A
sandwich toaster can be a cooking utensil or an electrical appliance used to
toastToast is sliced bread which has been browned by exposure to dry heat . This browning reaction is a form of the Maillard reaction. Toasting warms the bread, making it more pleasant to eat for some, and makes it crisp such that it holds toppings more securely. Toasting is also a common method of...
sandwichA sandwich is a food item consisting of two or more slices of bread with one or more fillings between them, or one slice of bread with a topping or toppings, commonly called an open sandwich. Sandwiches are a widely popular type of food, typically taken to work or school, or picnics to be eaten as...
es.
Variously named,
pie iron,
pudgy pie iron, or
jaffle iron, the basic design consists of two hinged, round or square concave metal pieces set on long handles. The "shell" clamps to form an enclosed compartment primarily meant for cooking toasted and stuffed sandwiches. Traditional implements are typically made of cast iron to cook over coal or open flames. Stove top units can also be made of aluminum and optionally coated with a
non-stick surfaceA non-stick surface is a surface engineered to reduce the ability of other materials to stick to it. A non-stick coating may be applied to a substrate to produce such a surface.-Teflon:...
.
Electrical units generally consist of indented hot plates, clamped together around the sandwich similar in design to a
waffle ironA waffle iron is a cooking home appliance used to make waffles.It usually consists of two hinged metal plates, molded to create the honeycomb pattern found on waffles. The iron is heated and batter is poured between the plates, which are then closed to bake the waffle...
. Usually 2 sandwiches can be toasted at a time. The plates are heated by electrical coils inside the appliance. Usually the exterior is somewhat separate from these to ensure the outside of the unit does not get too hot. The plates often clamp tightly around the edge of the sandwich, sealing in the filling. The use of a special sandwich toaster seals the edges of the sandwich and may place a diagonal line across it, preventing the filling from spilling out.
The appliance is known by various names around the world, including
toasted sandwich maker or
jaffle iron in
AustraliaAustralia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the continental mainland , the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans...
and
South AfricaThe Republic of South Africa is a country located at the southern tip of Africa, with a coastline on the Atlantic and Indian Oceans. To the north lie Namibia, Botswana and Zimbabwe, to the east are Mozambique and Swaziland, while Lesotho is an independent country surrounded by South Africa.Modern...
,
toastie maker or
toastie pie maker in the
United KingdomThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is a sovereign state located off the northwestern coast of continental Europe. It is an island country, spanning an archipelago including Great Britain, the northeastern part of Ireland, and many small islands...
.
BrevilleBreville is a maker of small kitchen appliances, founded in Melbourne, Australia, in 1932. They created the original sandwich toaster, a small household appliance that makes toasted sandwiches. The name is often synonymous with such devices....
, manufacturers of some of the earliest sandwich toasters, is sometimes used
eponymAn eponym is the name of a person, whether real or fictitious, after which a particular place, tribe, era, discovery, or other item is named or thought to be named. One who is referred to as eponymous is someone who gives his or her name to something, e.g...
ously.
Typical toasted sandwiches are a grilled cheese sandwich, tuna melt, or
patty meltA patty melt is a type of sandwich consisting of hamburger or other types of meat, such as turkey or ham, pieces of sautéed or grilled onion, and swiss cheese between two slices of bread...
.
Toasted sandwiches are also known by various names. They are frequently called
toasties in Britain,
brevilles,
jaffles in
AustraliaAustralia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the continental mainland , the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans...
(also brevilles in
South AfricaThe Republic of South Africa is a country located at the southern tip of Africa, with a coastline on the Atlantic and Indian Oceans. To the north lie Namibia, Botswana and Zimbabwe, to the east are Mozambique and Swaziland, while Lesotho is an independent country surrounded by South Africa.Modern...
) or
toasties in New Zealand. Jaffles are so named after the original jaffle iron (U.S. English: "pie iron"). Sandwich toasters are less common in the United States where grilled cheese sandwiches are more popular.
Sandwich toasters are notorious for being used relatively little, because of their specialised nature. A survey carried out in 2005 suggested that 45% of British adults owned but did not use sandwich toasters.
Preparation
The toasted sandwich maker presses the edges of the sandwich together to form a seal during toasting. The filling ends up in a cavity within the
breadBread is a staple food prepared by cooking a dough of flour and water and possibly more ingredients. Doughs are usually baked in the Western world , but in some cuisines breads are steamed, fried, or baked on a hot skillet. It may be leavened or unleavened...
, making the sandwich convenient to eat, but also rendering the filling extremely hot.
Another type of toasted sandwich is the
paniniA panino is a sandwich made from a small roll or loaf of bread, typically a ciabatta or a rosetta. The loaf is cut horizontally and filled with salami, ham, cheese, mortadella or other food, and sometimes served hot after having pressed in a grill....
. Panini, which translates to "little breads" in Italian, are sandwiches that are pressed during grilling with a Panini-press sandwich toaster. Panini-presses often produce distinctive parallel grill marks on the sandwich and are able to accommodate sections of bread of varying length, unlike other hinged sandwich toasters which require a standard size of sliced bread.
An alternative preparation method uses a toaster oven, where the sandwich is often arranged open face and then toasted. This not only toasts the
breadBread is a staple food prepared by cooking a dough of flour and water and possibly more ingredients. Doughs are usually baked in the Western world , but in some cuisines breads are steamed, fried, or baked on a hot skillet. It may be leavened or unleavened...
, but also warms the
meatMeat is animal flesh that is used as food. Most often, this means the skeletal muscle and associated fat, but it may also describe other edible tissues such as organs, livers, skin, brains, bone marrow, kidneys, or lungs...
or other filling of the sandwich. In particular, toasting causes
cheeseCheese is a food consisting of proteins and fat from milk, usually the milk of cows, buffalo, goats, or sheep. It is produced by coagulation of the milk protein casein. Typically, the milk is acidified and addition of the enzyme rennet causes coagulation. The solids are separated and pressed into...
to melt, making it a popular topping for toasted sandwiches. In many
restaurantA restaurant prepares and serves food and drink to customers. Meals are generally served and eaten on premises, but many restaurants also offer take-out and food delivery services...
s, sandwiches are toasted in large
conveyor beltA belt conveyor consists of two or more pulleys, with a continuous loop of material - the conveyor belt - that rotates about them. One or both of the pulleys are powered, moving the belt and the material on the belt forward. The powered pulley is called the drive pulley while the unpowered pulley...
style toaster ovens. This is most famously done at sandwich chain Quizno's, although it has since also been adopted at
SubwaySubway is a fast food franchise that primarily sells submarine sandwiches, salads and personal pizzas. It is owned and operated by Doctor's Associates, Inc. . Subway is one of the fastest growing franchises in the world with approximately 31,835 restaurants in 91 countries as of September 2009...
and
Boston MarketBoston Market , headquartered in San Jose, California, is a chain of American fast casual restaurants. Founded in December 1985 in Newton, Massachusetts, the chain grew rapidly in the early and mid-1990s, filed bankruptcy in the late 1990s, and was purchased by McDonald's Corporation in May 2000...
.
Perhaps the most commonly used filling is
cheeseCheese is a food consisting of proteins and fat from milk, usually the milk of cows, buffalo, goats, or sheep. It is produced by coagulation of the milk protein casein. Typically, the milk is acidified and addition of the enzyme rennet causes coagulation. The solids are separated and pressed into...
, on its own or together with
tomatoThe tomato is a herbaceous, usually sprawling plant in the Solanaceae or nightshade family that is typically cultivated for the purpose of harvesting its fruit for human consumption...
or
hamHam is the thigh and rump of pork, cut from the haunch of a pig or boar. Although it may be cooked and served fresh, most ham is cured in some fashion. Cuts referred to as ham in the U.S. are also called gammon in the U.K. and Ireland.-China:...
.
PickleA pickled cucumber, most often simply called a pickle in the United States and Canada, is a cucumber that has been pickled in a brine, vinegar, or other solutions and left to ferment for a period of time...
s, jam, and even such strange bedfellows as
bananaBanana is the common name for a herbaceous plants of the genus Musa, and the commonly eaten fruit it produces. They are native to the tropical region of Southeast Asia, and are likely to have been first domesticated in Papua New Guinea. Today, they are cultivated throughout the tropics.Banana...
and
NutellaNutella is the brand name of a hazelnut-based sweet spread registered by the Italian company Ferrero at the end of 1963. The recipe was developed from an earlier Ferrero's spread released in 1949. Nutella is now marketed in over 75 countries across the globe....
are other examples.
Industrial units range from those similar to the kitchen appliance (squashing or clamping the sandwich) to grilling units, which use dry heat to toast the bread. Panini are often made using equipment similar to sandwich toasters. In South Africa, these appliances are sometimes called Snackwiches, after a once popular brand of sandwich toaster.
A sandwich may also be toasted in a
waffle ironA waffle iron is a cooking home appliance used to make waffles.It usually consists of two hinged metal plates, molded to create the honeycomb pattern found on waffles. The iron is heated and batter is poured between the plates, which are then closed to bake the waffle...
, provided that the hinge opens widely enough. This gives the bread an unusual appearance and texture.
Origins
In the United States, the
Tostwich is possibly the earliest toasted sandwich maker, dating back to before 1920. However, it was not patented until March 3, 1925 (applied for on May 26, 1924). It was invented by Charles Champion, whose other inventions include a corn-popping machine for mass-producing
popcornPopcorn or popping corn is a type of corn which explodes from the kernel and puffs up when heated. Corn popping was originally discovered by Native Americans, but became popular as a snack food during the United States Great Depression, especially in movie theaters.Corn is able to pop because,...
.
In 1974, the Australian company
BrevilleBreville is a maker of small kitchen appliances, founded in Melbourne, Australia, in 1932. They created the original sandwich toaster, a small household appliance that makes toasted sandwiches. The name is often synonymous with such devices....
released the "Snack 'n' Sandwich toaster", which sold 400,000 units within a year of release. This toaster used what was referred to by Breville as a "Cut-n-Seal" mechanism, which came to define the appearance of the toasted sandwich. Another product, the "Breville scissor action snack 'n' sandwich toaster", was released to the
BritishThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is a sovereign state located off the northwestern coast of continental Europe. It is an island country, spanning an archipelago including Great Britain, the northeastern part of Ireland, and many small islands...
public in the early 70's. Nowadays, the same design is used by many manufacturers.
The original Australian and South African jaffle iron was smaller, the same size as a slice of bread from a square loaf, designed to be used in a fire, on a stove or gas ring. This was especially useful for outdoor cooking, which was popular in both countries. The iron was made in two parts, identical except for the edge where they hooked together. Long handles enabled the two parts to be clamped firmly together, and to be inserted in a fire or stove easily. The jaffle has always been a popular snack in Australia and South Africa, originally developed as an easy means to reheat leftover food, or to add to a worker's lunch bag.
In
Japanis an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, People's Republic of China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
toasted sandwich makers sometimes have removable plates, that allow the user to make both
onigiri, also known as or rice ball, is a Japanese food made from white rice formed into triangular or oval shape and often wrapped in nori . Traditionally, an onigiri is filled with pickled ume , salted salmon, katsuobushi, kombu, tarako, or any other salty or sour ingredient as a preservative...
and toasted sandwiches.
See also
- Grilled cheese sandwich
- Panino
A panino is a sandwich made from a small roll or loaf of bread, typically a ciabatta or a rosetta. The loaf is cut horizontally and filled with salami, ham, cheese, mortadella or other food, and sometimes served hot after having pressed in a grill....
- Toaster
The toaster is typically a small electric kitchen appliance designed to toast multiple types of bread products. A typical modern two-slice toaster draws anywhere between 600 and 1200 W and makes toast in 1 to 3 minutes...
- Waffle iron
A waffle iron is a cooking home appliance used to make waffles.It usually consists of two hinged metal plates, molded to create the honeycomb pattern found on waffles. The iron is heated and batter is poured between the plates, which are then closed to bake the waffle...
- Welsh rarebit
- Croque Monsieur
- Sandwich
A sandwich is a food item consisting of two or more slices of bread with one or more fillings between them, or one slice of bread with a topping or toppings, commonly called an open sandwich. Sandwiches are a widely popular type of food, typically taken to work or school, or picnics to be eaten as...
External links