I traded sarcasm for comprehension. The whole plate looks oily.

I look up Pain Perdu and found many versions made differently. Top of the results gives a recipe originating from Louisiana, which had a large population of french immigrants once apon a time, and the culture there remains heavily influenced by such.

Perhaps the US people do "weird things" to recipes is because we are a country full of immigrants adapting each others recipes with ingredients found here over many generations.

We are a melting pot, and thus there are not strict rules for American cuisine.