Because I Can't Be That Person...

You know the person I'm talking about, the one who brings his own syrup or utensils to the restaurant because what they have isn't nearly good enough for him.  I would willingly be that person in some cases, but I have a husband who will call me on my ridiculous behavior and that makes me stop and think, and in most cases I decide I'll deal with the less than ideal situation.  I'll happily capitulate and not bring my own beverages when visiting his side of the family lest I be accused, in a non-flattering way, of being like my parents. (They bring their own sodas to our house when they visit since I don't stock Diet Coke.  Typically the only soda you'll ever find in my house when we're not having a party is 12oz cans of Sprite.)

Up until last year I really enjoyed eating at the Cracker Barrel.  We'd eat there almost monthly.  If I wasn't getting their sugar cured ham, I was ordering their french toast.  Bryan, likes to go there for gritz and their equally gross looking saw mill gravy.  I'm usually able to stomach the unappetizing appearance of his food since I have incredibly delicious food in front of me.  What has always made Cracker Barrel's food appealing to me is their maple syrup.  Most restaurants will give you syrup that is made from corn syrup (and no, I'm not one of those anti-corn syrup nuts) and that simply doesn't fly with me.  I'm a 100% pure maple syrup kind of gal.  It's also worth mentioning that when you get maple syrup on your fingers you can lick it off and there's no sticky residue.  You won't have that kind of success with the other syrups!  Last year Cracker Barrel changed from 100% maple syrup to 70% maple syrup and 30% cane sugar.  The change resulted in cheap tasting syrup that is sticky. Yuck!  This change created a  problem for me.  I can't eat the sugar cured ham without the syrup. (I'm like Buddy the Elf, I like syrup, just not on spaghetti!)  And even worse, now that I've finally found a restaurant that makes french toast that's not gross and doesn't hint at tasting like scrambled eggs (I despise scrambled eggs.) I was posed with a serious issue.  Either I deal with awful syrup on my tasty french toast, or we simply don't patronize Cracker Barrel.  Since I can't be that person who brings her own syrup to the restaurant, I have had to forgo that delicious french toast that haunts my taste buds.

In my longing for french toast I decided to go online and see if I could dig up the secret behind Cracker Barrel's french toast.  I found some recipes, but I also read comments the pointed out inaccuracies in the knock off recipes.  Since the recipe called for milk, an ingredient that was likely responsible for every scrambled egg tasting piece of french toast I've ever consumed, I decided to heed the words of wisdom from a commenter who said Cracker Barrel does not use milk.  I was skeptical, but I figured I was worth a shot.  What's the worst that could happen?

I attempted the french toast recipe for lunch today.  The recipe is incredibly simple.  Sourdough bread (Pepperidge Farm) and eggs.  I whisked up two eggs with a fork, soaked the bread after I let it get a little stale for an hour, and tossed it on my heated and buttered pancake pan. (Yes, I have a special frying pan for pancakes. It's an 11 inch non-stick square pan.)  The french toast, topped with 100% maple syrup and whipped butter (I like Land O Lakes) tasted every bit as good as Cracker Barrel's.  I am incredibly happy with the results.  Cracker Barrel probably won't be seeing me for a very long time, if ever and it's all because they changed their syrup.