March 27, 2015
Amanda Shulman/StayHungree.com
University of Pennsylvania student and asipiring chef Amanda Shulman says toast deserves 'some serious respect.'
If preparing a plate of food is like directing a play, then toast would probably hold the role of supporting artist next to bacon and eggs.
At least that’s how it used to be, before toast became the new it food and stole center stage.
“Toast, like the cupcake and the dill pickle before it, [has] been elevated to the artisanal plane,” writes Pacific Standard reporter John Gravois, who went on a quest to find the origin of the new artisanal trend.
Toast has captured the attention of culinary craftsmen across the United States, and the trend is now making its way east. University of Pennsylvania senior and aspiring chef and foodie Amanda Shulman shared an ode to toast on her blog, Stay Hungree, that she titled “A Toast to Toast.”
“Toast is a celebration in simplicity,” Shulman writes. “Bread is your canvas, and you have to make sure you have the best you can find because that’s your base. The creativity comes in the toppings, but the essential key lies in having quality ingredients.”
What that means is starting with a hearty and flavorful bread, sliced super thick in order to hold all of the goodness piled on top.
On her blog, Shulman shares some of her favorite toast-worthy toast recipes, such as a crusty hunk of bread topped with prosciutto and smashed peas and ricotta and apricot popped toast, to name a few.
Her basic rules: "Take the simplest of simple concepts and execute it better than we did for most of our breakfast lives."
