Touton is a type of fried bread popular in northern Canada, traditionally made with salted pork fat. Similar recipes are enjoyed in other cultures. Some modern cooks use touton for savory dishes.
Touton is a specifically regional type of fried bread popular in northern areas of Canada. Similar recipes are enjoyed in different cultures and parts of the world under different names. This food is often described as a kind of fried flatbread disk or pancake.
The traditional recipes for Touton come from the area around Newfoundland, Canada. These recipes often call for salted pork, which is used for the fat in which the bread is fried. Although conventional recipes often use pork fat, others may use butter, margarine or oil, the usual substitutes for meat fat which can make a dish less high in total fat content.
In more than a few recipes, the bread that is used is made with white flour and rises conventionally. This makes touton a dish that is based on a long process. Fewer families today bake their own bread, and instead make this Newfoundland fry bread from pre-baked dough in stores.
Some liken the Newfoundland touton to a pancake, while others think it looks more like a danish. Some cooks may garnish the top of the item with items such as white icing, buttercream, or jam. Some modern cooks take the touton’s appeal a bit more and use the fried bread, with its uniquely crispy exterior and chewy interior, for other types of savory dishes, such as bacon and eggs, or egg and tomato sandwiches.
While touton is unique to Newfoundland, fried bread isn’t unique to this area. The “fried bread” recipes, which are similar in some ways, came to Americans from the recipes of Native North American tribes. Other cultures might enjoy this same type of food in different ways, not noticing that it’s popular in more than one cultural cuisine. For example, in some areas of Russia and Eastern Europe, a touton-like fried bread is popular dipped or soaked in milk or cream.
It’s also interesting to distinguish touton, the small fried bread pancake, with the same similar-sounding “crouton,” a smaller piece of bread that’s crunchy for salads. Both include similar elements and a French etymology. In the general context of baking, Newfoundland’s version of fried bread has its niche as a Canadian favorite.
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