Jaffles

For as long as I can remember, there have always been jaffles. Pocket sandwiches stuffed with minced meat, tomatoes and onions and cooked over the flame of a primus stove using a jaffle pan. It was a staple at most public events: School athletic meetings, church bazaars, rugby tournaments, farmers markets and fundraisers. Together with sosaties and koeksisters, jaffles were the street food icons of my youth.

Over the years, it appears this iconic dish has been put on the back burner – mind the pun – to make way for the onslaught of globalised fast food dishes such as the hamburger. Like so many other dishes, the jaffle fell victim to the quest for convenience that drives fast food culture.

Or did it?

I started digging and discovered a few interesting facts about the humble jaffle. Things I did not know before.

Firstly, the jaffle did not originate in South Africa as I originally thought, but in Australia. The jaffle iron was designed, named and patented in Australia in 1949 by Dr Ernest Smithers. The electric version – the Jaffle Maker – was also patented in Australia by John O’Brien, son of the founder of the Australian kitchen appliance manufacturer Breville.

Second, it is thought that the jaffle was inspired by the waffle. The English word waffle stems from the Dutch word wafel and dates back to around the end of the 13th century. Prior to that, the French had walfre, which originally meant honeycomb or cake.

The practice to cook thin flat cakes between two pieces of iron dates back even further to the Greeks, who cooked flat cakes called obelios between two hot metal plates. The practice to imprint things on the metal plates developed during the Middle Ages when it became popular to imprint religious motives on the iron plates used for making communion wafers. By the 15th century, the waffle iron, with its classic grid motive, started appearing in Belgium – and so the iconic wafelijzer was born.

The jaffle iron has a simple yet clever design. It consists of two hinged, concave, round or square cast iron (or aluminium) plates on long handles. Although its ‘clamshell’ design resembles a waffle iron, it does not have that appliance’s honeycomb pattern. Jaffle irons are used to heat, toast and seal a sandwich — the jaffle — consisting of two slices of bread enclosing a filling.

The jaffle is now a global dish, albeit not always called by its original name. In the USA, the jaffle iron is known as a pie iron, a pudgy pie iron, a’tonka toaster or a toastie iron and used with a variety of savoury and sweet fillings ranging from the bog-standard ham and cheese to the more outlandish s’mores. These appliances date back to the 1920s. Much more recently South African-born chef Meryl van der Merwe established Jafflz, a chain that sells gourmet jaffles.

In India, the jaffle iron is used to prepare a popular street food dish the Bombay (or Mumbai) sandwich. The filling is commonly made with vegetables and herbal chutney and fried over an open flame.

A peek into the past suggests that the intended use of the jaffle iron has always been the outdoors. In 1949, the Western Mail in Perth wrote the following about the jaffle iron: “Really useful for everyday cooking as well as parties is the jaffle iron, which is very simple to use and produces a most appetising toast ‘pie’. All that you do is make a thick sandwich and, after clamping it shut in the iron, heat it over a flame. It may be used over any type of heat and we suggest that if you are having a barbecue, it might be an idea to provide your guests with three or four bowls of appetising filling and let them make their own.”

No wonder the long-handled jaffle iron became so popular among those who liked to cook outdoors, on campsites, on the street and at the markets.

In 1924, Charles Champion patented an electric version of the jaffle iron called the Tostwich. It took a while for the electric toasters to become popular. In 1974, Australian appliance maker Breville launched their electric Original Jaffle Maker, which was an instant hit with consumers. Within the first year, it sold 400 000 units in Australia alone. Today, Breville estimates sales of over six million units worldwide.

As it turns out, the humble jaffle has been reinvented and is now more popular than ever. It is made by a variety of electrical appliances that go by a variety of new names depending where in the world you find yourself. Breville (after the maker of the appliance), snackwich maker, sandwich maker or toastie maker… They once were all just jaffles irons.

The jaffle did not die, I am pleased to say, it just put on an electric blanket and re-invented itself.

Snackwich, anyone?

• 800 grams minced meat

• 1 medium red onion, finely diced

• 1 large green bell pepper, finely diced

• 2 spring onions, finely sliced

• 3 pickled jalapeno chillies, finely

chopped

• 2 teaspoons garlic, finely chopped

• 2 tablespoons fresh parsley, finely

chopped

• 1 teaspoon fresh oregano, finely

chopped

• 1 teaspoon cumin

In an age of information overload, Sunrise is The Namibian’s morning briefing, delivered at 6h00 from Monday to Friday. It offers a curated rundown of the most important stories from the past 24 hours – occasionally with a light, witty touch. It’s an essential way to stay informed. Subscribe and join our newsletter community.