panini question

Brian Connors said:

What exactly makes a sandwich a panino (apart from making it look good on a menu board)? Is the
sandwich grill a required part of it?

Panino just means sandwich in Italian so any sandwich would be a panino. Panini can be as boring as
ham and cheese on a roll to a mix of different grilled veggies with a gorgonzola sauce.
Unfortunately, panini seem to have become an entity unto themselves in the US so I can't help you
with what they are considered there. But if you want to be accurate and lead people using the
correct terms (so when they come to Italy on vacation they don't walk into a shop that has the word
Panini on their sign and then complain because they aren't panini but just plain sandwiches which is
something I have seen all too often here), a panino is a sandwich and a sandwich is a panino

Cristina
--
Info on Moving to Italy and Driving in Italy cristinasweb.comcristinasweb.comOpen ↗

On Sun, 11 Jan 2004 04:37:02 GMT, Brian Connors <[email hidden]>

Quoted message said:

What exactly makes a sandwich a panino (apart from making it look good on a menu board)? Is the
sandwich grill a required part of it?

In the US it is :> Think of "panino" as a grilled sandwich modeled after ones particular to Italy;
i.e. on a flat bread that facilitates grilling in the type of press found in Italy. Sort of like
ciabatta, but smaller and thinner. Sometimes in the US they use focaccia, which is good too.

Now that I've found that my George Foreman grill "does" panini, I have to find a source of that
bread or make it myself!

Sue(tm) Lead me not into temptation... I can find it myself!

In article <[email hidden]>,

cristina' siena_us(REMOVE BEFORE SENDING)@libero.it said:

Brian Connors said:

What exactly makes a sandwich a panino (apart from making it look good on a menu board)? Is the
sandwich grill a required part of it?

Panino just means sandwich in Italian so any sandwich would be a panino. Panini can be as boring
as ham and cheese on a roll to a mix of different grilled veggies with a gorgonzola sauce.
Unfortunately, panini seem to have become an entity unto themselves in the US so I can't help
you with what they are considered there. But if you want to be accurate and lead people using
the correct terms (so when they come to Italy on vacation they don't walk into a shop that has
the word Panini on their sign and then complain because they aren't panini but just plain
sandwiches which is something I have seen all too often here), a panino is a sandwich and a
sandwich is a panino

Yeah, pretty much what I thought.

Seems to me the idea of a panino in the US implies two things: significant labor compared to, say, a
PB&J or roast beef with mayo, and grillitude. Me personally, I made pork cutlet sandwiches once;
nothing was actually grilled, but given the Italian definition of the word I still think they
qualify as panini.

But then, look what we Yanks have done to bruschetta...

/Brian

On Sun, 11 Jan 2004 10:14:33 +0100, "cristina" <siena_us(REMOVE BEFORE

SENDING)@libero.it said:

Brian Connors said:

What exactly makes a sandwich a panino (apart from making it look good on a menu board)? Is the
sandwich grill a required part of it?

Panino just means sandwich in Italian so any sandwich would be a panino. Panini can be as boring as
ham and cheese on a roll to a mix of different grilled veggies with a gorgonzola sauce.
Unfortunately, panini seem to have become an entity unto themselves in the US so I can't help you
with what they are considered there. But if you want to be accurate and lead people using the
correct terms (so when they come to Italy on vacation they don't walk into a shop that has the word
Panini on their sign and then complain because they aren't panini but just plain sandwiches which
is something I have seen all too often here), a panino is a sandwich and a sandwich is a panino

Is there no particular term for the sandwiches that are assembled inside a flat rectangular bread,
then grilled in a sandwich press?

Sue(tm) Lead me not into temptation... I can find it myself!

Curly Sue said:

cristina' siena_us(REMOVE BEFORE SENDING)@libero.it said:

Brian Connors said:

What exactly makes a sandwich a panino (apart from making it look good on a menu board)? Is the
sandwich grill a required part of it?

Panino just means sandwich in Italian so any sandwich would be a panino. Panini can be as boring
as ham and cheese on a roll to a mix of different grilled veggies with a gorgonzola sauce.
Unfortunately, panini seem to have become an entity unto themselves in the US so I can't help
you with what they are considered there. But if you want to be accurate and lead people using
the correct terms (so when they come to Italy on vacation they don't walk into a shop that has
the word Panini on their sign and then complain because they aren't panini but just plain
sandwiches which is something I have seen all too often here), a panino is a sandwich and a
sandwich is a panino

Is there no particular term for the sandwiches that are assembled inside a flat rectangular bread,
then grilled in a sandwich press?

Sue(tm) Lead me not into temptation... I can find it myself!

Yes, they are called "tramezzini" and are generally cut in half to give it a triangular shape.

Ciao,

Anna Maria

www.annamariavolpi.com

anna maria said:

Curly Sue said:

Is there no particular term for the sandwiches that are assembled inside a flat rectangular
bread, then grilled in a sandwich press?

Yes, they are called "tramezzini" and are generally cut in half to give it a triangular shape.

Tremezzini aren't grilled though. Funny thing though for confusing foreigners, a grilled ham and
cheese sandwich on square bread is called "toast" here in Italy.

Cristina Info on Moving to Italy and Driving in Italy cristinasweb.comcristinasweb.comOpen ↗

cristina said:

anna maria said:

Curly Sue said:

Is there no particular term for the sandwiches that are assembled inside a flat rectangular
bread, then grilled in a sandwich press?

Yes, they are called "tramezzini" and are generally cut in half to give it a triangular shape.

Tremezzini aren't grilled though. Funny thing though for confusing foreigners, a grilled ham and
cheese sandwich on square bread is called "toast" here in Italy.

Cristina Info on Moving to Italy and Driving in Italy cristinasweb.comcristinasweb.comOpen ↗

yes... toast is square, tramezzino is triangular... go figure :-)

ciao, Anna Maria

www.annamariavolpi.com