Breakfast & Brunch
March Sisters Milk Toast
Ever wanted to eat like Jo March from Little Women? This old-school recipe may sound odd, but it’s perfect on a cold New England morning.
By Katherine Keenan|Mar 01 2022|
Milk Toast
Photo Credit: Katherine Keenan
Photo Credit : Katherine Keenan
Milk Toast
Complex breakfast foods aren’t exactly my jam. I find omelets tiresome and syrup-laden stacks unappealing, and most mornings I opt out of a meal entirely. But if there’s one breakfast I can get jazzed about, it’s a good slice of toast. Crispy, chewy, crunchy — it checks all the boxes. It’s also an ideal carrier of jam, butter, and basically everything else that’s delicious. Which is why I was initially unable to wrap my head around the concept of pouring hot milk all over one of my favorite foods. I thought, Who would want soggy toast?The history of milk toast
Did you ever eat chicken noodle soup when you weren’t feeling 100 percent? Or maybe saltines and ginger ale? People used to call this sort of cuisine “sickroom food.” “Even as late as the 1930s, many cookbooks had a chapter with some title like ‘Sickroom Foods,’” the Los Angeles Times notes. “… [O]ld-time invalid’s foods have largely been forgotten, except for milk toast, which survives as a symbol of squishy inoffensiveness.” Milk toast may have been one of the original sickroom foods, but some people nonetheless grew fond of it (just as I developed an odd fondness for Saltines, ginger ale, and chicken noodle soup). And while milk and bread aren’t often paired in the United States nowadays, that’s not the case in other parts of the world. In Hong Kong, for instance, sweetened condensed milk toast can be found in many cafés.Milk toast, meet milquetoast
But maybe you’ve heard of milk toast for a different reason. As recounted by Atlas Obscura, milquetoast was the original “snowflake” insult. More specifically, it was a put-down against those who were timid or meek — which in a way could be used to describe the flavor of milk toast. Milquetoast, however, stemmed from Caspar Milquetoast, a wimpy cartoon character created by illustrator H.T. Webster in the early 1900s. “By at least the late 1930s (Merriam-Webster’s marks its first recorded usage in 1935), the term ‘milquetoast’ was being widely used as a general term, outside of its comic strip origins,” according to Atlas Obscura. However, usage of the term declined swiftly in the late 20th century.A food fit for the March sisters
My own interest in the subject was piqued for literary reasons. I had never heard of Caspar Milquetoast, but I had heard of Josephine March. In Louisa May Alcott’s Little Women, the March sisters dine on an array of delicious confections — so many, in fact, that entire cookbooks have been devoted to the foods of the 1868 novel. As a big fan of all things Alcott (and since the latest movie adaptation comes out on Christmas Day), I was excited to get my hands on the brand-new The Little Women Cookbook: Tempting Recipes from the March Sisters and Their Friends and Family by Wini Moranville.
Photo Credit : Courtesy of Quarto Publishing Group USA Inc.
Photo Credit : Katherine Keenan
So, how does milk toast taste?
It turns out that milk toast is actually quite enjoyable. The steamed milk is perfect on a chilly morning, and the dusting of cinnamon and sugar is reminiscent of one of my favorite breakfasts as a child: cinnamon sugar toast. In my version I used sourdough bread and went (quite) heavy on the cinnamon and sugar. The little bits of crispiness that remained on the bread were a delightful contrast to the softer pieces that had been soaking in the milk. And yes, I’d eat it again. Here’s the recipe from Moranville’s cookbook:Milk-Toast
1 cup (235 ml) whole or 2 percent milk Salt, to taste 4 slices sandwich bread Unsalted butter, to taste Sugar to taste Ground cinnamon, to taste In a small saucepan, heat the milk over medium heat until it steams. Add a pinch of salt. Remove from heat; cover and set aside to keep warm. Toast the bread slices. Spread with butter and tear into bite-size pieces. Divide the toast pieces between two shallow bowls. Sprinkle the toast with sugar and cinnamon. Pour the warm milk over the bread and serve. This article was originally published in 2019 and has been updated.
I have to try this!
When i was young in the 1950’s we made poor man’s soup when we were sick.We tore up bread and poured hot water over to soak and then added a bit of butter,salt and pepper.Lt tasted good enough to ask for it.Times have changed.
My Dad used to call this “graveyard stew”. No idea where that came from!
Thanks for the memories!!
Breakfast staple at our house. Also my father used to eat milk crackers with milk and sugar.
When we were sick my mom would make toast, warm milk, and grape jelly.
We ate a lot of milk toast in Down East Maine when I was a kid. Another favorite at our house was to line an old tin pie plate with saltine crackers and poor hot water on them. Drain the water off and add butter, salt and pepper. There you have a hot supper for a cold winter night.
My father told me that the railroad men would have Graveyard Stew in the morning when they completed their graveyard shifts. It was easy on the tummy. It may still be on the menus in Truckee, CA, for that same reason.
My husband lived on this..
We had bread and milk many times in many ways, sometimes toasted sometimes just bread and milk. We also had milk crackers with milk. We also had a sort of rice pudding with cooked rice with raisins and milk, also oatmeal pudding. These were served at both breakfast and supper.
We had rice with condensed milk and raisins, also.
When we visit my husband’s cousins in Tuscany the regular breakfast is a commercially made toast in latte or for children, warm milk. Sometimes with sugar, if the toast is not sweet already.
My Maine relatives made a white gravy from bacon or sausage drppings. Then day old French bread pieces were placed in the bubbling gravy. Lots of butter and fresh pepper when served. Oh my gosh that was the best!
My dad also called this “Graveyard Stew”, and it was his favorite Sunday night pick up ‘suppah’
(he was from Bangor ME, b. 1907, and our Sunday dinner at noon was dining-room special).
My father also called this “graveyard stew”. Born and raised in New Britain, CT, from REALLY old Yankee stock.
My grampa and gram ate this often, and loved graham crackers in a glass, covered with milk. I still make the milk toast occasionally and my son remembers it fondly, and makes it himself.
We put poached or scrambled eggs on the milk toast. Another one I still eat is bread and milk (peanut butter sandwich in a bowl, cover with warm or cold milk, sprinkle with sugar.) In the winter Dad made ice cream with fresh clean snow in a bowl, mug,add maple syrup stir until well mixed, add walnuts if wanted. Freeze until desired hardness. Sometimes I make these quick, easy dishes for a quick dinner.
We have milk toast when not feeling well but ours is with toast, white sauce and a little salt and pepper. Yummy. Summer time favorite milk crackers,milk and any kind of seasonal fruit. Great on a hot night.
On Friday nights my mother would make milk toast, sometimes adding peas. We loved it. Also , in order to go to nursing school years ago one of the prerequisites was the ability to make milk toast. My mom taught me.
I read this article with interest because it reminded me of a snack that my father has a particular fondness for which he calls “bread and milk.” He simply tears bread into bitesize pieces, places them into a glass, and covers them with milk. The only requirement seemed to be fishing through the silverware drawer for an iced tea spoon so every bit of the snack could be reached! While I pretty much love carbs, I never had enough of an adventuresome spirit to try it!
My Madieran Portuguese grandmother used to make this for me with a bit of highly sweetened coffee in the warm milk for flavor. I loved it.
I remember my Daddy, sitting at the kitchen table,with a bowl of large soda crackers and warm milk. Well I thought I won’t eat that,mistaken I was sick and when feeling better daddy, made me some of that stuff, It was very good. thanks for the memories I’m 80 yrs old it still sounds good.
I’ll have to try it with some cinnamon toast
I thought my grandmother was the only one whoever served milk toast on special occasions. I am so happy to learn it is a Popular comfort food in New England.
My grandmother always served it with warm chocolate pudding!!! What a treat of sweet and savory as I recall. I am going to make it very soon!
I came from an Canadian family! I grew-up with my father eating milk toast all the time. As a nurse in my early years 70’s they used to have milk toast on the menu in the hospital.
As a small child i asked my mother to make me a cup of sweetened warm milk and the crust of a slice of bread to dunk. I ate the bread without the crust on its own.
Been eating Milk toast all my life in fact just had some ❤️
Milk toast in my family was a thin white sauce over white toast. Only if you were really sick. Another sick room food was gruel , corn meal cooked with water and salt. It was for people who couldn’t keep anything down. Not tasty!
My favorite as a child was having a tea party with my great grandmother. Royal Crown sweet crackers splint in half and soaked in tea butter and sugar on top!Delicious !
We also had bowls of saltines in milk with ice cubes on very hot summer nights.
My Father used to have bread and milk and apple, like his father before him. My mother used to make me the milk toast…warm milk over toast with a sprinkle of salt…soothing and satisfying.
Milk Toast has been one of my favorite breakfast meals in the winter. Total comfort food!!!!!!
My grandfather from Northern Italy would prepare a bowl of sweetened coffee and milk. He would then take some deliciously crusty Italian bread, slather it with sweet butter, and break chunks of it into his coffee. As a child I thought it odd. As an adult, I love it!
Grandma added honey to our mild toast, but is was called Bear Food. Yummy