Right now, though, the waffle iron is out of temper and the siren sounds like a drowning finch and the waffles stick something terrible. Breakfast is waffle top or waffle scrapings, or, worse yet, just plain old toast. Cleaning stuck waffle off the waffle iron becomes a task for later in the day, when I am feeling more pulled together. (I am not a lark nor much of an owl, I am a daytime, sunshine person.) And making waffles the next morning becomes an exercise in hope, or maybe I should say folly.
This is life, and I am resigned to that. Some days everybody is out of temper and a little grumbling and jostling are normal. But this morning, I did get a mostly whole waffle out of the waffle iron, or two, actually, and the waffle iron is not in the clean-later pile. Very good news.
The home electric waffle maker became a fixture of the well-appointed kitchen in the 1930s, right alongside the pop-up electric toaster. General Electric introduced the first commercial electric waffle maker in America in 1911; Bisquick, Aunt Jemima, and the rest introduced dry pancake and waffle mix in the 1930s; and the Dorsas brothers introduced frozen waffles, Eggos, in 1953.
Apparently the etymology of waffle is unclear or in dispute. According to the Wikipedia entry, waffle originally comes from a Frankish root, wafla, or honeycomb. According to the Online Etymological Dictionary, waffle originally comes from Proto-Germanic wabila, honeycomb or web, with ties to Old High German weban and Old English wefan, to weave. And if the words "Frankish," "Proto-Germanic," and "Old English" don't leave you all aswoon, as they do me, I'm done now.
As for the second meaning of waffle, to waver, maybe I will tackle that some day when I am feeling indecisive.
1 comment:
A couple of thoughts/questions. What kind of waffle iron do you have that has a siren (or even just a little alarm)? Mine (both of them, I have two from the days that there were 5 mouths waiting) are sneaky, and require me to constantly peek.
And do you make waffles with LOTS of butter in them? I think that helps keep them from sticking. My favorite are the yeast raised waffles in Marion Cunningham's wonderful 'The Breakfast Book'. Thanks for the reminder!
Lastly, as for 'worse yet, just plain old toast', I don't know what to say. I think toast is about as noble as it gets. Whether it's served just with butter, or some honey, jam, or marmalade. Makes me happy.
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