Italian Toaster: La Brustolina

This 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.

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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.  

The 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. 
  

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A 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.​

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Where to Buy a Brustolina