"WAFER IRONS IN AMERICA"

Wafer irons are as decorative as a food impliment can be. Their patterns run the gaumut from “primitive” folk designs to sophisticated fine art. Like geodes, one has absolutely no inkling of what the rough exterior may hide, that a lovely treasure may be revealed only when the plates are open. One of the great thrills of wafer-iron hunting is that moment of anticipation as one spreads the long handles, opens the plates, and exposes a (hopefully) new motif.

The designs were frequently simple. Forged plates were often incised on the anvil with assorted chisels or decorative punches. Some American irons have initials or dates incorporated, perhaps signifying that this iron was a wedding gift ordered from a local

Wafer iron, circa 1800 cast iron eagle with shield body and thirteen stars, wrought iron handles from the Joel Schiff Collection.

smith. Others were more elaborate castings welded onto the long forged handles. These sometimes featured detailed patriotic themes or delicate floral patterns. New World irons reflected their European antecedents, as decoration and construction are sometimes specific to one nation. For example, the finials that topped the long handles were, according to Joel Schiff, a specialist in casting iron cooking, often ethnically specific. Dutch handles were simply tapered in a generic style that was common to early irons throughout Europe, the French were bent to receive a loop latch, the German had a bulging knob on both ends and the English sported a double bulge, nipple- like.

The handsome decorations of wafer irons were, of course, meant to embellish handsome wafers—incredibly thin, buttery, delicate, and crispy cookies. Their history is associated with the medieval church, which used their own appropriate designs to celebrate rituals or saints’ days. However, even in that early period secular versions were also being made and sold in the streets of Paris and the Lowland cities. Some of these delicacies were being eaten as savory fragile sandwiches with cheese fillings, while others were highly spiced. The sweetened version has lasted through the centuries—as the prices of sugar, spice, and iron tools dropped they became increasing popular in home kitchens.

Today we consume wafers without realizing it—certain ice cream cones are really wafers, as are the thin, heavily iced packaged “wafer cookies” available in any supermarket. We can buy new stove top or electric irons for Italian pizzele, French gaufrette, or Scandanavian krumkagga. Throughout Europe they are still being prepared for secular or church occasions. Indeed, it wasn’t so long ago that I stood in an outdoor public market in Holland, watching wafers being prepared on an electric wafer iron and buying them filled with a sweetened and spiced syrup. Delicious!

In fact, it was the Dutch who were often credited with bringing wafers and their close sisters, waffles, to the American colonies, and the irons do indeed turn up regularly in eigh teenth-century Dutch- American estate inventories. One finds recipes for hard wafels (wafer) and soft wafels (waffles) early in the period in Dutch-Amercian family recipe collections. By the late 1700s they were beginning to appear in the imported English cookbooks that had been the mainstay of colonial cooks before 1796. At that date, to judge by their inclusion in Amelia Simmons’ slim American Gookey, they had been absorbed into mainstream English-American cookery. One wonders why it took so long for the British to latch on, as these lovely goodies were certainly known in England. It would seem that its industrial revolution, guided and informed by advanced Lowland metalurgists, sparked the growing pleasure in wafers here and at home.

Perhaps the basic similarity of the terms and cooking utensils have confused American translators; one finds the Dutch term wafel used in English as either waffle or wafer. Sometimes one can only be sure which one is

Example of rare, early wafer iron, old punch technique from the Primitive Man Collection

meant by the recipe and the thickness of the batter or an illustration of the implement. Early wafer and waffle irons are alike in their basic design: long handles, some a scissors-like action, and attached terminal baking molds. Of course, the waffle iron mold requires more bas relief and a hollowed form, while the wafer is perfectly flat. To care for your wafer irons, treat them like any other iron cooking implement. I avoid heavy scrubbing, perfering to use a bristle brush or even a knife to dislodge any crumbs that may have been caught in the pattern lines. A brief swipe over the plates is often enough, and the iron may be stored with a light coating of grease (I prefer lard). Heavy scrubbing with hot water and soap will remove this seasoning, and permit the delicate surface to rust. To prepare the irons for cooking, a casual wipedown is enough, particularly as the irons will be raised to a fairly hot temperature before using!

The wafer baking process has its own mystique. The cook works at the fireside or stove top, hoisting the heavy iron in and out of the heat, catching the cookie at just the right time, and flipping it deftly, while still hot, from the iron. The painstaking preparation requires time and space and benefits from the teamwork of two cooks working together. The following general instructions are based on the experiences of both novices and experienced cooks at the Hearth Studios.

Both the wafer iron’s iron plates must be heated over coals and then swung onto a padded bench or table near the fireside. It must be opened quickly for greasing and a dollop of batter dropped on. You can tell you have heated the iron to the correct temperature when the batter sizzles, but doesn’t smoke. The plates are then closed firmly and swung back to the heat for baking on both sides. Once done, the iron is returned to the table, the fragile wafer removed and arranged flat or rolled in a cylinder or cone while still hot and soft. More batter must be applied before the iron cools. One person maneuvers the heavy iron and the other manages the batter and wafers. Although the timing is critical and the cooks must move fast, they find their own rhythms, batter texture, and best temperatures fairly easily, just as a pancake cook begins by adjusting the batter thickness and pan temperature.

In fact, the success of wafers does not depend on one specific temperature. The balance of time and temperature is one of those things that each cook works out for him- or herself, and seems to be more of a gut instinct than anything else. Some have worked out an alternative by heating their irons very hot and baking away from the fire, using only the residual heat in the iron. In either case, only a little trial and error are enough to establish your own timing.

The best iron for a beginner to choose is a small round one. My students do well with one about four inches in diameter, the pattern of which is a simple crosshatch. It has the advantages of heating more evenly and being less awkward than the larger rectangular ones, which are trickier to heat and bake even end to end.

This article is re-printed with the permission of "The Journal of Antiques and Collectibles" PO Box 950, Sturbridge, MA 01566.