Douglas Keane's Banana-Bread French Toast

Start with a couple of thick — like two-inch thick — slices of banana bread. Dried-out is better. Beat two eggs, a tablespoon or so of milk, and a pinch of cinnamon until well combined. In a nonstick skillet, heat one tablespoon unsalted butter until barely foamy. Thoroughly coat the bread with the egg mixture (dripping off excess), add to the pan, and cook about two minutes on each side. Meanwhile, warm some maple syrup with half a split and scraped vanilla bean — throw the seeds and the bean in with the syrup. Top with a big spoonful of lemon sour cream* — the cool tartness will balance the sugar.

(To make it, add some grated lemon zest to sour cream and whip until thickened, so the cream won't just melt and fade away when it hits the hot bread.) [*Note from the Esquire kitchen: The sour cream is a seemingly fussy but potentially life-changing addition to this recipe.]

TIP: For a bigger batch of vanilla syrup: split and scrape a whole vanilla bean into a can or bottle of maple syrup, close, and shake a bit. After a while, it will be ready to go.