Pain perdu, as the Old Creoles like my mother called it, got its name from the day-old stale French bread used to make it. Lost for most purposes to which French bread is usually put, these crusts are soaked in eggs and milk, fried or grilled, and served for breakfast. It is, you’ve noticed, quite like French toast but a good deal richer.

This is another one of those dishes for which my mother’s version remains definitive for me. She soaked the bread in the custard until it w