Croutons

I don't remember what episode it was, but there was an episode of Good Eats where Alton Brown was talking about when a Frenchman (or woman) had told him he knows that American don't know how to eat because we buy our croutons. And man, that hurts. Before seeing that TV show, I had given up on croutons - you can't stab them with a fork, and they're stale and hard. After seeing that, I thought there might be something more to croutons.

This was over a year ago, and only tonight have I made my own croutons. I was sitting around watching Iron Chef, getting hungrier and hungrier, I realized I needed a green salad with those fresh croutons. I cut a few slices of bread into cubes and tossed them with olive oil, salt, pepper and onion powder, and baked them on a cookie sheet at 400 degrees for about 15 minutes. While they were still barely warm, I set them on a salad of leaf lettuce, carrots, cucumber and tomato with some good old litehouse ranch dressing. I can't say that I am completely convinced that croutons are really an essential part of any dish - but if you feel like eating them, I have to concur with Frenchman X that fresh is best.