We make toasties in a frying pan. Make your sandwich with two slices of bread (must use some cheese for that delicious melty cheese taste). Butter the outside of the bread lightly. Put it in the microwave for 20 seconds or so to start the cheese melting. Place the sandwich into a hot pan to toast one side. Turn over when done and toast the other side. Serve and enjoy.
Rob, I love toasted sandwiches but I hate cleaning the damn things with a vengeance, so much so that I won't have one in the house. Butter, cheese, egg dribbles out of them and they are almost impossible to clean, no matter what make they are and the longer they are used, the worse they become.
Somewhere in our shed are two "old-fashioned" toasties makers, the sort that can either be stuffed in the embers of a fire or used on a element. Like many old-fashioned things, they are simple, easy to clean and make just as good a job as the electric counterpart. Now that our toastie maker has thankfully died, I will be looking them out.
The George Foremans are quite flexible in what you can do in them. One of the big attractions is that fat drips out and is easily collected. The double-sided cooking design means that they're also pretty efficient. Our boys discovered they do a great job on making crispy bacon. Saussies cook quickly and I've even done pheasant breasts stuffed with ham and cheese in it - because they cook quickly, they stay very moist.
When my old faithful died a few years ago, we got a sandwhich press. Bought it brand new off trademe for about $35?????? It is a well known brand but not the George Forman.
It is a teflon coated one which is great as the cheese (it does cheese rolls as well as sammies) just slides off it easily, making it really easy to clean. It also holds 4 sammies at a time which also makes life a lot easier and quicker than standing round waiting for 2 to cook when feeding a few.
I went and had a look at an awful lot of them in the shops before deciding which one to buy (and what was a good price) then waited till the right one came up on T/me. Didnt take long.
Would never go back to the old toasty machine now.
Ronney;362867 wrote: Rob, I love toasted sandwiches but I hate cleaning the damn things with a vengeance, so much so that I won't have one in the house. Butter, cheese, egg dribbles out of them and they are almost impossible to clean, no matter what make they are and the longer they are used, the worse they become.
Cheers,
Ronnie
Now here's a great tip for those of you who hate cleaning toasty machines. When you put your sandwich in the press, put it in between two layers of baking paper.
Don't matter if anything runs, like cheese, or anything else, cause it stays on the baking paper, and then you just can throw that out if it gets too soiled to use again. (I mean, you can use it several times for the families lunch say, and then dispose of after)
Did you know, that what you thought I said, was not what I meant :S
I can endosed the baking paper thing, use it all the time, love the stuff. I even make sandwiches for hubby to take to work for toasties a wrap them in baking paper then he doesn't have to clean the machine, and also if the last used didn't clean the thing then it doesn't matter cause his lunch is all clean and wrapped up
kats
Live your life in such a way that it will be easy for people to say nice things at your funeral []
If you clean the toastie maker with a wet cloth while it is still hot the steaming water from the cloth loosens all the dirt quickly and easily.
The trick is to have a bit of cloth that is dry between you and the wet part so that you don't get cooked too.
I adore baking paper ...it is so useful[^]
I bought a Zone(New World) 4x sandwich maker and it does the job really well ...thanks for the baking paper idea ...love it ..I don't really think it matters too much with a toasty maker as in brand name ..if you look after it.
I had a George Forman grill thingie ...Lean Mean grilling machine[:0] and it died ...just after it came out of guarentee[!] so my cheap sandwich maker has already been much better value than a name thing ....
Cheers
I have the most historic toastie maker (Sunbeam) known to man. Over the years the glass thingie that tells you whether it is red (not ready) or green (go for it) has smashed to smitheries but the faithfull toastie still toasts the best that you could want from ham and egg etc - whatever - without any guidance from the broken red/green thing and yes it was meant to be teflon (I think) but does the job. It's easy to clean and I love it - enough to move house after many years and still put it on the use it list.
I thought George Foreman was about fat running off but my toastie is only used to make toasted sandwiches with some random ingredients so I guess we need to figure out what it is that we want it to do.
Stikkibeek;363052 wrote: Now here's a great tip for those of you who hate cleaning toasty machines. When you put your sandwich in the press, put it in between two layers of baking paper.
Don't matter if anything runs, like cheese, or anything else, cause it stays on the baking paper, and then you just can throw that out if it gets too soiled to use again. (I mean, you can use it several times for the families lunch say, and then dispose of after)
Great idea, never thought of it
Hawkspur;363142 wrote: If you clean the toastie maker with a wet cloth while it is still hot the steaming water from the cloth loosens all the dirt quickly and easily.
The trick is to have a bit of cloth that is dry between you and the wet part so that you don't get cooked too.
It wasn't the stuff that leaked out IN the toastie maker, it was what leaked out through the back and sides, got caught in nooks and cranies and around hinges, dribbled down underneath it etc. Not to mention family members who used it and didn't clean up behind them. Overall, it took me longer to clean the thing that it took to eat the toastie.
The baking paper idea is so sensible!!! I am annoyed that it never occured to me in the past. :rolleyes:
My theory was that someone should design a toastie machine with plates that slot in and out for easy washing. Shouldn't be that hard to do surely?!:confused:
Hoping to get out of the city while I am still young enough to make the land productive.
kimberj06;363199 wrote: The baking paper idea is so sensible!!! I am annoyed that it never occured to me in the past. :rolleyes:
My theory was that someone should design a toastie machine with plates that slot in and out for easy washing. Shouldn't be that hard to do surely?!:confused:
You should patent that idea Kj06
Did you know, that what you thought I said, was not what I meant :S
] 
!] so my cheap sandwich maker has already been much better value than a name thing ....