Milk Toast

Author Notes

Adapted from M.F.K. Fisher's milk toast recipe. —Sarah E Daniels

Test Kitchen Notes

Sarah E Daniels, who developed this savory milk toast recipe, did a bit of research surrounding this once-popular dish. She had quite a bit more to say about why she loves milk toast, its history, and why you should make it immediately: "Cereal hasn’t always been around to ease our empty stomachs or pacify our indecisive palates. Before the nation fell for these familiar flakes, it fell in love with milk toast.

"A popular dish of the 19th century, milk toast is exactly as the name implies: a marriage of two breakfast standbys, milk and toast, resulting in a something that could be considered the precursor to the cereals we fill our bowls and our bellies with today. It was an obsession for many, and was cited as healing almost all ails, but was realistically heralded because it was easy for the sick and elderly to digest. Unsurprisingly, children were also pretty big fans of what was essentially a bready precursor of today's Cinnamon Toast Crunch.

"Milk toast is a meal of solace. It's homey, warm, and earnest. It's the kind of thing that would welcome a new day or round out a particularly difficult evening. Satisfying in its own right, it's easy to see how this combination of bread and sweet milk once served the same niche as a bowl of cereal does today—and how it's worth bringing back."

Did you grow up having milk toast? Definitely let us know and how it goes when you make your own! —The Editors