Panini (sandwich)

Panini

A typical panini with salami, mortadella, tomatoes and lettuce
Alternative names	Panini sandwich, panino, panino imbottito
Type	Sandwich
Place of origin	Italy
Serving temperature	Warm or room temperature
Main ingredients	Bread (not sliced bread), filling (salami, ham, cheese, mortadella)
Cookbook: Panini  Media: Panini

A tri-tip panini with salad

In many English-speaking countries, a panini or panino (from the Italian panini [paˈniːni], meaning "small bread, bread rolls") is a grilled sandwich made from bread other than sliced bread.

Examples of bread types used for panini are baguette, ciabatta, and michetta. The bread is cut horizontally and filled with deli ingredients such as cheese, ham, mortadella, salami, or other food, and often served warm after having been pressed by a warming grill.

Etymology

Panini is a word of Italian origin. In Italian the noun panino (Italian: [pa'ni:no]; plural panini) is a diminutive of pane ("bread") and literally refers to a bread roll. Panino imbottito ("stuffed panino") refers to a sandwich, but the word panino is also often used alone to indicate a sandwich in general. Similar to panino is tramezzino, a triangular or square sandwich made up of two slices of soft white bread with the crusts removed.

In English-speaking countries, panini is widely used as the singular form, with the plural form panini or paninis, though some speakers use singular panino and plural panini as in Italian.^[1][2][3][4]

History

Although the first U.S. reference to panini dates to 1956, and a precursor appeared in a 16th-century Italian cookbook, the sandwiches became trendy in Milanese bars, called paninoteche, in the 1970s and 1980s. Trendy U.S. restaurants, particularly in New York, began selling panini, whose popularity then spread to other U.S. cities, each producing distinctive variations of it.^[5]

During the 1980s, the term paninaro arose in Italy to denote a member of a youth culture represented by patrons of sandwich bars such as Milan's Al Panino and Italy's first US-style fast food restaurants. Paninari were depicted as right-leaning, fashion-fixated individuals, delighting in showcasing early 1980s consumer goods as status symbols.^[6][7][8]

Panini sandwich grills

Panini grill
Classification	Cooking equipment
Industry	Various
Application	Cooking
Fuel source	Electric

A panini press or grill is a type of contact grill designed specifically for heating sandwiches, meat products, vegetables, or speciality menu items. Almost exclusively powered by electric elements, it comprises a heated bottom plate that is fixed, with a heated top plate that closes on and comes in contact with the food. The function of the panini grill is to heat food to an appropriate internal temperature with desirable external characteristics (i.e. food safe, melted cheese, crisp finish, grill marks).^[9]

See also

• Cheese sandwich, a sandwich
• Croque-monsieur, a French sandwich
• Krampouz, a panini machines manufacturer
• List of sandwiches
• Middleby Corporation, a panini sandwich grill manufacturer
• Pani ca meusa, a Sicilian sandwich
• Sandwich toaster, a press for alternative sandwiches
• Submarine sandwich, an American sandwich

References

1. "panini". Oxford Dictionaries. Oxford University Press. Retrieved 2016-06-01.
2. "Panini – Origin and Varieties". Taste and Flavours. September 5, 2012.
3. Denn, Rebekah (August 30, 2005). "Ask The Critic: Panini vs. panino -- a singular answer to a plural faux pas". Seattle Post-Intelligencer.
4. Butterfield, Jeremy. "Fowler's Concise Dictionary of Modern English Usage". Oxford University Press. p. 463. ISBN 978-0-19-966631-7. Retrieved 31 May 2016.
5. Zeldes, Leah A. (October 28, 2009). "Eat this! Panini, Italy's answer to grilled cheese". Dining Chicago. Chicago's Restaurant & Entertainment Guide, Inc. Retrieved October 30, 2009.
6. "paninari". Dizionario di Italiano (in Italian). La República. Retrieved 2016-04-27.
7. "paninaro". Dizionario Italiano (in Italian). Corriere della Sera. Retrieved 2016-04-27.
8. "paninari". Vocabulario (in Italian). Treccani. Retrieved 2016-04-27.
9. "What is a Panini Press". indoorgrillreviews.com. Retrieved 2014-04-09.

Sources

• Katsigris, Costas & Thomas, Chris (2008). Design and Equipment for Restaurants and Foodservice: A Management View (Third ed.). John Wiley & Sons, Inc. ISBN 978-0-470-44082-7.
• Strahs, Kathy (2013). The Ultimate Panini Press Cookbook: More Than 200 Perfect-Every-Time Recipes for Making Panini – and Lots of Other Things – on Your Panini Press or Other Countertop Grill. Harvard Common Press. ISBN 978-1-55832-792-4.
• Tripodi, Anthony Tripodi (2011). The Everything Panini Press Cookbook. Adams Media.