View source for Milk toast

{{short description|Breakfast dish consisting of toasted bread in warm milk}}
{{Distinguish|Milquetoast (disambiguation){{!}}Milquetoast|text=[[Milquetoast (disambiguation)|Milquetoast]]}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=December 2014}}

{{more citations needed|date=April 2013}}
[[File:Milk toast.jpg|thumb|200px|A version of ''milk toast'' consisting of toasted buttermilk bread covered in [[white sauce]] with a dash of [[cinnamon]]]]
'''Milk toast''' is a [[breakfast]] dish consisting of [[Toast (food)|toasted bread]] in warm [[milk]], typically with sugar and butter.<ref name="alpha">"An Alphabet For Gourmets" by Mary Francis Kennedy Fisher, MacMillan</ref> Salt, pepper, paprika, cinnamon, cocoa, raisins or other ingredients may be added.<ref name="stew">"A Stew or a story: an assortment of short works by M.F.K. Fisher" by Joan Reardon, Mary Frances Kennedy Fisher, Counterpoint Press, Originally in ''Bon Appetit'', 1978.</ref> In the [[New England]] region of the United States, milk toast refers to toast that has been dipped in a milk-based white sauce.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.bartleby.com/87/r0075.html |title=Bartleby |publisher=Bartleby |date= |access-date=2013-11-17}}</ref>
[[File:Milktoast.jpg|thumb|Traditional milktoast]]
Milk toast was a popular food throughout the late 19th and early 20th centuries{{Where|date=October 2024}}, especially for young children and for the [[Convalescence|convalescent]], for whom the dish was thought to be soothing and easy to [[digestion|digest]].<ref name="alpha" /> Although not as popular in the 2000s, milk toast is still considered a [[comfort food]].<ref name="stew" /><ref>{{cite web |last=Clough |first=Caroline |url=http://chicagoist.com/2007/04/06/milk_toast_in_the_morning.php |title=Chicagoist |publisher=Chicagoist |date=April 6, 2007 |access-date=2013-11-17 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20120403034135/http://chicagoist.com/2007/04/06/milk_toast_in_the_morning.php |archivedate=April 3, 2012 |df=mdy-all}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |author=Queenkungfu |url=http://www.recipezaar.com/Moms-Warm-Milk-Toast-Bedtime-Snack-217799 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120907113650/http://www.recipezaar.com/Moms-Warm-Milk-Toast-Bedtime-Snack-217799 |url-status=dead |archive-date=September 7, 2012 |title=Recipe Czar |publisher=Recipezaar.com |date= |access-date=2013-11-17 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/nigella-lawson/bread-and-milk-recipe/index.html |title=Nigella Lawson recipe |publisher=Foodnetwork.com |date= |access-date=2013-11-17}}</ref>

Food writer [[M. F. K. Fisher]] called milk toast a "warm, mild, soothing thing, full of innocent strength", and wrote, of eating milk toast in a famed restaurant with a [[wiktionary:convalescent|convalescent]] friend, that the dish was "a small modern miracle of [[gastronomy]]". She notes that her homeliest kitchen manuals list it under "Feeding The Sick" or "Invalid Recipes", arguing that milk toast was "an instinctive [[Palliative care|palliative]], something like boiled water".<ref name="alpha" /> Fisher also notes that for true comfort, a [[ritual]] may be necessary, and for "Milk Toast people", the dish used may be foolishly important{{Clarify|reason=who are milk toast people and why is the dish foolish|date=October 2024}}. Her favorite version of milk toast has the milk mixed 50/50 with [[Campbell Soup Company|Campbell's]] condensed [[Tomato soup|cream of tomato soup]] in a wide-lipped pitcher called a {{Lang|it|boccalino}}, from Italian [[Switzerland]].<ref name="stew" />

== Outside New England ==
{{More citations needed section|date=October 2024}}

===Asia===
Milk toast is a dessert that is served in Asian milk tea cafes. It consists of thick, enriched toasted white bread with [[condensed milk]] on top. It is called {{Lang|hi-latn|shahi tukda}} ({{Langx|bn|শাহী টুকরা}}) in Bangladesh and India and is occasionally served at gatherings. The topping is often infused with cardamom and other spices.[[File:Condensed milk toast.jpg|thumbnail|left|Milk toast prepared with [[condensed milk]]]]
===Norway and Sweden===
A traditional Scandinavian dish similar to milk toast is called {{Lang|no|soll}} in [[Norwegian language|Norwegian]] and {{Lang|sv|bryta}} in [[Swedish language|Swedish]]. It consists of broken ''[[flatbrød]]'' (wafer-thin, crisp bread), ''[[tunnbröd]]'' or dry bread served in a bowl of cold milk (often ''[[filmjölk]]'') and sweetened with sugar. This was an everyday dish for peasants in the countryside, especially served as a simple supper in the evening and was sometimes served as breakfast with warmed milk during the winter.

===Serbia===
''[[Popara]]'' is a dessert similar to milk toast which can be served at any time of the day. It is often made with fresh warm milk and day-old bread.

==In popular culture==
Milk toast's soft blandness served as inspiration for the name of the timid and ineffectual [[comic strip]] character [[Caspar Milquetoast]], drawn by [[H. T. Webster]] from 1924 to 1952.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/milquetoast |title=Caspar Milquetoast |publisher=Dictionary.reference.com |date= |access-date=2013-11-17}}</ref> Thus, the term ''milquetoast'' entered the language as the label for a timid, shrinking, apologetic person.

In the American television series ''[[Leave It to Beaver]]'', Ward, Wally, and Beaver eat milk toast when Aunt Martha visits in the episode “Beaver’s Short Pants”.<ref>{{Cite AV media |url=https://m.imdb.com/title/tt0630222/ |title="Leave It to Beaver" Beaver's Short Pants (TV Episode 1957) ⭐ 8.1 {{!}} Comedy, Family |language=en-US |access-date=2024-10-29 |via=m.imdb.com}}{{unreliable source|date=November 2024}}</ref>{{better source needed|date=November 2024}}

==See also==
{{Portal|Food}}
* [[Sop]]
* [[Trencher (tableware)|Trencher]]
* [[Raisin bread|Raisin toast]]
* [[French toast]]
* [[Bread and butter pudding]]
* [[List of bread dishes]]
* [[List of toast dishes]]

==References==
<references />

==External links==
{{Cookbook}}
{{Commons}}
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20060222032834/http://www.worldwideschool.org/library/books/tech/recipes/bread/milktoast/chap0.html Milk toast recipe at Worldwideschool]
*[http://www.mrbreakfast.com/display.asp?categoryid=1&subcategoryid=15&recipeid=148 Milk toast recipe at mrbreakfast.com]
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20151003182816/http://www.bartleby.com/87/r0075.html An old New England milk toast recipe]
*[http://www.cooks.com/rec/story/128/#J A modern recipe for New England style milk toast]

{{DEFAULTSORT:Milk Toast}}
[[Category:Milk dishes]]
[[Category:Toast dishes]]
[[Category:American breakfast foods]]
[[Category:Desserts]]