My sous chef, Kathryn, turned 17 and I discovered that she'd never had one of our flying saucer grilled cheese sandwiches. Have you? Growing up as a kid we had two of these things in our house and they were one of my favorite sandwiches. The Toas-Tite pie iron (whys it called a pie iron when its used to make sandwiches??) started being made in 1945 and I was surprised to see that they're still making them now -- 75 years later. 75 years and my little girl never had one of these UFO sandwiches!!
I still have one of our original Toas-Tite makers and it was safely tucked away in a cupboard so it was time to introduce Kathryn to the best grill cheese sandwich in the world.
At least that was the plan. It's been awhile since I've toasted a sandwich with this thing but it isn't that hard, or at least it wasn't supposed to be. The process is simple, first two slices of bread are buttered on one side and the buttered side of each is put against the metal of the opened Toas-Tite. The filling, in this case it was slices of a mild cheddar cheese, is placed on the bread and then the press got closed and latched. The corners of the bread poked outside of the press and got trimmed off with a sharp knife.
Toasting the sandwich is easy, or at least it was supposed to be. A couple of minutes on each side over a medium-high heat and then all it takes should be to open the press and let the sandwich pop out onto a plate. That's the process, but it wasn't what happened on my first experiment.
It turned out that one of the slices of bread had a bit of a hole in the middle which allowed the melted cheese to leak out against the inside of the press. Complicating matters, the loaf of bread I used had slices that were actually smaller than the press so it wasn't completely sealed all the way around. Here's the picture of what came out the first time:
It still tasted good but the first attempt was truly a colossal failure at meeting expectations and memories of the past. Happily, the next attempts turned out much better and Kathryn was able to enjoy some 1940's technology.
You've never had one either? Lucky for you, they're still for sale so you can add one to your kitchen essentials drawer! You can find them online or even at WalMart -- Just in time for your holiday shopping season.
This was just a simple grilled cheese but I remember putting other fillings inside with the cheese -- bacon, tomatoes, etc. Have fun experimenting when you get yours. The possibilities are endless!
Bon appetit!
If you use the two slices of bread, slightly oversized, and insert some fruit pie filling and toast, it's called a "Mountain Pie."