Texas toast is a toasted bread that is typically made from

sliced bread Sliced bread is a loaf of bread that has been sliced with a machine and packaged for convenience, as opposed to the consumer cutting it with a knife. It was first sold in 1928, advertised as "the greatest forward step in the baking industry si ...

that has been sliced at double the usual thickness of packaged bread. Texas toast is prepared by spreading

butter Butter is a dairy product made from the fat and protein components of churned cream. It is a semi-solid emulsion at room temperature, consisting of approximately 80% butterfat. It is used at room temperature as a spread, melted as a condim ...

on both sides of the bread and broiling or grilling it until it is a light golden brown. Commonly,

garlic Garlic (''Allium sativum'') is a species of bulbous flowering plant in the genus '' Allium''. Its close relatives include the onion, shallot, leek, chive, Welsh onion and Chinese onion. It is native to South Asia, Central Asia and northeas ...

is added to the butter, yielding a form of garlic bread. The toast may include

cheese Cheese is a dairy product produced in wide ranges of flavors, textures, and forms by coagulation of the milk protein casein. It comprises proteins and fat from milk, usually the milk of cows, buffalo, goats, or sheep. During productio ...

on one or both sides, similar to an open-faced grilled cheese sandwich. Popular in

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2020, it is the second-largest U.S. state by ...

and its bordering states, Texas toast is often served as a side with southern-style dishes such as

chicken fried steak Chicken-fried steak, also known as country-fried steak or CFS, is an American breaded cutlet dish consisting of a piece of beefsteak (most often tenderized cube steak) coated with seasoned flour and either deep-fried or pan-fried. It is sometim ...

, fried

catfish Catfish (or catfishes; order Siluriformes or Nematognathi) are a diverse group of ray-finned fish. Named for their prominent barbels, which resemble a cat's whiskers, catfish range in size and behavior from the three largest species alive, ...

, or

barbecue Barbecue or barbeque (informally BBQ in the UK, US, and Canada, barbie in Australia and braai in South Africa) is a term used with significant regional and national variations to describe various cooking methods that use live fire and smoke ...

Thick-sliced bread sold for making Texas toast can be used in the same manner as ordinary bread slices, such as in

sandwich A sandwich is a food typically consisting of vegetables, sliced cheese or meat, placed on or between slices of bread, or more generally any dish wherein bread serves as a container or wrapper for another food type. The sandwich began as a po ...

es, and it is especially useful for dishes involving liquids or where extra thickness could improve the product, such as French toast. While most varieties sold for Texas toast are

white bread White bread typically refers to breads made from wheat flour from which the bran and the germ layers have been removed from the whole wheatberry as part of the flour grinding or milling process, producing a light-colored flour. This milling p ...

, whole wheat varieties also exist. Frozen Texas toast brands are also popular, with best sellers including the New York Brand of the

T. Marzetti Company The T. Marzetti Company is the Specialty Food Group of the Lancaster Colony Corporation. T. Marzetti produces numerous salad dressings, fruit and vegetable dips, frozen baked goods and specialty brand items. It is the largest food and beverage com ...

Pepperidge Farm Pepperidge Farm is an American commercial bakery founded in 1937 by Margaret Rudkin, who named the brand after her family's 123-acre farm property in Fairfield, Connecticut, which had been named for the pepperidge tree. A subsidiary of the Camp ...

, and Coles.

History

One claimant to the invention of Texas toast is

Kirby's Pig Stand Kirby's Pig Stand was the first drive-in restaurant to open in the United States. It was opened by Jessie G. Kirby and Reuben Jackson in 1921, in Dallas, Texas. Then in the 1980s, it changed ownership and name to Woodfire Kirby's. History Kirby's ...

. The once-thriving chain, whose heyday in the 1940s saw over 100 locations across the United States, also claims to be the originator of the

onion ring An onion ring, also called a French fried onion ring, is a form of appetizer or side dish in British and American cuisine. They generally consist of a cross-sectional "ring" of onion dipped in batter or bread crumbs and then deep fried; a v ...

. Texas toast may have been first created in 1946 at the Pig Stand in

Denton, Texas Denton is a city in and the county seat of Denton County, Texas, United States. With a population of 139,869 as of 2020, it is the 27th-most populous city in Texas, the 197th-most populous city in the United States, and the 12th-most populous ...

, after a bakery order for thicker slices of bread resulted in slices too thick for the toaster and a cook, Wiley W. W. Cross, suggested buttering and grilling them as a solution. Another Pig Stand cook in

Beaumont, Texas Beaumont is a coastal city in the U.S. state of Texas. It is the seat of government of Jefferson County, within the Beaumont– Port Arthur metropolitan statistical area, located in Southeast Texas on the Neches River about east of Houston ( ...

claimed he created the idea of grilling the bread. W.W.W. Cross is also credited for combining the Texas toast with

to create Kirby's Pig Stand's famous Chicken Fried Steak Sandwich.

References

{{American bread American breads Texan cuisine Frozen food

History

See also

References