Archive for the ‘General Toas-Titeness’ Category

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Quick Tip: Roll out your bread for a better Toas-Tite fit

February 22, 2010

This tip is brought to you by OCBD, who commented on our Reuben Toas-Tite post.

In several of our posts and on our Toas-Tite Making Basics page, we’ve mentioned turning one slice of bread for your sandwich horizontally and placing the other on top vertically (with your filling in the middle of course).  The reason is this: the vast majority of store bought sliced bread is not big enough to cover the entire Toas-Tite!

Without a good seal (meaning a sandwich closed all the way around), you can end up with a leaky Toas-Tite as the filling heats up and begins to expand.

Turning your slices of bread in different directions is a quick work around for this.

But!  OCBD wrote in with a brilliant suggestion: use a rolling pin to flatten and stretch out your bread.  Rolling out your slices of bread with a rolling pin and quite a bit of pressure can get you just a little bit more width out of your bread to more effectively cover your Toas-Tite sandwich maker.  And a nice bonus is that you get a little more room for filling too!

Check out the difference a rolling pin and some brute strength makes:

Thanks, OCBD!

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Buying Toas-Tites…almost a science

November 29, 2009

Well, buying a Toas-Tite isn’t really a science.  You just have to know where to look.

Boy and I have had a lot of luck on eBay.  We’ve added 11 Toas-Tites purchased on eBay to our collection and Boy’s aunt found one for us at a garage sale.  There have been a few deluxe versions (Toas-Tites with a slightly longer handle with pointed wood ends and a fancier hook), a branded Boy Scout version, and even one in an original box!

We keep meaning to post a little bit about each one (so we don’t forget where they all came from) and the price we paid but on average, we’ve gotten them for $20-$65 (although the $65 was for the Toas-Tite in the original box with the original instruction booklet in almost mint condition).

In any case, for your reading and Toas-Tite-buying pleasure…we’ve added a whole page on How To Buy A Toas-Tite.

Enjoy!

By Girl

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The true story of Toas-Tite Recipes Gear

October 29, 2009

boy-in-toas-tite-hoodie“What in the bedazzler is the deal with the ToasTiteRecipes Gear page?” Have you asked yourself that question yet? Well…in case you have, I thought I’d share a little. One night, Boy and I were hanging around at home talking about Toas-Tites. Yes, it was a hot Saturday night. ;-) In any case, we decided…we wanted Toas-Tite Recipes hoodies. Why a hoodie? Because just like Toas-Tites, they’re warm and fabulous. [Note: the real reason is just because it's getting to be chilly out and Boy lost his favorite zip up about 5 months ago - although happy news on that front, we found it in the front section of a suit case last week. Hoorah!]

But back to the tale of the Toas-Tite hoodie…

We thought, “How could we make this happen? How could we make Toas-Tite hoodies? We really just need two.” Luckily, there’s a little company called Zazzle. For those of you who haven’t heard of Zazzle, it’s a pretty cool online service where you can import designs and have them put on a whole variety of stuff: t-shirts, baseball caps, mugs, baby clothes. You name it. And of course, you can take a design and put it on a hoodie.

I’m a little bit of a PhotoShop fan, so I took the photograph of our pristine Toas-Tite (the one which makes our logo at the top of the blog) and turned it into something more along the lines of graphic art. I spent quite a few hours over the course of a few days trying to get it perfect. Yes, I’m that much of a silly Toas-Tite-loving goose.

Finally, Boy and I went onto Zazzle, found the hoodies we wanted, and got it all organized. We only ordered one, in case it was terrible (I tried to set my expectations low).

One fateful day, shortly thereafter a package arrived at Boy’s house. It was the hoodie! I was at work but Boy texted me that it had arrived. Of course, I told him to open it immediately and not wait for me. And of course…to send me photos of how it looked.

girl-in-toas-tite-hoodieWell, it wasn’t bad at all! In fact, it was pretty sweet. Not to mention, it was really fun to make it (or design it anyway). That’s when I had the strange urge to put the image of a Toas-Tite on everything. Toas-Tite messenger bag….Toas-Tite apron….Toas-Tite t-shirt. A whole wardrobe of Toas-Tites! Well, we haven’t quite gotten as far as that, but we did set up some aprons and a t-shirt.

Amazingly enough, we’ve made one whole sale to someone besides me or Boy (which is more than we expected). Of course, the sale was to Boy’s father…but that counts too! He got the first Toas-Tite shirt in the WORLD! At least that we know of, anyway.

And if you’re interested in showing off your love for the Toas-Tite with something wearable (other than a smile), you can get stuff too from our little Toas Tite Recipes Store on Zazzle. No pressure of course! And if you don’t see something there that tickles your fancy, just drop us a line of what you’d like to see Toas-Tite graphic art on and we’ll see what we can do. Boy’s sister has even inquired about a Toas-Tite bag…in the shape of a Toas-Tite. I don’t think that one will be as easy to pull off but we’ll keep our eyes open.

by Girl

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A new addition to our Toas-Tite family brings an extra surprise

September 28, 2009

Well, Boy and I have had another addition to our Toas-Tite family.  We have yet to catalog all our Toas-Tites and write up a little piece about where they came from (although most came from eBay), but that will follow shortly.

We got our ninth Toas-Tite two weeks ago.  (Really, it was number 10 but number 8 went to Boy’s sister for a belated birthday present.)

An exciting surprise with this new Toas-Tite was a photocopy of the original Toas-Tite instruction manual.  It’s got quite a bit of information on it – some we guessed at from our personal Toas-Tite use, but there is some other stuff that surprised us!  For example, Bar-B-Buns actually does recommend pre-heating the Toas-Tite.  I might not do it…just because I get nervous about Toas-Tited finger tips…but they say you can!

In any case, there are folks who charge for just a photocopy of this Toas-Tite booklet because it’s “rare” but our kind eBay seller included it in the package.  And so now…for your viewing pleasure, we’d like to share it with all of you.

Toas-Tite Original Instruction Booklet (Side 1)

Toas-Tite Original Instruction Booklet (Side 2)

For the full text-only transcript, check out our new page dedicated to the Toas-Tite Original Instruction Booklet.

by Girl

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A Vintage Advertisement…Toas-Tite Style

August 15, 2009

So of course…advertisements and literature and a part of history.  And of course, Toas-Tite advertisements and literature are a part of Toas-Tite history!  We were lucky enough to get our very first ToasTiteRecipes.com comment from Larry Morris.  He came across an ad a while back and emailed us a picture.  Without further ado….here is a fantastic vintage Toas-Tite ad:

toastite_pudgy_pie_advertisement

The text is a little on the small side but Boy and I did our best trying to decipher it.  Here’s what we think it (more or less) says:

Toas-Tite Pudgy Pies – Toast in a jiffy

Another thing you’ll like about pudgy pies is that they’re so easy to make, and there are no pots, pans and dishes to clean up afterwards. Make them anywhere, over any kind of fire. Dad can show off his skill on his out door fireplace. The youngsters will go for pudgies made over the picnic fire.

For the real cook of the family, pudgie pies are first aid in stretching the food budget. They make appetizing use of leftovers that might otherwise be wasted. A spoonful of cold stew, or a dab of creamed chicken or fish is transformed into savory “chef’s specials” for the children’s lunch. If there isn’t enough of one kind to go around, serve everyone a different pudgy pie surprise!

Directions

  • Open your Toas Tite and cover one side with a slice of bread, well exposed and slightly over the edge, all around.
  • [something something] with a bit of the surplus edge, so the filling won’t leak through and [something something]
  • [another something something]
  • Toast each side about half a minute over the fire.  Toasting time depends on how….

The directions are where things get a little fuzzy.  Can anyone else make out what they say?  They definitely don’t say “something something.”

by Boy and Girl

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Toas-Tite 60th Anniversary: a bit of history

May 30, 2009

Today, if you google “Toas Tite” (or toastite, or toas-tite), you’ll get a random smattering of blog posts reminiscing about the grilled cheese flying saucer of yesteryear.  It becomes pretty clear all at once that the Toas-Tite is no longer being produced.  But where did it come from?  Who made them?

Researching something made in the 1940s or 1950s has its challenges.  But with a little digging, we found out that the Toas-Tite was produced by a company called Bar-B-Buns based in Cincinnati, Ohio.

toas-tite-strietelmeier-patentNow, there are some Toas-Tites you’ll find that say on the front “Patent Pending.”  Luckily, there are others that were made after the patent was granted.  And luckily…Boy and I have one of those (actually, we have a few others that were made pre-patent as well).  On the front of our black handled Toas-Tite, it says “Reg. U.S.  Pat. Off.  Pat. No. 2463439.”

Patent 2463439 for a “Sandwich Grill” was filed on October 12, 1945 and granted on March 1, 1949.  The inventor was John E. Strietelmeier of Cincinnati, Ohio (deceased, according to the patent) – his administrator, Lucille Strietelmeier was executing his estate.

It starts out like this:

“The present invention relates to improvements in sandwich toasting grills and is particularly directed to a hinged, sectional unit for making a toasted sandwich under heat and pressure from two pieces of a baked dough product and a filling material therebetween.  An object of the invention is to provide in a unit for toasting and interiorly heating a filled sandwich made from two baked dough pieces a means for locating said filling in the center of the sandwich and for joining and sealing the marginal edges of the pieces by heat and presusre to preclude the escape of the filling from the finished product.”

Now the curious part.  This patent has been referenced by 13 other patents, ranging from a knock-off Toas-Tite pan patented in the 1990s to a dumpling or ravioli maker.  One of these patents, No. 2582692, is for another sandwich grill invented by Lawrence J. Funke, of Cincinnati, Ohio, assignor to Bar-B-Buns, Inc., also of Cincinnati, Ohio.  This second patent was filed October 23rd, 1950 and granted January 15th, 1952.  Interestingly enough, Funke’s sandwich grill was designed to improve upon sandwich grills of the past (presumably Strietelmeier’s).  His patent says:

“The present invention is directed to improvements in grills of the type described and particularly to certain structural improvements which increase greatly the efficiency of their operation….A rather annoying characteristic of prior grills of this general type is that the hinge structures employed were such that when the mold plates closed upon two slices of bread, portions of the crust edge were caught between the two parts of the hinge and unless removed by a knife or other instrument, burned during the toasting of the sandwich.”

Funke had a point there.  The desgin of the Toas-Tite does lock in a small piece of bread near the hinge area.

funke-toas-titeAnother interesting thing was that on this same patent, Funke had illustrations and descriptions of a Toas-Tite like device which subdivided the sandwich into four pieces.  And according to Toaster.org, it was indeed produced.  Funke said, “In a modified form of the improved grill, the mold plates are divided into sectors.  An important feature of this modification is that the toasted sandwich may be broken apart very easily into small sections which are themselves sealed marginally in the manner of sandwiches made in the preferred embodiment of the invention.”

So while the Toas-Tite (in its original form, rather than Funke’s sectioned version) was indeed invented by John E. Strietelmeier, it was produced by Bar-B-Buns with his original patent.  So what was the relationship between Strietelmeier and Bar-B-Buns?

A little more digging surfaced two more patents filed by one John E. Strietelmeier and Robert G. Brown.  But these two were filed in 1919 for inventions related to phonograph repeaters; one was filed in Elyria, Ohio and the other was in Cincinnati, Ohio.

A tad more digging, and we found yet another two patents, filed in 1937 and 1938 and granted in 1939.  These two, patent numbers 2168005 and 2168006, are for bun pans.  And at the top of the patents, it says, “John E. Strietelmeier, Cincinnati, Ohio, assignor to Bar-B-Buns, Inc., Cincinnati, Ohio, a corporation of Ohio.”

And now all of this is to say…John E. Strietelmeier perhaps began his career as an inventor with phonograph repeaters.  Later in his life (unless that first one was a different John E. Strietelmeier), he moved on to Bar-B-Buns where he invented two bun pans.  Then, sometime in the 1940s, he invented the Toas-Tite sandwich grill.  Unfortunately, it seems he passed away sometime between when his bun pans were patented in 1939 and when the Toas-Tite was patented in 1949.  But…his legacy is the Toas-Tite.  And for that, we are very, very grateful.

So on that note, happy 60th (patent) anniversary, Toas-Tite!

by Girl

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Toas-Tites to come…

May 5, 2009

So we’re off and running!!! We’ll be updating this section with new recipes and new recipe ideas as they come to us. And feel free to send us your Toas-Tite recipes as we’d love to have guest recipes!!!

checking-a-toas-titeHere are recipes to come…some we’ve tried, some are yet untested, but we’ll write about them all.

  • Apple pie
  • BLT
  • Broccoli and cheese
  • Cheese burger (with the optional bacon)
  • Corned beef and hash
  • Egg and cheese (again, optional bacon)
  • Grilled cheese
  • Ham and cheese (with optional croissant crust)
  • Huevos Rancheros
  • Macaroni and cheese
  • Mozzarella basil tomato
  • Nutella and strawberries
  • Pumpkin Pie
  • Peach Cobbler
  • Reuben
  • Tuna melt

We’ll be experimenting with different cheeses, breads, and of course, lots of other stuff.

by Boy and Girl