How Did People Make Waffles Before The Modern Waffle Iron?

Even if you don't have one in your kitchen, you've likely seen it at your local motel's Continental breakfast: the wondrous waffle iron. Simply pour in waffle batter, close up the iron, let it sit for a few minutes, turn it over, and there you go: thick, fluffy, delicious Belgian waffles that are perfect for soaking in butter or maple syrup once you toss it around in your hand to get rid of the steam like Martha Stewart does to make the crispiest waffles ever. (Depending on your taste, you might also consider any of the frozen waffles on our ranked best-to-worst list.) It's such a great invention that it's difficult to imagine what the waffle-making process might have looked like before it came around. Were there chefs carefully chiseling waffle patterns into pancakes, like how monks used to inscribe Bibles by hand? Well, no: There were waffle irons before its most modern iteration, but you probably wouldn't want to use them.

The waffle iron, like the waffle itself, has been around for a surprisingly long time. Its ancestry can be traced back to ancient Greece, where people prepared flat cakes called "obelios" between two hot metal plates. At first, these weren't patterned in any particular way, but as they spread across Europe in the medieval era (eventually becoming known as "wafers"), cooks started to have a little fun. The familiar grid pattern started here, but wafers were also patterned after coats of arms and paintings.

At some point, wafers began to be used as a handy bed for various toppings, and thus the grid pattern became standardized for maximum nook-and-cranny-filling. The first use of the word "waffle" in English, descended from the Middle Dutch word for "web" or "honeycomb", occurred in 1725. Thomas Jefferson even brought a long-handled waffle iron back to America in 1789. But one thing that didn't change through all of that was the fact that waffle irons were a huge pain to use. They were heavy, awkward to handle, and difficult to check for doneness — and then there was the whole "holding a really hot piece of metal over an open flame" thing. Even the most devoted waffle fanatics would probably hesitate if they risked burning their hands every time they made one.

Thank goodness for Cornelius Swartwout, an enterprising New Yorker with a wonderfully Dutch name who patented the modern waffle iron in 1869. Although it was pre-electricity, it functioned much as the electric ones do today: Placed on a stovetop, a handle made it easy to flip and turn without (as much) risk of injury. The electric variant hit the market in 1918 courtesy of General Electric, and by that time waffles could be enjoyed without so much danger. (At least until that major waffle recall due to a listeria outbreak, anyway.)