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We're All About Italy

Italian Toaster: La Brustolina

12/30/2016

9 Comments

 
Picture
PictureThis is what Dad used to make toast
When I was a kid, I just loved toast with butter. My Dad had a special way of making it. Although we had a "normal" electric toaster, Dad would pull out his old-fashioned, four slice toaster gizmo and place it over one of the gas burners of our cooker. There was something special about the taste and texture of toast made like that... more blackened spots here and there, more smokey tasting and although the bread was crunchy on the outside, the bread stayed moist inside.

When we Voyaged to Italy, we discovered an Italian kitchen tool that brought back memories of my father's special, stove-top toaster--the brustolina. ​ Nothing more than a simply designed sheet metal device with holes on one side and a wire rack on the top side and a retractable wire handle to make storing in a kitchen drawer or on a shelf practical. You lay the brustolina on top of a burner on your stovetop with the wire grid on top and then place your bread for toasting. Flip the bread by had to toast the second side. Simple.

Brustolina, tostapane, and graticola are common names for this kitchen staple throughout Italy. Virtually every kitchen has one. The Venetian word brustolina is a derivative of brustolar, meaning toast or roast, and can also mean toasted pumpkin seeds. Tostapane is the Italian word for a bread toaster, and graticola is the word for a grill or grate. One brand name is La Gratella.

A brustolina has many uses: grilling slices of polenta, toasting thick slabs of Tuscan bread for bruschetta, roasting peppers, eggplant or zucchini, or heating up slices of pizza, focaccia or cornetto and other sweet breakfast rolls.  
Picture
PictureThe Brustolina with its wire handle retracted
Here are some ideas... 
  • Use the brustolina over any kind of stove-top, electric or gas. 
  • Cover with foil when roasting peppers, eggplant that might mess up the wire grid. 
  • Adjust your heat source to warm or cook.
  • Simply place over your stove with the grill side up
  • Place slices of food on the grill
  • Monitor the underside of the food for desired doneness
  • Turn over the food to toast or heat the other side
  • The wide handle can get hot! Use a potholder.
  • ​Your Brustolina will darken with use. This is normal. 

PictureA well aged Brustolina
  • Place the toasted food under cover to keep warm before serving.
  • When you’re done, let the brustolina cool, then just turn it upside down to shake out breadcrumbs. You can use a dry stiff brush for any remaining crumbs. The grid is not removable.
  • Grill bread for bruschetta or crostini.
  • Thaw bread and other baked goods.
  • Add more crunch to bread, rolls, croissants, etc.
  • Add crisp to polenta
  • Roast peppers, zucchini, eggplant and other vegetables
  • You should never need to wash the brustolina.​

Where to Buy a Brustolina
Picture
9 Comments
Cecilia Lopez
4/27/2018 12:12:18 am

I’m looking for an authentic, made in Italy, tostapane.
Thanks very much.

Respectfully,
C Lopez

Reply
Jerry Finzi
4/27/2018 09:07:00 am

Here you go... https://www.fantes.com/brustolina-la-gratella-graticola-tostapane-stainless-steel-stovetop-toaster

Reply
Gloria
12/16/2018 05:01:44 pm

I cant find the Brustolina toastapane. I went to the website and all it reads is Oops not in service.
I tried everywhere ca you help?? Thank you..

Reply
Jerry Finzi
12/17/2018 11:49:07 am

Here's a link to one on Amazon... different brand, but very similar. https://amzn.to/2Bqd62p

Reply
Jerry Finzi
12/17/2018 11:50:02 am

Opps... that link didn't work. Try this: https://www.amazon.com/Ibili-810400-IBILI-Foldable-Toaster/dp/B0039AORG6/ref=sr_1_16?ie=UTF8&qid=1545065228&sr=8-16&keywords=stove+top+toaster

Reply
Jay
8/7/2020 05:25:48 pm

These look fabulous and I do remember them from my childhood. I am searching for something my mother called La Gridiglia (my spelling not sure).. It was something on the order of what's above but it was for cooking meat, specifically Spiedini... It went on the stove top as pictured. It had a deeper base (in order to catch fat and juices) and it had a pin in the middle ,on which rested a small slotted disk. The fire would propel the disk and it would spin thus.cooking the meat in a BBQ sort of way. Best beef ever! Any leads?

Reply
Jerry
8/12/2020 11:39:46 am

The description is interesting... is this the device? https://www.etsy.com/listing/657227095/vintage-italian-cookware-stovetop-grill

Reply
Jay
8/14/2020 09:11:34 pm

Ooh, my heart was in my mouth when I saw your answer. But no. The device I'm talking about looks more like one of those flat toaster grills you've pictured on your page. It utilizes that flat, open grill basket (like a veggie or fish grill basket). And it has a bottom "plate" like those pictured, but the bottom box is about 2 inches deep. the box goes over the open flame on the stove top, a little slotted wheel goes on a center pin, and then the flat basket with the meat in it straddles the box over the wheel.. The wheel spins carrying the flames to the meat, the fat drips creating little flame bursts, and the meat effectively gets grilled over the open flame of the stove.Such delicious flavors right in the kitchen. I haven't seen them outside of Little Italy, NYC and our neighborhoods in Brooklyn.

Reply
Lisa L.
7/27/2021 08:31:57 pm

Is this the grill: https://www.google.it/search?rlz=1C2DVCP_enIT431IT584&biw=931&bih=628&tbm=isch&sa=1&ei=lgrGWtH2EY31kwWNpobwAw&q=%22griglia+per+fornello+a+gas%22&oq=%22griglia+per+fornello+a+gas%22&gs_l=psy-ab.3...33446.37670.0.37810.26.26.0.0.0.0.143.2302.19j6.25.0....0...1c.1.64.psy-ab..5.18.1707...0j0i67k1j0i10k1j0i7i30k1j0i13k1j0i8i7i30k1j0i13i30k1j0i30k1.0.grBMrHjBXek&gfe_rd=mr&pli=1


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