What is a Jaffle?
A post on-line —about a porridge jaffle — sparked a conversation between me, a NZ writer friend and several others this morning.
She’d never heard of the term jaffle, and said in NZ they simply call them toastie pies. She said “Jaffle’s such a weird word for toastie pies when they are exactly that – a pie inside toast.” She added when she was a kid, they often had canned spaghetti in the middle “that was like molten lava.” Someone else chipped in saying, “Canned baked beans and cheese! Dinner of champions!” And a third person added, “I call them toasties and my favorite is with pasta tomato sauce, with Italian meatballs and some cheese. I made one for a friend and he couldn’t believe he’d never thought to try them like that. So good!”
I think the name jaffle, was a riff off waffles — the old fashioned waffle irons were very similar in design. Some jaffle irons were round, but I didn’t like them — a waste of bread that had to be cut off.
I made the jaffle in the photos a few months ago — perfect winter food. Filled in this case with leftover beef stew with mushrooms.
I never had one with canned spaghetti and as a child I didn’t like baked beans so for me it was often leftover stew. And of course you can use any kind of filling including sweet ones, eg apple pie, all kinds of fruit. But my fave was simply made with cheese and fresh tomato — the cheese all melted and gooey. Yum.
My jaffle irons — I have two — are the old fashioned cast iron kind. You can get electrical ones these days — often called pie-makers, though some are called jaffle makers — but while I still have gas for my stovetop I’ll keep using these ones.
They carry lots of memories from when I used to go camping, and we’d fill the jaffle irons with bread and whatever fillings we had, and put them into the fire, or the coals to toast. My jaffle irons (see pic below) are all blackened on the outside because of years of fire — but only on the outside.
For years I hardly used my old jaffle irons because I had a gas griller, and used to make toasted sandwiches on that. But my new stove doesn’t have a separate griller, so now I make toast in the electric toaster (which isn’t as good IMO).
And I hardly ever buy square sliced bread anymore, but I bought some to make dainty little white bread sandwiches to take to an afternoon tea, and there were some leftover slices, so when I saw the jaffle irons in the cupboard of course I had to make some.
Have you ever had a jaffle? Or do you call it something different? What’s your favorite filling?
I have never heard of them, but they look hearty and tasty!
They absolutely are very tasty, Carolyn — depending on what you fill them with, of course. (I don’t suppose lettuce would do the trick. *g*) On a cold winter day, they’re lovely with soup.
I’ve Never heard of them either. But this idea with different fillings sounds great.
Yes, Jean, it’s a great way to use up stews or casseroles, bolognese sauce, or just go for fresh tomato and cheese, or ham and cheese — there’s no limit to the possible fillings.
In the US. My friends introduced me to Pudgy Pies” and the Pudgy Pie maker—round instead of square.
They sound similar, Linnea. I googled “Pudgy Pie maker” and got imaged of jaffle irons, though not always called the same name. The round ones look more “pie-like” but there was always some bread wasted. Which, I admit, my dog wouldn’t have minded at all. *g*
We used to push the jaffle makers into the hot coals in nan and pops open fireplace. Usually filled with cheese and tomato or leftover savoury mince. We also toasted bread using forks made from a couple of wire coathangers.
Another childhood memory was painting the fireplace with red ochre on a Saturday morning. A fine messy job that was.
Lynne, I also remember toasting bread on long toasting forks. The bread wasn’t the pre-sliced kind though, but yummy thick slices you cut yourself. And it was real butter all the way in those days, too. I channeled those memories in one of my books, An Honorable Thief, when the heroine was toasting bread by the nursery fire with some small children.
Never did red ochre a fireplace though. Sounds quite messy.
LOL! Once more the differences between the great English speaking nations are illustrated. I’ve never heard of a jaffle but I’d be happy to eat one!
Yes, Mary Jo — even within the same country. My Queensland friend said they didn’t have jaffles at all there and my NZ one said jaffle was a silly name. LOL
We had the round ones & used them in the pot belly stove . Egg & cheese were our favourites.
I’ve never tried egg and cheese ones — sounds interesting. I presume you break the egg into the jaffle iron already lined with bread.