News

Cooking combo a love match

By Steve Bain

Sep 24, 2025

Cooking a campfire jaffle is a rite of passage. Here, home butcher STEVE BAIN shows why a hibachi-style firepit is a perfect vehicle for cooking a tasty toastie.

Not wishing to be presumptuous, but I feel that managing a jaffle iron on a camping trip is an Aussie kid’s rite of-passage. But did you know that in the United States, jaffle irons are called ‘pie irons?

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Back to Australia, our traditional jaffle irons were often short-handled (the modern ones for sale in Australia, as well as the American ones, typically have long handles these days) and ironically the heads of the old-school models were usually made from either an aluminium alloy or cast iron.

Notwithstanding their construction metal, we still called them ‘irons’. As a collector of jaffle irons, I have a few short-handled versions that I like to use. For these short-handled numbers, I like to use an hibachi-style firepit as you can see in the photos.

Although there are choices, like trimming the bread before or after cooking, as well as round or square, cheese or not, this really is a simple process (even a child can do it) and the hibachi makes it easier. That is, the hibachi helps control the heat.

METHOD

Step 1: Start by burning firewood to make hot coals. Here I’m burning logs for coals in my backyard firepit.

Step 2: To build up bulk, my hibachi’s base is lined with a layer of volcanic ‘barbecue rocks’.

Step 3: Shovel hot coals from the firepit into the hibachi. Keep shovelling until the hibachi is full (even slightly overfull is okay, because the level will drop as the coals burn down).

Step 4: The coals will keep burning. Let them burn down a little.

Step 5: If you can hold your hand close to the heat, the temperature has come down enough to cook on the coals.

Step 6: Using a hibachi full of coals helps keep the iron head level in the fire and this is an aid to even cooking.

Step 7: This is the Toasta-branded square sandwich toasting iron. Cook the jaffle on both sides — only experience will tell you the right time to flip and to remove.

Step 8: Looking good?

Step 9: Upon closer inspection, pretty much perfect!

Step 10: Carefully trim the burnt bits. Do this by cutting just under the burn line on the bread - doing so will keep the seal of bread intact (mostly).

Step 11: This round-head model is the Jaffle Toaster. Its different coloured handles are a useful feature that help you remember if you have already cooked the jaffle on both sides.

Step 12: Don’t be afraid to use a bread roll rather than sandwich bread. If you opt for the bun option, it is a good idea to hollow it out a little by removing some filling from the inside of the roll. This gives the mince filling a pocket in which to sit.