Toast, just humble bread with a little application of indirect heat. The best breakfast in the world on a busy school day was a slice of soft white bread, toasted, buttered, and wrapped around a couple of slices of crispy bacon. I can almost taste it this very moment. But, this will not be toast's legacy.
Toast is poised and ready to become the next big food trend. It is in the starting gate, chomping at the bit for the gate to open. Sadly it will see many tragic "accidents" along the course of the race until it pulls back off the track to return to its humble beginnings. It will take its place in the food trend end-of-life sanctuary alongside cupcakes and kale. Bacon will continue its run until men no longer inhabit the planet, but it's time is coming too. GoHilaryGo.
For trendy toast there will be triumphs along with the tragedies.
Without even knowing it, I have been a trendsetter in the world of toast since I was old enough to push down the knob on the toaster. You see, the big toast hype now is burnt toast. Yes, burnt toast is being offered and devoured in the finest dining establishments. But, burnt toast has appeared at least three times week on the menu at my house for decades. You might even say it is my signature dish. The toast I have destroyed for decades is now called artisanal toast. Sadly this is not a joke. In fact, restaurants featuring "toast only" are slated to open soon. Clearly these are cash deals, because what banker in their right mind could look at a "toast only restaurant" business plan and hand over the financing. Mind boggling.
In addition to being burnt, toast will also suffer the humiliation of being topped with things that should never be on top of toast, like fermented soybean paste and lentil purée. But I don't despair as I will have a good chuckle as a spectator to the toast debacle.
Until someone convinces me that there is a better way, this will be toast, my way, everyday.
There will still be days when I feature burnt toast but I have a little trick up my sleeve to fix that. I use one slice of toast to "sand" the burnt edges off the other slice then reverse the process. Tap them together over the trash can, and all hints of burnt toast are gone. Well, the smell lingers for a bit but you can always open a window.
Happy toasting!
