Best Panini Maker

making a panini without a panini maker/griddle or anythingg. tips?

i want to make a melted cheese panini but i don't have a panini maker. I have a stove and like a cast-iron skillet. Can someone tell me how to make one on the stove?

Public Comments

1. You need something to weigh it down. Take a smaller skillet or sauce pan and press it while toasting one side. Then turn it over and do the other side. I use a George Forman grill. They are pretty cheap. ɦəlʞɹɐq
2. A panini maker really only does three things that a plain old frying pan does not. It cooks on both sides at the same time. It puts lines on the sandwich. And it squishes the sandwich (they're also called panini presses for this reason). The first two things don't really matter, other than speed and aesthetics. If the third is really important to you, put another heavy object on the sandwich while it's cooking. Another cast iron frying pan, for example, or even a brick wrapped in aluminum foil. If your sandwich has cheese in it, you don't even have to press it - think of it as a fancy grilled cheese sandwich.
3. Well, first of all, the real panini is made with a pita, although a whole LOT of restaurants and cafes are using thick bread. AND there are a lot of different paninis ! ! ! ! ! I like the vegetarian panini that Steamers Cafe in Fullerton California makes. It is with a thick pita that is almost bread-like but not that thick. You can probably do it with a specialty bread as well, cut sandwich wise. Depending on the kind of panini, they are always cooked from what I have seen, but some have lettuce added just before serving. I never get lettuce with the vegetarian panini. There are certain ingredients that have to be cooked first. Like the meat ball panini, that must be cooked in its own sauce first. Then you put the main ingredients in the panini, without sauce of course, butter the side to go down in the pan first, and cook the panini in the frying pan either with a weight on top or by holding a metal spatula or strong plastic spatula on top to lightly squish it down. You have to experiment so you do not burn the pita or bread, then you butter the uncooked side of the pita or bread and flip the panini over, sprinkle "powdered" cheese (finely grated cheese of your choice or just use spaghetti cheese) and continue until the pita or toast is toasted underneath the same way as you did to begin. If you are making the meat ball panini, add the meat ball sauce inside the panini as the last step before serving, not while cooking. I've never home-made a panini, but that is how I would do it. You can add a salad, and at Steamers Cafe I always loved their pasta salad and a San Gria wine with mine, although I also drank Guinness with it while I listened to their fine live jazz music there. And good luck. Maybe someone knows more about this than I do?