MEL BUTTLE

“Jaffles punch above their weight, solving the problem of budget winter lunches”

Igot asked on Tiktok what a jaffle is. That’s the beauty of global social media, I got an opportunity to educate someone from across the world about potentially Australia’s greatest sandwich. Others jumped into the comments, saying, “It’s a toasted sandwich” but it’s more than that isn’t it? A jaffle iron takes bread and a few simple ingredients and turns them into a sealed, lava hot, crispy sandwich pocket.

The hottest part of a jaffle is the tomato, that’s a given. I’m no scientist, but if all the food is being toasted or jaffled at the same temperature, how does the tomato have the ability to take the skin off the roof of my mouth, yet the ham remains a pleasant, edible temperature? I can’t do long division, but I do know that a jaffle takes twice as long to cool as it did to cook, that’s just simple jaffle maths.

A jaffle is an Aussie invention, that’s no surprise is it? I guess its inventor, Dr Ernest Smithers, was wondering what to do with a tin of spaghetti, cheese and a couple of bits of bread that were about to turn. Jaffles punch above their weight, solving the problem of budget winter lunches and passable, can’t-be-bothered weekend dinners. The inventor, in addition to being a medical doctor also invented the “Surfoplane”, which is that inflatable rubber mat you used to see kids play on at the beach years ago. What an oversight that Dr Smithers isn’t on our currency; I’m in half a mind to follow in his footsteps and invent a note, just so he can be on it, I’m thinking an $8 for those inbetween purchases.

For most of the year my jaffle maker is exiled to the back of the cupboard with the other rarely used appliances – it’s behind the Nutribullet and the scales. Then something happens each year as the weather cools off, I remember it exists. Out she comes, perfectly designed to fit supermarket square bread, lunch for two is sorted, lunch for more than two, well that’s a waiting game.

Thanks to social media, the humble jaffle maker has had a bit of a resurgence lately, there are people on Instagram cooking potato gems in them, even making apple pies with a jaffle iron.

I used to work with a guy who’d cook himself a full English breakfast in one. Yes, it would take him all morning, but that’s not the point, he was a creative thinker and we need to applaud that.

Jaffles makers, what can’t they do? Stop the cheese leaking out the sides of the sandwich? Fair call, but I feel that just adds another exciting textural element to the dish. Yes, I do watch My Kitchen Rules, can you tell?

You’ll note that I’ve been quite specific here as I sing the praises of jaffles, and I mean exclusively jaffles. You can keep your cheese on toast and toasted sandwiches pressed as thin as an $8 note. Those are not jaffles, and they never will be. Sure, they share some DNA, however they pale in comparison to the crunch, ease and nostalgia of the beloved jaffle.

The internet contains thousands of recipes for jaffles. I found one for a spicy lamb mince jaffle, a prosciutto and roquefort jaffle … please spare me the lesson in how to suck eggs.

Here’s my foolproof jaffle recipe. Place anything that you’d eat hot between two pieces of externally buttered bread and off you go. I wonder what Dr Smithers put in the first jaffle? I reckon cheese would’ve been a starter for sure. I hope, like me, he delivered it to his guest saying, “Now blow on that, it’s just come out, it will be hot as blazes inside.” Then when they bite into it and wince, mutter disappointedly, “What did I just say?”