Pie iron

An opened Bifinett sandwich toaster
The same toaster when closed

A pie iron, pudgy pie iron or jaffle iron, is a cooking appliance that consists of two hinged concave, round or square, metal plates on long handles.

Name

A toastie sandwich

The pie iron non-coincidentally meets the dictionary description of a waffle iron, but there is a distinction: the interior of the waffle iron is studded, while a traditional pie-iron forms a single enclosed compartment that is in effect a combined cooking utensil and portable oven, though modern examples marketed for campfire or "hobo" cookery may be internally divided, such as those intended for "dogs and brats".

The most common type in most countries are electrically heated counter-top models, and names vary from place to place: in the United Kingdom, the pie iron is referred to as a "sandwich maker"; in Australia and South Africa, it is called a "jaffle maker".

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 3 March 1925 (applied for on 26 May 1924). It was invented by Charles Champion, whose other inventions include a corn-popping machine for the mass-production of popcorn.[1]

Pie irons were popular with campers in the 60's and 70's in the US. Called "tonka toasters," recipes called for cutting the crusts from white bread and placing the long-handled iron in the coals of a camp fire for the time estimated to form a golden-brown crust. Canned pie filling was the most popular filling, though other combinations of meat/egg and vegetable filling recipes were circulated as ideas for camp food.

Operation

Modern versions of the pie-iron are commonly more domesticated, if not necessarily more refined, with subdivisions allowing pairs of bread slices to be clamped together around fillings to form pockets——or stuffed sandwiches—, heat and pressure sealing the bread at the outer edges.

Campfire versions are still made of cast iron and can be cooked over coals, open flames, or over a stove but lightweight aluminium stove-top versions are made, generally being coated with a non-stick surface both as a cleaning aid and to allay fears regarding aluminium in the diet.

While the end result - a toasted sandwich - may be a snackwich (defined as a snack that resembles a sandwich but is small enough to be held in only one hand and eaten while the person is running), not all snackwiches are toasted sandwiches, just as not all toasted sandwiches emerge from a heated clam shell: the traditional Dutch grilled meat-and-cheese sandwich called a tosti - anglicised to 'toastie' - being a case in point. The proximity of the two nations means it is probably no coincidence the modern counter-top form was conceived of by a Belgian company, that nation being famous for waffles.

Rights acquired by John O'Brien for Australian cookware company Breville in the 1970s[2] mean the name Breville is sometimes used eponymously to describe both the device and a toasted, sealed sandwich.[3] Regardless of brand counter-top sandwich toasters are notorious for being little-used. A British survey in 2005 suggested that 45% of British adults own but do not use sandwich toasters[4] perhaps because the majority of British ovens feature a grill.

An alternative counter-top preparation method—one more common in the US—employes a toaster oven where the sandwich (toastie) is arranged open face and then toasted (grilled), which not only toasts the bread but warms the meat and melts the cheese that is the traditional content of the classic Dutch toasted sandwich. While most informal eateries in Europe offer some form of toasted sandwich very few use clamshell-makers, preferring the grill or toaster-oven methods already mentioned, however American restaurants with a high customer turnover sometimes invest in large conveyor belt toaster ovens, such as can be found at Quizno's, Subway and Boston Market.

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Catlin's Own Inventor", Shirley Nesbitt, http://www.rootsweb.com/~ilchs/history/pages/champ1.htm, 2000, accessed 26 December 2007
  2. ↑ "From the Vault: Toasted Sandwich Maker". The New Inventors. ABC Television. Retrieved 16 May 2011.
  3. ↑ "The Original 4-Slice". Breville Product Information. Retrieved 16 May 2011.
  4. ↑ The Telegraph, 12 September 2005, Sarah Womack, "£9bn wasted on unused gadgets for our homes", London, http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1498205/9bn-wasted-on-unused-gadgets-for-our-homes.html
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