As a child, I longed for toasted sandwiches and as a student I practically survived on them. Yet, in recent years, the toastie machine has been neglected. But now it’s time to dust off the Breville.
Object of desire
I remember first encountering the toasted sandwich at a friend’s house as a child and thinking it was the best thing since, um, sliced bread. The toasted sandwich maker seemed like the most sophisticated piece of equipment ever produced. It immediately went on the list of kitchen items I would lust after but never be able to persuade my parents to buy, right next to the SodaStream.
The Breville
As a 1980s child, however, I was already late to the party. The toasted sandwich took off with the arrival of the Breville toastie maker in the 1970s. Invented by a Belgian company, the product was wildly successful when first launched here. So successful in fact that the name Breville has become synonymous with the toasted sandwich. The hinged design of the machine allows two or even (joy!) four sandwiches to be toasted at once, sealing the crusts of the bread to make central pockets, perfect for holding hot fillings.
Patience is a virtue
This shape is ideal for preventing leakage from the sandwich but it does have one major drawback, which is that the filling gets incredibly hot. And that can lead to trouble if the lure of the freshly toasted sandwich is simply too great. Many a mouth has been scalded by the lava-like drip of melted cheddar. And nothing - absolutely nothing - slaps its burning fury against the chin like a slippery slice of scalding tomato.
The classics
This brings me to the important topic of fillings. Cheese is the obvious choice, melting, as it does, so beautifully. The world of cheese has many great melters, but for me it’s hard to beat the flavour of good strong cheddar, with perhaps some finely diced onion and a sprinkle of trusty Worcestershire sauce. Pork always works well, too; adding ham to cheese is never a bad idea. And many a student will be familiar with the baked bean toastie, a real potential mouth-burner that deserves proper care and respect.
Branching out
Some fillings are more experimental. A friend recently told me that his dad is an expert at making the ‘egg toastie’, which involves cracking the egg directly onto the first slice of bread before quickly sealing. “If you time it just right, the yolk inside remains soft,” he tells me. I think I’ll need some practice to perfect that one. When I asked on Twitter for favourite recipes, I got some more unusual ideas: creamed corn; tinned chicken in white sauce; leftover chilli con carne; cheese and marshmallows (!) and the ‘Dirty Hawaiian’ (ham, cheese and pineapple).
Save the toastie
In recent years, however, the sandwich toaster has become a bit of a joke. It’s often cited as the kitchen gadget most likely to sit, dusty and spider-webbed, at the back of a cupboard. If you already have one, I beg you to liberate it! If you’ve just acquired one, embrace it and never let it go. The toasted sandwich is first-rate fast food and perfect for using up odds and ends, which is how I came up with my ‘ultimate’ cheese and onion version, surely the best way to use up leftover cheeses after Christmas.
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