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Breakfast Foods: Land of Plenty
Appears in
Published 2004
The rich land and prosperous farms gave Americans the wherewithal to make huge breakfasts, the only limit being the cook’s imagination. With wheat joining corn as a widespread crop, with cows and their cream and butter plentiful, with chickens laying endless supplies of eggs, and with sugar becoming inexpensive enough to join honey, maple syrup, and molasses as a sweetener, cooks had at hand everything they needed for producing bounteous meals. They rose to the challenge.
Breakfast breads seemed to come pouring out of American ovens. Sally Lunn—a sweet, cakelike, yeast bread—was very popular, as were other sweetened breads made with yeast doughs, such as cinnamon rolls and sticky buns. Toast, of course, was common, but it was served not just spread with butter and preserves but also as milk toast (hot buttered toast dipped in hot milk) or even what was called buttered toast—which meant toasted bread dipped in a sort of butter gravy. Bread could also be made into French toast or Mennonite toast (deep-fried French toast).