Recipe For Baked French Toast

Cookbooks for Men

“Men are more reckless,” says Esquire columnist and author, Ryan D’Agostino. “They don’t think with their heads, but in a good way. They tend to throw rules out the window and play with fire. Literally.” D’Agostino, of course, is talking about how men behave in the kitchen.

Men don’t do the “thirty-minute-meal” thing. Cooking is an extension of their desire to tinker. “We like satisfying household jobs like hooking up new electrical circuits or renovating bathrooms,” he says, because they play into men’s tendency to go in and mess around with stuff until it works. The burgeoning market in men’s cookbooks marries their desire to know how things work with their need to make things happen. The best books presume that men actually want to be in the kitchen, cooking for pleasure, seduction, survival or just to feed the kids.

So instead of ties, head covers or barbecue tools, give Dad a gift that keeps on giving. Herewith, three top men’s cookbooks along with the authors’ suggested Father’s Day recipes.

D’Agostino gathered recipes and techniques from the country’s best chefs for "Eat Like a Man: The Only Cookbook a Man Will Ever Need." He arranges the book by meal, categorizes recipes by skill level—easy, reasonable, worth-the-effort—and studs recipes with smart, visual cues: “stir till it looks like sand” rather than time cues “stir for five minutes.” Food-porn photography, an oyster primer and mixology techniques for the five essential cocktails—Martini, Manhattan, Gimlet, Sidecar, Old-Fashioned

—complete the Mad Men vibe.

Try “easy” Banana Bread French Toast for Dad’s breakfast. Dip store-bought banana bread in eggs, milk and cinnamon and fry. Top with lemon-zested sour cream and scrape a vanilla bean into maple syrup. For a “reasonable” Chicken-Parm Hero with Sausage lunch, dredge cutlets in flour, eggs and breadcrumbs. Slather a semolina roll with sausage-tomato sauce, lay in chicken, top with cheese and broil. “Worth-the-effort” Coca-Cola-Brined Fried Chicken is Chef John Currence’s tribute to one of his favorite New Orleans chefs, Willie Mae. Soak chicken in a Coke, Worcestershire sauce and Tabasco brine. Drain, dry, dip into a batter laced with cayenne, onion powder, garlic powder and fry.

Click here for the full Coca-Cola-Brined Fried Chicken recipe.

If dad downs one beer too many the night before Father’s Day, go with Milton Crawford’s intentionally misspelled "The Hungoevr Cookbook." Crawford’s questionnaires match the right recipes with each of six hangover types. For example, if Dad answers, “What would be your ideal activity be right now?” with, “If I had a coffin, I’d lie in it,” an explosion has occurred. That means that when Dad looks in the mirror there’s a mushroom cloud where his head should be. He’s having an Atomic hangover. Crawford’s Potato Hash with Avocado and Bacon is the cure. Huevos Rancheros reverse the futility-inducing despair of a Broken Compass hangover and will restore Dad’s sense of purpose. If Dad feels like someone is strategically piercing his brain—the Sewing Machine hangover—soothe him with a satisfyingly starchy Elvis Presley Peanut Butter, Banana and Bacon Sandwich.

Strawberry Rhubarb Baked French Toast Recipe | Barbara Bakes

Baked French Toast is one of my favorite recipes on my blog.  I make it nearly every weekend in the summer when I can buy fabulous bread and gorgeous fruits at the Farmer’s Market. It’s so easy to change up with whatever fruit is in season. But as much as I loved all the others, this Strawberry Rhubarb Baked French Toast is my new favorite. I love the sweet tart combination of strawberries and rhubarb with just a hint of orange.

I also made one other change in the recipe. I toasted the bread for 20 minutes before soaking it in the egg mixture overnight. I decided if toasting the bread before making stuffing gives it a better texture, then toasting the French toast bread would probably do the same thing. I thought it made a huge difference. Even the bread on the bottom near the fruit juices was firmer.

With this Baked French Toast recipe it is best to use a dense, chewy bread . I bought a loaf of Cinnamon Burst Bread from Great Harvest Bread Company . It’s a big round 1 1/2 pound loaf studded with cinnamon chips and it makes fabulous French toast. Of course, if you aren’t lucky enough to have a Great Harvest store near you, feel free to substitute any dense, chewy bread that you love.