Food - Drink
The Spice Bobby Flay Uses To Balance French Toast
By KAREN HART
French toast, at its most basic, consists of bread dipped into a milk and egg better, then fried in a fat of your choice before being slathered with butter and drizzled with maple syrup. Since French toast is so simple, it's easy to amp up the flavors using sweeteners and spices, and chef Bobby Flay likes to use this warming spice.
When Flay makes French toast, he likes to use challah bread and gets a little fancy by topping it with caramelized gala apples in a date molasses he makes himself, along with a spoonful of vanilla bean yogurt. What also makes the chef's French toast stand out is that he adds cardamom to the recipe to balance out the flavors.
Known as the "Queen of the Spices," cardamom is a complex spice and a member of the ginger family. Its flavor is like a blend of warm spice plus a distinct sweetness, and its palate-tickling effect can even make your olfactory and taste buds go into overdrive so you taste foods better, including sweet treats like French toast.