Sunday Brunch
Sunday Brunch in the South Seas
March 27, 2011
All that research these past few
Sunday Brunches made me quite hungry for some
actual brunch. Today, we're
returning to the kitchen and cooking up one of
the most famous Disney breakfast items, Tonga
Toast. It has been said that
Tonga Toast is the most requested recipe from
Disney, so it's no wonder that it has been
served at
Disney's Polynesian Resort for decades
since it opened. There is
also an
Urban Legend being passed down by
Disney's cast members and Tonga Toast fans alike
that Elvis was a huge fan of the toast.
He supposedly sent his
personal chef to Disney World to learn
how to make it. While I'm not
sure how true this story is, I do know that the
sandwich named after Elvis does feature bananas,
as does Tonga Toast. Today
you can order 'Elvis's favorite' at Polynesian's
table service restaurant Kona Cafe or the
quick service stand
Captain Cook's.
Though I have had the fortune of
dining with Hula Minnie and friends for a
character breakfast at the Polynesian Resort in
1993, I had not been lucky enough to enjoy some
Tonga Toast. At least I don't
remember having it-I was in my cereal, hot dogs,
and bacon diet phase back then and being a
little kid, I was too entranced by the
excitement of
Disney friends coming to say hello while
the kids pretend to eat breakfast.
Anyhow, that story is for
another time! The here and
now is making your very own
Tonga Toast at home.
The recipe is readily available online and also
in my new favorite cookbook in Cooking with
Mickey and the Disney Chefs.
I was quite surprised to see how simple
it was, then again it is just toast.
Get your misenplace ready, all you'll
need is:
1 cup sugar
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 loaf
sourdough bread (8 inches long)'or any
UNSLICED
loaf of bread-sourdough,
Texas Toast, and challah bread are often
recommended for most toast recipes
2 bananas, peeled
1
quart canola oil, for frying
Candy thermometer or
Deep Fryer
As before, the main steps are in
bold, with my usual tips and blabbering for
those wishing to learn.
1.
Mix up the sugar and cinnamon in a
bowl until evenly mixed, then set it aside.
2.
Slice up your
loaf of bread of choice into four 2-inch
thick slices. You need a
thick slice for this to work.
A
serrated knife (the one with all the
teeth) is ideal to use.
Regular knives or even a sharp
kitchen knife will squish your loaf.
3.
Cut each banana in half
crosswise (have your banana smiling at you,
then cut it in the middle).
Then cut each piece lengthwise (cut your
halves into long halves).
4.
Now that the ball is rolling with
this recipe, start heating your oil so that
it's hot enough by the time you're done the next
step. You need to get it to
350 F.
Ideally, you should cook this in a deep fryer
since they have temperature setting, but if you
don't have one, just use a large, deep pot with
oil. You'll need to use a
candy thermometer to make you're your oil is
hot enough. If not, the toast
will not cook properly. You
may end up with oily soggy toast by the time it
finishes cooking.
Candy
Thermometers are available at Kitchen supply
stores and even craft stores.
This one is sold with the baking tools at
Wal-Mart's home section.
5.
Stuff each bread slice with a
banana quarter. All you need
to do is put the bread flat on your table and
pull out a snug little cubby for your banana
half to sit in. We do not
want the banana to fall through so make sure
there is a floor in your cubby.
6.
Gently drop a bread slice into
your pot of oil until it is light brown.
Mickey suggests 1 minute, but in
the culinary world, you cannot always use time
to determine doneness. As my
chef always says, it's done when it's done!
Time is such a variable in cooking, it
should only be a guideline guestimate.
Use all your senses!
Look for the light brown color or smell for a
fresh piece of cooked toast.
Also, listen to the oil as your toast cooks.
In it's raw state it's really sizzling
because of the shock of temperature difference,
but it quiets down as you get closer to a
finished, cooked product.
7.
Flip over your toast slice and
cook until that side is done, which will
probably take less amount of time than the
first.
8.
IMMEDIATELY after frying, toss
it in the sugar and cinnamon for it to adhere.
If you wait too long, the cinnamon/sugar
is never going to stick.
A slice of
Tonga Toast can be enjoyed with my favorite:
pineapple!
Photo from the
Disney food online resource,
www.disney-food.com
Repeat these steps until your plate is full of Tonga
Toast! Next week, we'll look at another Disney
breakfast item,
Chef Mickey's Breakfast Pizza, another easy to do at home
dish that was recently explored by budding new chef Brent Dodge in
his first 'Cooking with Brent' episode (#83) of the W.E.D.nesday
Show!
Kona Caf' and
Captain Cook's Photos from
http://www.dadsguidetowdw.com/kona-cafe.html
http://www.onlywdworld.com/2009/08/quest-for-world-famous-tonga-toast-at.html
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