“Crouton”

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia:

A crouton is a small piece of dry or fried bread, often cubed and seasoned, that is used to add texture and flavor to salads, notably the Caesar salad, and as an accompaniment to soups, while some prefer to eat them alone, as a snack food. The word crouton is derived from the French croûte, meaning “crust”.

Making croutons is relatively simple. Typically the cook cuts bread into small cubes and fries them lightly in butter or vegetable oil, until crisp and as brown as desired to give them a buttery flavour and crunchy texture. Alternately, the bread cubes may be coated in oil or butter (which may be seasoned or flavored for variety) and then oven-baked. A lower fat option is to bake the cubes of bread in an oven until dry.

Nearly any type of unsweetened bread, in a loaf or pre-sliced, with or without crust, may be used to make croutons. Dry or stale leftover bread is usually acceptable. Once prepared the croutons will remain fresh far longer than the bread.

A dish prepared à la Grenobloise has a garnish of small croutons along with brown butter, capers, parsley, and lemon.