Although I am certainly not up to some people's level of skill, my first experiment making Fry Bread certainly turned out well enough. While getting the texture and consistency of the finished product correct is hard, it doesn't matter, because it is yummy fatty goodness. No one can argue with chewy, yet crispy dough covered with honey and cinnamon.
However, a wise man once said too much is never enough. So in my mind, I got the idea to combine the over the top fried goodness of Fry Bread with the over the the top buttery eggy goodness of French Toast. Was it possible to combine these two great things into even an greater thing, the "French Fry Bread"?
There could be several ways to do it. I considered the idea of putting French toast batter into the oil while I was frying the dough, but thought that it would perhaps be a mistake, since the mixture might burn before the bread was ready. So I decided to finish cooking the Fry Bread normally, letting the excess oil drain while letting it cool slightly, and then redip it and grill it.
I did this to several different pieces, and the results were promising, although the dish was not as good as it could be. I think there may be two main reasons for this:
- I am not the world's foremost cook when it comes to either Fry Bread or French Toast. While mathematics and cooking might not mix, we can still propose that if my Fry Bread and French Toast both score a respectable B- grade, that if we multiply 80/100 by 80/100, we get a 64, or D grade. Perhaps if someone with better skills at both could improve upon the idea, we could reach a workable combination of both.
- The other consideration is that the particular textures and experiences of Fry Bread and French Toast, while both are based on the idea of bread and fatty goodness, are in actuality no better together than say, hummus and chocolate milkshakes. French Toast is, after all, based around the idea of mixing a hard inner layer with an outer layer of creamy eggy goodness, giving a good contrast in texture. However, Fry Bread tends to be creamy and fluffy enough on its own, so that the textures may not provide any type of interesting contrast. Also, since Fry Bread can be quite porous, it can soak up the batter inside where it may not be fully cooked, which is a bad thing from both a health and taste perspective.
I am not quite ready to give up on the idea of this awesome combination of fatty foods just yet. I would suggest that everyone with a combination of cooking experience and the logistiscs to watch multiple smoking pans at once help me out with this project.