French Toast toppings...

The thread dealing with North vs South (US) cuisine brought back a childhood memory. Being of British parentage, I have always put a little ketchup on my french toast. I mean, it's eggs, right?

When I was about 7 years old, I stayed over at a friend's house, and the next morning french toast was served. Seeing no ketchup on the table, I asked for some. The disbelief and horror on the face of my friend's mother is something I still remember after 30 years. It was only then that I found that most Canadians (?North Americans?) use icing sugar or syrup on their f.t.

My question is this: do various cultural groups tend to prefer sweet to savoury toppings on their f.t.? Is the use of ketchup a British thing, or am I some kind of Hideous Mutant Freak and evolutionary dead end?

One more thing: travelling in the US about 15 years ago, I noticed there was never any vinegar at the table in restaurants and diners, and our request for some drew looks that brought back memories of the French Toast Incident.

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"A friend will help you move house. A best friend will help you move a body."--Alexi Sayle

I too am of British parentage (well on one side, anyway) and I have always had jam or syrup on my french toast. This would seem to support your theory that you could be a "Hideous Mutant Freak", although I'm sure your mummy still loves you.

That having been said, I have been looked at askance for such combinations as chutney and grilled cheese sandwiches, a culinary oddity my British mother instilled in me.

I don't know anyone who puts ketchup on french toast, though. What do the french do?

You wacked out Limeys!

You also put mayo on french fries.

I believe that the toppings used on food is learned from your parents. My dad peppered his cantaloupe. So do I.

Your average US restaurant would only make vinigar available in the case of fish and chips or perhaps a salad.

My wife is British and favors some rather strange (to me) combinations of food. Alas, and thank God, ketchup on her french toast isn't one of them.

One thing she has taught me is to avoid is anything offered to you by a Brit with the word pudding in it. I grew up with the kind of pudding that was creamy and chocalatey and came in little disposable cups like the stuff Bill Cosby hocks. Pudding to her can mean anything from coagulated pig's blood (black pudding) to a sausage casing filled with sugary lard (white pudding?)

She also has a proclivity for putting things on toast: Beans, sardines, corned beef (the gross kind that comes in a can) and peas.

Yet she cringes in revoltion at the sight of a peanutbutter and jelly sandwich. There were MANY good reasons for the American Revolution and I aint talking about taxation!

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Aon Dia.
Aon Tir.
Aon Ite.

I like mayo on my french fries. I also like catsup on french toast.
When I was a kid, we had pancakes and eggs with maple syrup on the cakes and a couple eggs on top with catsup on them. YUM!
Everybody liked it, except Mikey.
Most cultures enjoy sweet and savory together.
Peace,
mangeorge

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"If you tell the truth you don't have to remember anything" Mark Twain 1894

I should have perhaps specified that while my father was English, my mother is Scots.

My father and I would actually have to leave the building when my mother prepared an atrocity called "Finnan Haddie," which to the best of my recollection is salt mackerel boiled in milk.

Fried mealy (or white) pudding, fried tomatoes, Ayrshire ham and eggs, with soft baps (floury rolls) and hot tea is a breakfast fit for God's Own Prophet, and prepares a man for a day's scurfing in the shipyards.


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"A friend will help you move house. A best friend will help you move a body."--Alexi Sayle

What the hell is wrong with beans on toast???

The true culinary weirdnesses come from south of the border, IMHO. That's right, you Yanks do some strange and disgusting things to food.

Exhibit A: Corn dogs. Eeeewwwww.
Exhibit B: Grits. I don't even know what they are, but I wouldn't want to eat anything that brings to mind that feeling you get between your teeth after driving for five hours on a dirt road in a drought.
Exhibit C: Chicken-fried steak. No elaboration necessary.
Exhibit D: Pizza pops
Exhibit E: A morbid fascination with non-foods like aspartame and olestra.
Exhibit F: Pork rinds

I could go on, but I'd rather not lose the bagel I ate for breakfast. Wacked out Limeys indeed. Hmph.

My dad was from Nova Scotia and did similarly strange things to fish, particularly kippers.

I forgot to add earlier that ketchup does belong on eggs, if that was in doubt. I always had ketchup on omlettes and scrambled eggs as a kid. Just out of curiosity, did anyone else's mom make scrambled eggs in a saucepan rather than a frying pan? I was under the impression that my mom's scrambled egg method was a Brit thing, but it may have been just a family thing.

I'll take a corn dog over beans on toast anyday. No wonder the Brits lost their empire! Your tank hits a bump in the road on the way to squelsh the whirling dirvishes; you got beans all over your lap! If you'd had corn dogs, you could have ruled the world forever!

Well, on my French toast, it has to be butter, maple syrup, and powdered sugar. Mmmm, mmmm. Is anyone else on this board normal.

My dad always mixed ketchup in with his chicken noodle soup. Is this a common thing, or shall I continue my thinking in that this combination would cause anyone else to hurl?

Speaking of weird toppings, I guess this isn't that unheard of, but my uncle won't eat ice cream unless he has some Rice Krispies or Cornflakes to put on top of it.

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"Give a man a match and he'll be warm for an hour... Set him on fire and he'll be warm for the rest of his life."

I've not done the Krispie/Corn Flake deal. I have topped ice cream with granola, though.

My aunt mixed ketchup in her soup. Also sour cream. And,(*coincidence*?) Raspy, her pet feline was named Rasputin Finnius Cat.

My friend from Mexico City says all foods are divided into two categories:
- Those you can eat with ice cream (French Toast would fall in this category); and
- Those you put hot sauce on.

No C or P

The only eggs I've ever put ketchup on were in a fried egg sandwich. I put syrup on french toast and wash it down with orange juice.

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"Age is mind over matter; if you don't mind, it don't matter." -Leroy "Satchel" Paige

Ooh, that reminds of some good sandwiches I used to make a lot myself. There was the fried egg and cheese sandwich (no ketchup, though), plus the always popular peanut butter and banana.

Speaking of weird toppings, I guess this isn't that unheard of, but my uncle won't eat ice cream unless he has some Rice Krispies or Cornflakes to put on top of it.

When I was a kid, my grandma (my Coors-drinking, baseball-fanatic, non-domestic type grandma) used to give us vanilla ice cream with Cheerios on top. This was a very rare, very special treat and MUCH better than it sounds.



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Jess
Don't take life so serious, son... it ain't no how permanent.
-Porkypine

Since we're admitting to strange food combinations, I'll throw in my favorite: Peanut butter and cheese. It's good, really! But it has to be JIF peanut butter, not a sweet brand like Peter Pan.

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"I had a feeling that in Hell there would be mushrooms." -The Secret of Monkey Island

What has to be the wierdest ice cream topping known to mankind is A-1. I know somebody who will put A-1 on vanilla ice cream and eat it.

<shudder>

. . . As for french toast, the only way I've ever seen it done is in restaurants in the western United States, where it is invariably (so far as I can tell) topped with powdered sugar and pancake syrup.

-- Sylence.

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"A friend of mine once sent me a post card with a picture of the entire planet Earth taken from space. On the back it said, 'Wish you were here'." - Steven Wright

Cream cheese and any jam or jelly.
Damn, I'm hungry!

Ooh, ooh.
Cold spaghetti on Wonder bread with mayo.

Cold, congealed gravy. On Hi Ho crackers.

I'm outta here. Gotta get some chili-cheese dogs at the Wienerschnitzel.

Weird food combinations:

Slow cooked pinto beans with bacon...and cottage cheese. This is excellent.

My stepfather used to eat peanut butter sandwiches...with American cheese slices and French's mustard. Gag.

On French Toast? Well, my younger brother slathers mustard (has to be the bright yellow stuff) on his. As for me, I like my French toast the way I had it every morning back in my Army days: toast on the bottom, sunny-side up eggs on top of that, creamed beef on top of all that. That would be my favourite meal number one.

Favourite meal number two is an Ulster Fry. Dang, that's a great breakfast! And the pancakes don't have syrup on them.

Eris: you just reminded me of my mum's "steamed egg," which is essentially scrambled eggs (with milk, pepper and parsley), cooked in a covered saucepan. Served, naturally, on toast.

My mother will still occasionally have bully beef (the tinned kind) and cabbage. And always steak pie (no kidney) on Hogmanay (New Year's Day), and of course, haggis on January 25, with bashed neeps.

"And what do you think the Argylls ate in Aden? Arabs!?" -old Monty Python skit

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"A friend will help you move house. A best friend will help you move a body."--Alexi Sayle

>>One more thing: travelling in the US about 15 years ago, I noticed there was never any vinegar at the table in restaurants and diners, and our request for some drew looks that brought back memories of the French Toast Incident.>>

Vinegar is not one of the top condiments on tables in the US. In Maryland, there are several french fry establishments ("Thrasher's" in Ocean City and "Boardwalk Fries" elsewhere) which conspicuously serve vinegar. In fact, Thrasher's provides apple-cider vinegar for your fries at the cash register, under a big sign which announces "NO KETCHUP". The sign, of course invites thousands of "Got any ketchup?" questions per day. In most other restaurants, however, ketchup is on the table and vinegar is not.

On top of French toast? Well blueberry jam and whipping cream. If there is no bluberries, the strawberries. In desperation syrop will do fine.On top of toast? Why pickeled herring and slided boiled eggs of course!

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Cogito Ergo Vroom
I think therefore I ride fast...

Eris: you just reminded me of my mum's "steamed egg," which is essentially scrambled eggs (with milk, pepper and parsley), cooked in a covered saucepan. Served, naturally, on toast.

Yes, that's essentially it. Except there's some genetic mutation in my family that's caused none of us to like parsley, hence no parsely in the scrambled eggs. My mom added a bit of butter & salt, too. And of course it was served on toast!

Nice to see another Victoria resident on this board. Beautiful day, isn't it?

Awww..I hate the guy that reminded me of Thrashers Fries over in Ocean City. I used to drown em in apple vinegar and eat quickly, burning the hell out of my mouth. (Now I am on the west coast I can't get to them!) You FIEND!

Ok gorwing up in the south I have eaten wierd stuff:
-Peanut butter and Banana sanwiches fried in Bacon fat (Elvis was on to something-they taste good)
-Eggs, sourcream, wosht- Worschtershire sauce (I think thats right), cayenne pepper
-Fried Pickles! (Its a corn dog but with a pickle inside-popular in Arkansas)
-Peanut butter and butter sanwiches

Now for your enjoyment Alcoholic drinks never meant for human consumption-PUNISHMENT SHOTS

-Dragon Piss (Creme de minthe and Mountain Dew) Go ahead and try to choke it down
-Cement Mixer (shot of Bailey's Irsh Cream, shot of lime juice-Take shot of Bailey's. With Bailey's in your mouth take shot of lime juice. Mix rapidly in mouth by shaking head vigorously. Swallow before it congeals totally.) I have puked everytime I tried this
-Blood of Satan -GUARANTEED TO FLOOR YOU (
1 part Jagermeister,1 part Goldschlager,1 part Irish whiskey (Jamson's ),1 part Jack Daniels - Mix in shot glass and chug..grab something non human and hold on-being that I nearly broke someones arm after downing this)

Anyone else got really really bad punishment shots?

I can't remember what this was called (I'll look it up and get back to you), but it probably had something to do with fire. Cinnamon schnapps...and tabasco. I am not making this up.

My mother grew up thinking that the proper partner for peanut butter on a sandwich was pickles. (it's still her preferred choice, and I eat it, too. I'm always amused by the reactions when I mention or eat it).

Well, my uncle "kicks ice cream up a notch" by slathering it with pinto beans. In all other respects he's an intelligent man.

The question is, does he add pinto beans to ice cream because he honestly believes pinto beans are tasty on ice cream, or does he do it because he thinks plain ice cream is boring and needs some accoutrements that nobody else has thought of yet? It's the latter trend that worries me.

Sayeth the Doolster -- "Anyone else got really really bad punishment shots?"

Ensign Eaters --
1 shot rootbeer Schnapps
1 shot San Bouca(sp?)
Coke (a Cola)

Put Schnapps in shooter glass. Then slowly pour Bouca down the outside of a swizzle stick so it layers on top the Schnapps. Rinse mouth w/Coke. Shoot it. Bow to porcelain queeen. Repeat.

Wors'en rinsing with Coke after brushing your teeth.
Fill mouth with Coke and

Got shots?

See Punishment Shots thread.

Great DAY, what an insane thread. Better add to the fire...

My Dad is a bred-and-born German (from farm country, no less) and therefore eats just about anything you can chop off a cow with a quick whack from a sharp axe (Including the thing you'd think you wouldn't eat, but let's not go into that here). He puts salt on everything including, but not limited to, peach ice cream, root beer, and brie (as if it weren't salty enuff). He likes stinky sammiches made of limburger, muenster, hard pastrami and sardines in mustard sauce with red onions and garlic topped with tabasco on sourdough bread (and for that matter, so do I). He puts mayo on his potatoes.

Mom is half-Scots, half-English, so there were cooking monstrosities going on in that house around the clock. Grandma likes the taste of milktoast. Mom has a fondness for lukewarm pineapple chunks. And peanut butter on everything. Grandad was a Scotsman, and therefore, liked the taste of whiskey. Hooo!

My fiancee says she likes Rice Krispies in a bowl of RC, but she's kind of a freak.

And I dunno so much about ketchup on French Toast, but golly I like maple syrup on my sausage and eggs.

And it ain't a shot, but for a mean drink, check out http://freehosting.at.webjump.com/a1...s/deportee.htm

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-An epistle most prosaic, courtesy of Calamity Jon.
Jon can be seen swinging from trees at ape-law.com

Ensign Eaters --
1 shot rootbeer Schnapps
1 shot San Bouca(sp?)
Coke (a Cola)

I think it's Sambucca. However you spell it though, it's still nasty.

My favorite weird food combo is macaroni & cheese & ketchup. I try to not eat this when anyone else is around 'cause it really looks nasty. But it's good! I swear Especially if Mom didn't put enough velveeta in the m&c

Never heard of anyone putting anything but high concentrations of sugar on french toast before, although I put ketchup on scrambled eggs 'til I got to college and the ketchup was worse than the eggs.

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Those who can't hear the music, think the dancer is mad.

Taste - there's just no accounting for it.

This brings to mind a related saying, and a related topic: Life is a matter of Taste.

Does anyone else here watch the Food Network? Specifically, David Rosengarten's show Taste? Does anyone else think that he gets most of the way through a recipe, and it looks all good, but then he adds something just disgusting (like anchovies to egg salad) and that just wrecks it? Or is this a standard American way to cook? I'm not trying to yank-bash here, but I've seen this on other cooking shows too. Has anyone else noticed a tendency to "kick it up a notch" just for the sake of "kicking it up a notch"?

In addition to the aforementioned PB and banana sandwiches, my dad had another fruit sandwich oddity: pineapple sandwiches. He'd take canned pineapples (rings or chunks) and stick them between two slices of bread and chow down. I think he may also have put mayo on the things.

Still looking for the adoption papers...

As a kid, I used to love Mac & Cheese with kechup.

Want a great combination? There is a resturant in St. Louis that serves a thing - I think called a slinger. Take two cheeseburger patties (I prefer RARE); top with a fried egg each. Put hash browns next to it. Smother the whole plate with chili. Wonderful. Gotta be soft yolks on the eggs so that they stare at you out of the chilli!

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"There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies and statistics"
Benjamin Disraeli

My favorite odd combo.....brussel sprouts drowning in Miracle Whip.

My sister eats Cherry flavored pop tarts with butter slathered all over the top of it (uncooked, of course)

My stepfather won't eat any kind of meat unless it's coated in barbecue sauce, and that's including turkey, ham, etc.

I like orange sherbet with chocolate sprinkles, or orange sherbet with chocolate sauce (not fudge!) stirred into soup. Mr. Rilch says I'm crazy. Having read this thread, I think not.

Not a punishment shot, but cool:
Brain:
1 shot Bailey's
1 shot peach schnapps
The peach curdles the cream, causing it to look somewhat like a brain. Add a drop of grenadine to make it a Brain Hemmorhage.


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Remember, I'm pulling for you; we're all in this together.
---Red Green

[[Well, my uncle "kicks ice cream up a notch" by slathering it with pinto beans. In all other respects he's an intelligent man.]]

Ice cream and beans is a popular treat...in Hawaii!

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"Age is mind over matter; if you don't mind, it don't matter." -Leroy "Satchel" Paige

One of the three best hamburgers I ever had was a regular thick burger patty wrapped in what basically amounted to the outside of an omelet. Put it on a grilled bun, and the only condiment you need is salt. Yum...

(The other best burgers are tame...medium rare, with cheddar cheese, mushrooms, bacon, and a liberal dose of A-1, or the same thing, only topped with bleu cheese and bacon)

You just reminded me of one of my summer camp favorites. Sloppy Joes with potato chips, only put the potato chips on the sandwich instead of on the side. This only works with those thick, ridgy chips (Ruffles are the best), but they're damn good.

Oh, well putting potato chips in a sandwich isn't strange, is it? You GOTTA do that with a tuna sandwich. Adds texture.

Oh yeah, mac&cheese with ketchup!!!

And, butter beans with mustard!!

Also, bologna w/ Miracle Whip and Frito's on potato bread - the best!

You people are all sick, sick, sick! I don't think I have any strange food cravings. I am way too much of a picky eater for that.

The grossest thing I have ever seen someone else do, though, was take a twinkie, cut it lengthwise, and put a hot dog in the middle. Yuck!

Start with a Omelet with green pepper, mushrooms, and onions. (or what ever you like, a cheese omelet works too) Top with chile and serve with a side of salsa and a side of sour cream...Mexican omelet. A cafe where I grew up served these, really good but draws some strange looks.

Two awful food combinations I've run across:

1. An old college roommate would get rid of flat beer in the morning (y'know, the half-bottles lying around the day after a party) by using it instead of milk over Cheerios. He also smoked opium, so we expected this sort of behavior from him.

2 (this one still comes up regularly, because it's a favorite of my inbred stepfamily and I see it at holidays and reunions): Fill a large bowl with cottage cheese. Stir in a packet of Jell-O powder, preferably lime. Add raisins and shredded carrots. Enjoy.

RRRAAaaalllffff...

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"I'm not an actor, but I play one on TV."

(this one still comes up regularly,

I can see why...

Weird combos for me?

Mountain Dew and creamer. Be careful though that the creamer isn't bad though, or it will explode when you put it with your drink.

Strawberry yogurt and rice krispies. Yummy.




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Ruby Sunbeam (Better known as Welfy)
The most important things in life aren't things.

[I can't remember what this was called (I'll look it up and get back to you), but it probably had something to do with fire. Cinnamon
schnapps...and tabasco. I am not making this up.]

Red Hots! Had a friend of mexican persuasion who would do shot of tabasco and chase it with the c/schnapps. MEDIC!

My favorite weird food combo is macaroni & cheese & ketchup

I used to add sour cream and Heinz 57 sauce to mine. Thick & spicy!

The weirdest thing I ever put together was purely for shock value (i.e. grossing out sister and friends) and was a ketchup, mayo & potato chip sandwich. Sounds kinda tame but they ran screaming, which was the effect I desired.

Doolin, man, thanks for the shot ideas. Gonna try those out sometime and see how bad they ruin me.

Actually, some of these food ideas don't sound all that bad...

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All Hail Unca Cecil, or the next best thing available!