Toast
 

Over the weekend I had my first CX trip LHR-HKG-HND and NRT-HKG-LHR, and to make sure about it I travelled in F. I have to say that CX will absolutely be on my radar in future on the basis of these four segments, and mostly thanks to this forum I made the most of it. Certainly it is a step change from BA and QF in F when on board, and as for AA, well, probably best left unsaid.

But I have a really simple question. Does the toast made 'fresh' in the toaster always taste so dry? I am hoping not, and I was just unlucky. To be fair I only tried it on the final leg, HKG-LHR. I was seriously enjoying my beauty sleep on that superb seat on the other two excuses I had to take breakfast.

The fried eggs are almost totally perfect, and certainly better than I can consistently achieve at home. But the toast? Was I just unlucky and the bread was stale?

The toast was definitely made in the toaster because as an airline geek I asked to take a look at this almost unique and curious airbourne contraption while in action.

Cheers, Howard

You have two problems. One is that the air in an airplane is very dry. The second is that the temperature of the toaster is lower than that of a regular toaster. This means that the bread toasts longer to get the same degree of doneness, drying it out a bit.

It is "melba toast" though CX is to be commended for trying, and generally unsuccessful.

It is excellent for caviar and balik salmon

caviar and balik salmon is totally over rated. Tried it so many times and frankly it does nothing for me. Give me a fresh BBQ sardine and raw onion any day.

Although I agree with the over-ratedness of Caviar....but BBQ sardine and onion??

I agree that CX are to be commended for trying, and now I know it's dry, I agree it would be a half decent accompaniment to the caviar, which personally speaking I like and appreciate, overrated or not.

What I would say is that if it's always like that then I'd question the point of having the toaster at all, as the prefab toast of other airlines is of similar texture without a toaster.

But as mentioned it's a good effort, just not a great result.

Cheers, Howard

I think they need to use a different kind of toast. Maybe a thicker, bouncier kind of bread that keeps moisture more.

Actually the BA first toast are pretty dry I recall? But they don't use a toaster

from what i can see, the hard product in J on CX is as good as BA F...:D now if only i could get some fried eggs in J.

Yes, that was indeed my yardstick.

I think CX are the only scheduled airline to offer a toaster?

Also, agreed with an earlier poster that they probably need to use different bread, thicker sliced. Or, <salivates> crumpets... Mmmm

It could just be the way the bread is handled: if it's been sitting drying out as individual slices on the food carts rather than a sealed sliced loaf it's hardly surprising it tastes like cardboard. I almost feel it's another excuse for a weekend away again purely for investigative purposes of course. Wouldn't take much convincing. The number of times a food idea works great on the ground when tested and then fails miserably at 35,000', where it hasn't been tested, is astonishing.

Two other really small things came to mind (apols for going a little OT).

I noticed CX don't have dessert wine: so I brought a small 200ml bottle of icewine from duty free on board for the last segment, but they politely refused my request to open it and serve it for me. I did not press the point, ask once is enough IMHO, anything more and you're a difficult pax. No problem, I understand they have rules, although this is the first time my request for the crew to serve me from my own selection has been turned down, having had repeated success with this on both SQ and AA. I would love to see dessert wine on CX.

They could do with larger wine glasses too, the current ones are verging on thimbles. I brought my own stemless glassware on board as a result (I do the same on other airlines too, it's not only CX).

These are small points in the big scheme of things, but when you're searching for perfection, it's worth mentioning it.

Cheers, Howard

i know, as i am sure you know, BA has no problem with this and in fact, has posted over on FT it is fully permitted. i would have asked for a glass of apple juice, drank it and refilled...:D

Yes, next time I'll find a screw top. Seriously though, my own, quite possibly parochial, understanding is that alcohol can only be served by crew. At least I've historically used that as a rule-of-thumb, and made that clear at the point of request.

It may have been a one-off response or it might be a clear rule, I don't know. Either way the last thing I want to do is to ruin the rest of a flight by putting both crew and myself in a difficult position, so I respected their response from the get go.

Actually I've never had my own booze on BA save for an incident back in the mid '80's when I was diverted from YVR to SFO due to fog. I was in Y, 19 years old, and had a bottle of duty free vodka that I was afraid was going to be confiscated by US customs as I was under age. So during the two hour diversion with the help of some other happy-go-lucky pax we gulped the lot. My recollections of SFO at that time are thus somewhat hazy.

Cheers, Howard

Not to mention they're being total hypocrites by banning the shipment of sharks fin on CX metal but continue to serve caviar in F. Sturgeons are just as endangered as sharks.

What is rather ironic is that on one of my very first TPAC flights on Thai from nrt in the 90s, at 16 some us border guard noticed the duty free bag from nrt. Of course I was holding it for my chaperone. I appreciate your respect for the rules. A pen can usually push a cork in. :D.

What is amazing is that ba will chill your duty free champers and serve it to you. Love it.

Ummm... Some sharks are endangered. Not all sharks. Nets, however are not selective but you ought to be more fair.

Yep. The ones which are caught are definitely more endangered than the ones which aren't. :D

CX uses a sustainable source of caviar, not from the endangered species.

why the ---- you want to eat dry bread when flying F is beyond me.
but since you asked here is a scientific reply I saw before: enjoy, as they say ....

Retrograde toasters.
Breads are essentially networks of wheat flour protein molecules (called gluten) and starch molecules. Suspended in this network of molecules is carbon dioxide that is produced by the fermentation of yeast inside the dough. This gives bread its fluffy foam-like texture. Begin to play around with the amounts of these ingredients and other fancy tasting additives and you can get many different types of textures and tastes.
The starch inside of this mixture has its own characteristics. Starch molecules are made of two base components, both are long chain sugar molecules. Glucose (sugar) is classified as a monosaccharide, meaning one glucose unit. But if you link these units together, they can become a polysaccharide or complex carbohydrate. The two units are Amylose and Amylopectin. Amylose, which usually consists of about 10,000 sugar units, is built like a narrow bundle of reeds with all its glucose units arranged in straight parallel lines. Amylopectin, which usually consists of about 20,000 glucose units, has a more tree-shrub like appearance with its glucose units clumped together going in all directions. Plant starch is typically 20-30% amylose and 70-80% amylopectin. When heated up in the presence of moisture or water molecules, for instance placing the bread dough in the oven, the starch molecules weaken and allow water molecules to enter, or get in between the chains of the sugar molecules and join with them. This swells the starch granule and begins to soften it up, making it so warm and squishy! In the case of bread dough, the moisture can come from two sources, either the wheat protein in the bread itself or the water added to the mixture that makes up the dough. Once cooling begins, aka; the moment you take it out of the oven, the process begins to reverse itself and the starch molecules begin to “dry out” or crystallize and harden again, a process known as retrogradation. There is more water in the bread than the air. Once it evaporates to reach parity (in the dry environment of an aircraft or a fridge) the loss of water makes it dry. Toasting it accelerates the dryness. In a nutshell they should keep the still moist uncut bread in a ziplock bag until time to use it.

Absolutely correct, it is from tank farmed sturgeon, as is all Tsar Nicoulai.

Cheers, Howard

I don't know about sardine and onion, but sardine and boiled potatoes is a world class dish when served outside under a hot Sun, suitably shaded and accompanied by vinho verde.

:D extra strong onion with super smelly sardine sooooo nice

They had a spell earlier this year of serving dessert wines and they were truly awful

Now if they could BBQ it for you while you are on board well I would be in heaven

What did they served? I thought CX would have better taste and selection of wine :confused:
After all. they keep winning that award year after year...:rolleyes: