Modern versions of the pie-iron are commonly more domestic, if not necessarily more refined, with subdivisions allowing pairs of bread slices to be clamped together around fillings to form pockets or stuffed sandwiches. A combination of heat and pressure seals the bread at the outer edges.
Campfire versions are still made of cast iron and can be cooked over coals, open flames, or over a stove but lightweight aluminium stove-top versions are made, generally being coated with a non-stick surface both as a cleaning aid and to allay fears regarding aluminium in the diet.
Rights acquired by John O'Brien for Australian cookware company Breville in the 1970s[2] mean the name Breville is sometimes used eponymously to describe both the device and a toasted, sealed sandwich.[3] Regardless of brand counter-top sandwich toasters are notorious for being little-used. A British survey in 2005 suggested that 45% of British adults own but do not use sandwich toasters.[4]
An alternative counter-top preparation method—one more common in the US—employs a toaster oven where the sandwich (toastie) is arranged open face and then toasted (grilled), which not only toasts the bread but warms the meat and melts the cheese that is the traditional content of the classic Dutch toasted sandwich. While most informal eateries in Europe offer some form of toasted sandwich very few use clamshell-makers, preferring the grill or toaster-oven methods already mentioned, however American restaurants with a high customer turnover sometimes invest in large conveyor belt toaster ovens, such as can be found at Quizno's, Subway and Boston Market