A Toast!

The humble, reliable toaster celebrates its 100th anniversary

THE ELECTRIC TOASTER is celebrating its 100th anniversary. Although my own toaster seems unaware of this milestone, a piece saluting such a significant accomplishment deserves to begin with an epigraph, so here it is:

WHAT MAKES TOAST? Toast turns golden brown and crunchy when the sugars in the bread cook and caramelize. This happens at 310 degrees and is called the Maillard reaction. Through the years » 1906: Albert Marsh patented the Nichrome wire, which made the electric toaster possible. The first toaster was called "El Tosto," manufactured by Pacific Electric Heating, which later became Hotpoint Electric. » 1909: First U.S. patent granted for an electric toaster, to General Electric. The appliance involved exposed heating elements surrounded by a wire cage for holding bread. This D-12 model is considered the first commercially successful toaster. » 1926: Invention of the first automatic pop-up toaster, the Toastmaster 1A1. » 1933: Invention of sliced bread, which lead to the true commercial takeoff of the toaster.

There. A dignified tone has been set for this tribute, and to the sole purpose for its existence, toast.

Historians agree that toast predated the toaster by about 5,000 years, and they credit the Egyptians with its invention. (Among treasures discovered in tombs near Al-Giza were videos with commercial messages asking, "Got toast?" )

The Romans spread the commercial message throughout Europe, which is astonishing since their toast commercials aired in Latin, and even 4,500 years ago, Latin was spoken only by oppressed schoolchildren and cloistered monks in Northern European countries.

However (and this is absolutely true), the Roman conquest prevailed, and etymologists tell us that our word -- toast -- was derived from the Latin tostum, which means to scorch or burn.

We've been subjecting bread slices to that procedure since.

Also true is that the electric toaster didn't know how to pop bread up until the Toastmaster 1A1 was invented in 1926, and as Maria McCarthy from the Grain Foods Foundation so nicely puts it: "The toaster did not really take off until after 1933, when sliced bread was invented, which makes it official: Historically speaking, the toaster is the next best thing since sliced bread."

Today, more than 75 million Americans enjoy a piece of toast every day, and toast has inspired Web sites, songs, cookbooks, conventions of toaster collectors, animated films and Ted Allen (cookbook author and "Queer Eye for the Straight Guy" food-and-wine connoisseur), who effuses, "One of the most comforting, simple moments you can have is to make yourself a slice of toast for breakfast or for a midday snack. The scent of bread caramelizing in the toaster is wonderful."

So, let's hear it for toast, something we all know how to prepare. Even my sister, who couldn't boil water when she was first married, needed no recipe for toast burning. And so, the remainder of this essay is devoted to toast recipes, ranging from simple to sublime.

FIRST, a recipe for those who can boil water, but not toast toast. Then a cinnamon toast primer and third, the recipe that every mother living where winters are actually cold makes for her children when they're feeling poorly -- milk toast.

Do not scoff at milk toast. The greatest food writer of all time, M.F.K. Fisher, said, "It is a warm, mild, soothing thing, full of innocent strength. It is a small modern miracle of gastronomy." (Of course, Fisher also called it romantic, so what did she know?)

Then, as we proceed upward in elegance: crostini, canapé bases (some of them, anyway), bruschetta. Who knew? These are all fancy words for toast! And couldn't you just strangle those uppity chefs who instruct "serve on toast points" or "serve with toast fingers," without explaining how toast gets itself into points or fingers?

These recipes make a single serving.

Toast

You'll need: a slice of bread, a toaster, a serrated knife, a sink and some sort of spread.

Procedure: Take bread slice out of package, plug in toaster, put bread in slot, press toaster handle to lower bread, let go and wait until toast pops up and scares you. Take toast out, but NOT WITH THE KNIFE. The knife is for scraping the black stuff off into the sink. Rinse black crumbs from knife and use it to spread butter, jelly, honey, cream cheese or, in Hawaii, puréed Spam over entire surface of toast.

Cinnamon Toast

You'll need: Hot, buttered toast.

Procedure: Sprinkle with sugar and cinnamon to taste. If you must have a more specific recipe, mix 1 tablespoon cinnamon with 4 tablespoons sugar and pour into that shaker-topped spice jar you saved because you knew it would come in handy some day. Put the lid on and keep by the toaster so you don't have to start from scratch every morning before the coffee has rendered you sentient.

Milk Toast

(Also known as Milktoast)

You'll need: One slice toasted, buttered white bread, 1 cup milk and about 1 teaspoon sugar.

Procedure: Crumble toast into a cereal bowl. Warm milk and sugar and pour over toast. Sprinkle with cinnamon (optional). Administer to young patients with a healthy dose of sympathy.

Crostini

Preheat broiler. Slice a baguette into 1/2-inch slices. Place slices on a cookie sheet and toast under the broiler, or in a toaster or toaster oven, until crisp and golden brown. Serve with classy toppings such as crab salad or ahi tartare.

Bruschetta

Slice a 14-inch baguette diagonally into 1/2-inch slices (sound familiar?). Rub tops with fresh garlic. Toast. Or drizzle with extra-virgin olive oil and broil until crisp and golden brown. Serve topped with something that sits on a dollop of creme fraiche and is very expensive (such as thinly sliced salmon rolled up into roses, with caviar in the center).

Canapés

A canapé is a pupu that has a small, decorative piece of bread as a base and is topped with a savory spread. The bread may be toasted or untoasted, but the best recipes use toast rounds cut with cookie or biscuit cutters (or drinking glass tops), then spread with cream cheese mixtures, mousses -- stuff like that.

They may also be fried (look for Shrimp Toast recipes in Chinese cookbooks). Check out Chef Paula Dean's Creamy Onion Canapé recipe on www.foodtv.com.

Toast Points

You won't find this term in food dictionaries because everyone assumes we know what they are. But here's the recipe: Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Trim crusts from a loaf of good quality, thin-sliced white or wheat bread. Slice pieces in half diagonally, then again to make 4 to 8 triangles. Put on a cookie sheet and bake on both sides.

Top with anything from sautéed mushrooms to poached eggs to (if you are British) beans. Chef Todd English's Ricotta Toast Points, printed in New York magazine, calls for a simple blending of a cup of ricotta cheese with 2 tablespoons each of cream and olive oil, with a bit of basil mixed in. I've also seen a recipe for Lobster and Caviar on Pane Di Mie Toast Points, too, but it looks like a snooty way to ruin a good piece of toast.

Toast Fingers

These are just like toast points, but the bread is sliced into thicker pieces, up to an inch, each of which is cut into rectangular "fingers" instead of triangles. These are toasted on all sides and often, when ready to serve, brushed with an olive oil and herb blend and reheated.

They're perfect for dippers, or as substitutes for garlic bread with pasta.