Highly recommended toaster: http://automaticbeyondbelief.org/

Seconded on the Sunbeam! We inherited my father-in-law's when he moved across the country. He inherited it from his parents.

It's been in constant use for at least 60 years (I'm not sure when his parents got it), and is now making perfect toast for a fourth generation.

I prefer toaster ovens because cookies. You can make cookie dough and make one or two cookies at a time, ensuring they are always fresh out of the oven.

Wow that's a great idea! It's one of the pieces of advice that seems obvious once I hear it but I never would have thought of it myself.

I've never owned one. I very occasionally toast bread in the broiler.

If you like toast when you make it, I suggest one. I personally won't make toast often if I'm using the broiler - I mean, it isn't hard, but it takes time and a bit of attention. I have it quite often if I own a toaster, though - it makes it so darn easy and convenient.

People tell Americans rarely put butter on bread in sandwiches, so what do you put on your toast?

Toast is usually buttered, but it's not considered to be a sandwich in and of itself in the United States.

Now, a sandwich can be made with toasted bread, certainly, but in that role it's normally slathered with mayonnaise, mustard, or something of that nature rather than being buttered.

Exception: grilled cheese sandwiches are often buttered, though with those they typically have the butter on the outside. On the inside is either nothing or (my preference) mayonnaise.

One of those "chef lifehacks" that stuck with me is that you can use mayo in place of butter on the outside of a grilled cheese. Easier to spread, browns perfectly, and turns out to taste exactly the same. (Which is surprising, given that every time I've made a grilled cheese with any kind of oil in place of the butter, it's turned out disgusting. Emulsifying the oil fixes the problem somehow.)

Was just about to comment the same thing. Massive upgrade in grilled cheese quality.

If you can get it, Duke's Mayo is just absolutely bonkers. I also really like the Trader Joe's organic mayo.

Also, since I'm deeply invested in grilled cheeses, more recommendations:

I use a ratio of 1 part gruyere, 1 part sharp or extra-sharp cheddar. I also really like a little parmesan or pecorino, but it tastes less "classic grilled cheese," so might not be for everyone.

Cooking method:

- heat pan to medium

- put mayo on one side of two pieces of bread

- put the first piece of bread into the pan, mayo side down (it should sizzle lightly)

- heap your cheese on top of this piece, and press it down onto the bread a little

- after 2 minutes, take the other piece of bread and put it mayo side up onto the top of the cheese. flip the sandwich (so that the fresh mayo is now down).

- 2 more minutes and you're good to go. serve with tomato soup (naturally) and a little ranch if you're a degenerate like me.

My only suggested upgrade is to make your own mayo. You can use nice oils that have a flavor you like, and you can use a high-grade mustard to add some nice, subtle flavors. It only takes a minute or two, especially if you make it in a blender.

Ooh, just saw this, don't know why I never considered it. I'll definitely try it out.

When I moved in with my partner, she came with a small George Foreman grill. She used it occasionally for reheating burritos, but together we found out that it makes grilled cheese so quickly and easily, that grilled cheese went from being an occasional treat to a weekly staple. I highly recommend it over the pan option.

In my opinion, the Foreman grill is one of the rare massively-hyped kitchen gadgets that's actually useful enough to be worth the cabinet space in the long term.

i should really bust mine out more. i've had one for ages and used it a bunch in college then just... stopped.

I'm just here to make sure no one accidentally confuses a grilled cheese with a melt.

Hmmm, I've made a great one with olive oil and sun dried tomato bread.

I suspect it depends on the ingredients ... you need a bread that goes well with the oil and have to be very careful on not oversoaking it.

The proper way to store butter is in a butter dish [0], not a refrigerator. At room temperature you'll have no issues spreading it. It'll go rancid after a week or so, so if you don't use it everyday then this obviously isn't a good option. In Britain toast is more popular than cereal for breakfast.

[0] https://www.nordichouse.co.uk/enamel-butter-dish-p-4219.html

For those of us that live in a cold climate, counter butter isn't very spreadable during the winter. However, ghee is perfect for this application.

Have you tried making garlic bread with mayo? Yum!

if you are going that direction, why not garlic aoli?

Behold, the field guide to the American Sandwich:

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2015/04/14/dining/field-...

If there's one food America knows how to do in many variations, all delicious to varying degrees, it's the sandwich.

Maybe not what you put on the toast but where you put it. What about a Toast Sandwich, a slice of toast between two slices of bread…

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toast_sandwich

Butter or jam/jelly.

Interesting. I always butter my bread. Sometimes I'll also put other stuff on it, but always butter first.

Yes, me too. Bread is best with butter, no matter what else you put on it.

We put mayonnaise on sandwiches instead but we use butter for toast.

My wife is from the UK and I thought that was just a weird thing that she did. This is the first I've heard about this outside of seeing her do it.

A lot of people use a toaster oven to make toast, it seems.

I do this mostly because I buy loafs of ciabatta or baguette, cut and freeze them.

Trying to get those odd/thick shapes after freezing into a slice toaster was challenging, and we already had a toaster oven so I never replaced my slice toaster when it died.

What's the difference between a pop up slice toaster (I assume that's what you're talking about) versus a toaster oven?

I grew up with the first kind, but now only use the second kind to reduce clutter on my countertop. I never detected a difference in the two methods, but I'm also not very observant!

Toaster oven should be a lot less efficient and slower because it's heating up a larger space, but the result should be the same.

I can melt cheese over bread or bagel in a toaster oven.

Yeah, that’s one thing I discovered when I stopped using a slice toaster. I can put a cold pat of butter on the bread about halfway through the toasting process, and avoid the trauma of trying to spread cold butter on the toast.

The hack is to turn the empty toaster on and lay the toast flat on top. Good way to reheat pizza w/o oven.

It might be a cultural thing but a slice toaster is way more of a set and forget operation, which I like... also, a toaster gets based used for one thing and a toaster oven is used for a lot of other foods, and I have to worry about cross contamination.

Oh that makes sense. I use mine 80% for toast and the remaining use is usually bread-adjacent things.

If I was also using it to heat up chicken tikka masala or something, then that would probably not be good.

Indeed, and you can toast odd-shaped "breads" that won't go down a toaster slot.