Toasted sandwich
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
A toasted sandwich is a sandwich that has been toasted. This can be done to any sandwich using a grill, toaster oven, or toasted sandwich maker. Typical toasted sandwiches made on a grill are a grilled cheese sandwich, tuna melt, or patty melt.
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[edit] Preparation
When using a toaster oven, a normal sandwich is often arranged open face and then toasted. This not only toasts the bread, but also warms the meat or other filling of the sandwich. In particular, toasting causes cheese to melt, making it a popular topping for toasted sandwiches. In many restaurants, sandwiches are toasted in large conveyor belt style toaster ovens. This is most famously done at sandwich chain Quizno's, although it has since also been adopted at Subway and Boston Market.
The toasted sandwich maker, a small appliance dedicated to toasting sandwiches, presses the edges of the sandwich together to form a seal during toasting. The filling ends up in a cavity within the bread, making the sandwich convenient to eat, but also rendering the filling extremely hot. An early manufacturer of these devices was Breville and some still call all toasted sandwich makers by this name.
Another toasted type of sandwich is the panini. Panini is Italian for "sandwich" and this pressed sandwich is becoming more popular in the United States.
Just as in an ordinary, untoasted sandwich, the choice of toasted sandwich fillings and combinations of fillings is limited only by the imagination of the chef. Perhaps the most commonly used filling is cheese, on its own or together with tomato or ham. Pickles, jam, and even such strange bedfellows as banana and Nutella are other examples.
In Australia and South Africa toasted sandwiches with sealed edges are sometimes called jaffles and sandwich toasters are sometimes called jaffle irons (this is only for sealed toasted sandwiches), named after the original jaffle iron, which was a long-handled hinged iron implement for toasting sandwiches in a campfire. Toasted sandwiches are frequently known as a toastie in Britain, the older Breville (as a name for the sandwich) never having entered popular usage. The use of a special sandwich toaster seals the edges of the sandwich and places a diagonal line across it, thus solving the problem of content spillage. However any sealed toasted sanwich with or without diagonal line is still considered a jaffle in Australia.
A sandwich may also be toasted in a waffle iron, provided that the hinge opens widely enough. This gives the bread an unusual appearance and texture.
[edit] The Tostwich
The Tostwich is possibly the earliest toasted sandwich maker, dating back to before 1920. However, it wasn't 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 popcorn.
[edit] Origins
In 1974, the Australian company Breville released the "Snack 'n' Sandwich toaster", which sold 400,000 units within a year of release, making it one of Australia's "most successful product launches". This toaster utilised Breville's new "Cut-n-Seal" mechanism, which essentially defined the toastie. A further product, the "Breville scissor action snack 'n' sandwich toaster", was released to the British public, also in the early 70's.
Now Breville's innovative design is used by dozens of manufacturers, but Breville are still the market leaders, with a range of 14 sandwich toasters, sold to all the major European countries and accounting for 50% of the British market.
