Pain Perdu: Classic French Toast vs Southern Banana Pudding

Both desserts rely on milk, eggs, sugar and butter, but put them to very different work. In Pain Perdu, eggs and milk become a vanilla-scented soak for thick slices of stale brioche, which are pan-fried in foaming butter until golden and lightly crisp outside yet tender within, then dusted with powdered sugar. Banana Pudding instead cooks milk, yolks, sugar and flour into a thick stovetop custard enriched with butter and vanilla, layered with wafers and sliced bananas, and crowned with golden baked meringue or whipped cream.