Trying to get the most out of stale bread was a probably big deal until the early 20th century. I mean: toast, french toast, soup (really a dipping sauce for stale bread), bread puddings, crumbled and fried (as in migas), crumbled and mixed into eggs and then fried (as in some spanish tortilla recipes), crumbled into a variety of recipes. And all of these are quite edible, or at least they used to be back when people didn't have Wonder Bread.
In high school, a friend of mine had a 'mustard club'. In order to join it, you had to eat a jar of Hot English Mustard by itself. I like mustard, but not quite that much...
When I was child, my grandmother used to cook this recipe for me:
*. put oil to heat
1. lightly beat a couple of eggs
2. add provenzal, as you like it
3. wet a piece of bread in there
4. and quickly throw it on the oil
5. fry for a bit and turn the bread around
5. enjoy :)
It was one of these mini family rituals that later on I came to understand how much happiness it brought to my life.
I spent some time in the US when I was in my late teens and it was the first time I saw French toast or, as we call it in the UK, Eggy Bread served with syrup on it. I didn't know where to put myself. It sounded horrific. I actually tried some and it wasn't as bad as I was expecting but got to say, I prefer it with my salt, pepper, tomato ketchup and sausages.
I was hungry and lazy once and grabbed three slices of bread at once to eat as a snack. I looked at them together in my hand and said, "Bread sandwich."
I think this wikipedia entry might be something like a stale April Fool's Day joke.
Mucky fat on a slab of bread is (or was) a staple in Yorkshire.
You get beef dripping from the butcher - beef juice with a top layer of fat - you then mash it together, and spread it on bread with a little bit of salt.
I've been doing this for years. It always blows people's minds. Generous salt and pepper is key. Using a different type of bread for the toast bit is also a fun improvisation.
We call this "a student's sandwich", because when you are a poor student, those are all the ingredients of a proper sandwich you can afford. Though a proper student sandwich doesn't toast the middle slice (on account of not having a toaster due to being poor) and skips the butter (on account of not having money for butter).
