The Most Important Meal of the Day

I love breakfast. I love how you can eat things for breakfast that would totally be considered a fairly serious sort of dessert at any other time of the day.  Any meal that involves bacon is OK in my book and if there is also butter, syrup, and fried foods, even better.

My friend Raf and I went out for breakfast on Saturday.  Never having gone out for breakfast in Salem, I had to do a little research to find a good restaurant.  Someone I work with recommended Busick's Court so I read up on it online (what did we ever do before Google??). Apparently Rachael Ray (who one reviewer comically referred to as "the talking Elmo doll") went there for one of her shows so it now has extremely long lines to get a table.  But the reviews I read were pretty mixed with more than one diner commenting on how grubby the place was.  So, I decided we should go to the Sassy Onion which has an online menu filled with heart attack inducing breakfast options.

We both ordered the cinnamon swirl french toast after much deliberation over all the droolworthy choices.  I added a side of bacon and hashbrowns, too.  (Digression: Why is it so impossible to make decent hashbrowns at home?? I have yet to discover the secret.) The french toast was absolutely sinful - like really good foreplay: sweet, sticky and you never wanted it to end.  It was crispy on the outside, carmelized sugar, chewy - like a batter dipped cinnamon roll.  Amazing.  We just sat there moaning and "oh my god"ing in between bites. I wanted to go on being hungry forever just so I could keep eating it.  As it was, I could barely finish half. I'll definitely have to go back there again.

One of my favorite Sunday breakfasts to make at home is Davidaire.  Other people call it Dutch Babies or German Pancake.  It's simple to make, delicious and visually impressive.  So, I thought I'd spread my love of breakfast around a little and share the recipe. :)

5 eggs

1 cup milk

1 cup flour

1/2 tsp cream of tartar

1/4 cup butter (half a cube)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Place butter in cast iron skillet and put in oven until melted. Put all ingredients in blender and blend until smooth. Pour into skillet and bake about 20 minutes until edges are brown.  It will puff up quite large!

We like to eat it with apples on top.  Just slice up some apples and saute in butter. At the end sprinkle them with brown sugar and cinnamon and saute a couple more minutes.  Yummy!  It's also good with maple syrup and powdered sugar.

Comments

[Chris]

The secret to home made HASH BROWNS is to boil the potatoes first and let them cool completely (so do them the night before) and then grate them with an old fashioned hand grater (the box type). Place a TBS of oil in your pan and heat it on medium, then add grated potato. flatten them down lightly and then DONT touch them until you can see that the edges are getting crispy and brown. You can turn them as one big thing but if you have the co-ordination of a two yr old like I do, cut the whole thing in quarters and turn each section. Leave them until the other side is brown and TA-DA !!! You should experiment to be sure that the amount of oil is ok for you. I usually use 1 TBS but sometimes, depending on the type of potato (starchy or not) I need a little more.
As an old TV commercial goes..... Try it, you'll like it!
chris

[Elizabeth Starr Lilly]

The Busick Court Cafe IS pretty grubby, and tiny too. I always feel cramped in there. But you would probably like their corn flake encrusted french toast. They're all the rave, but I've never tried them because if I eat dessert for breakfast I get cranky from all the sugar. That being said, I'm going to make Davidaires for breakfast soon ANYWAY. Thanks for the recipe!