the letter 'd' there. The second paragraph should read "out and about".
The cook book sounds charming! I love hunting down books at 2nd hand stores, flea markets, and yard sales...
The french toast looks delicious...I would definitely go for a recipe using evaporated milk over regular :-) I'll be trying this soon!
I also have a small collecton of vintage cookbooks, about 20. One of them has illustrations by Andy Warhol (before he was Andy Warhol, so to speak). Antique malls are another good place to look for these, and because most people don't seem to be too interested in them, they're usually pretty cheap.
Great post!!
I also have a small collection of vintage cookbooks that I started collecting because of their whimsical illustration and design. My most favorite is "She Cooks to Conquer" from 1952. It uses Greek Myth analogies for all of the text and recipe names...Here is an excerpt from the beginning (Circe is the "she" who is conquering):
"Now you've done it, haven't you, Circe? Your culinary sorcery has conquered. The man who came to dinner, that former wild, untamed adventurer, has cast aside his play clothes and donned his matrimonial uniform. And he's now the man who stayed for breakfast."
I have never used evaporated milk- when I make my french toast, I use half and half. May I ask what difference does evaporated milk have over cream and milk? Is it sweeter? I'm a beginner!
Heidi -
I recently discovered the site.
It absolutely tickles me - made the flourless chocolate cake to raves at a recent dinner party.
One question - maybe too personal.
Are you a vicarious eater or do you have an unbelievable metabolism - I'm fighting going over to the dark side because of my absolute love of cooking and eating!
Rachel, you are thinking of condensed milk - which is sweet. Evaporated milk is milk that has had much of the water content removed though evaporation. My biggest problem with it is that it is hard to find organic producers of it.
Penny, I try to go to the gym 5 or 6 times a week (cardio kickboxing, tae kwon do) - but I could certainly stand to exert better portion control (but everything tastes so good!). So no....I wasn't blessed with supercharged metabolism.
Mary, I love the Warhol Wild Raspberries book, and have it right here - I actually prefer his illutrations to his silkscreen paintings.
Ah, the little bit about you smelling the spices and herbs made me smile. My kids do this all of the time and we have discussions about what each is used for. My youngest is by far the most frequent visitor to the spice/herb shelf and has often been found with a small streak of ground cinnamon or tumeric on the end of his nose.
This is absolutely one of my favorites, but my copy is an original, yes I'm that old.
There is a wonderful recipe for beef stew served over mashed potatoes that is my all time favorite.
Heidi, what a beautiful idea. How lovely to see he old illustrations! My 100+yr old cookbook has remedies for bee stings and how to make soap. You have inspired me to write about the cookbook store in NYC where I bought three books I had never seen the likes of.
And one my favorite books that brings back the past is Florentines by Lorenza De'Medici. Illustrations by Giovanna Garzoni 1600-1670 Breathtaking!
I saw that book in a bookstore and was intrigued with it. Came back to buy it the next day, but alas, it was gone.
I have a number of older cookbooks and just adore reading through them...looking at the drawings.
If I'm not mistaken, that particular cookbook contains a simple, but excellent cheesecake recipe, for which my sister-in-law became justly famous (within the family, that is.)
I too collect cookbooks, old and new, and cook from them. In fact, I have a problem finding space for them all as I have at least 400, none of which are expendible.
I am particularly fond of the not-so-old, but out of print "Better Than Storebought," which I use all the time, and "Cross Creek Cookery" by Marjorie Rawlings (novelist and author of "The Yearling") which has a neat allover picture on bookcloth cover, and interesting accounts of her creative back-woods-Florida cooking in the forties.
Love your blog, which I have only recently discovered.
You're killing me. That French toast looks so gorgeous. And I'm about to attend a required faculty breakfast at the school cafeteria. Sigh. I'll make up for it with dinner.
I love this phrase: "...a kiss of sugar." Lovely, Heidi.
This is absolutely one of my favorites, but my copy is an original, yes I'm that old.
There is a wonderful recipe for beef stew served over mashed potatoes that is my all time favorite.
When I saw the title, "Gold Coast French Toast", I thought it sounded familiar. Then I realized that it is the name of the french toast I have been making for hundreds of years- I got the recipe from my mom who made it before I started cooking at the age of 8. It is the best- I have had guests tell me they never liked french toast until they ate this one. But I never knew where my mother got the recipe! Now it makes sense because she never bought anything except Spice Island stuff!! (Since I put syrup on my f. toast, I leave the sugar out to save a few calories!)
hi,
thought i remembered you saying you'd like the real food daily club sandwich recipe which i ran across on food network site
http://www.foodnetwork.com/food/cda/recipe_print/0,1946,FOOD_9936_31657_PRINT-RECIPE-FULL-PAGE,00.html
So ... I'm getting married and moving into a new house in two months. I'd like to get off on the right foot - can someone suggest a good place to get the drawer extensions and cute, but functional, spice bottles?
Thanks!
I totally need to do that myself! Thanks for the confession and inspiration!
Well, you really are quite a talented writer and put up such nice pictures that make me really just want to make french toast and garlic/parsley butter, which would go quite nicely on a potato or even a salad, and I just appreciate that, as it's really all we must do these days anyway, is make sure we do eat.
Orchard P Dirk
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