Rabanadas: Portuguese French toast

Portugal (national Christmas tradition)

The Portuguese Christmas French toast — thick slices of day-old bread (ideally papo-seco or broa) soaked in sweetened milk, then in beaten egg, fried in olive oil or lard until golden, and dusted with cinnamon sugar. Rabanadas are the Portuguese Natal (Christmas) food that appears on every family table on Christmas Eve alongside bacalhau cozido. The technique differs from French pain perdu in several specific ways: the bread is soaked in sweetened flavoured milk (not just egg), the frying medium is olive oil (not butter), and the final dusting is always cinnamon sugar (not plain sugar). The olive oil gives the exterior a slightly more savoury character that contrasts with the sweet milk interior.

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