The great Jewish/Catholic divide: toasters vs. toaster ovens

In April of 2008, my cousins and I held what is now known as “Pop weekend,” where we took our grandfather and his then-girlfriend to Atlantic City for his birthday.

That weekend will probably best be remembered for Pop losing his wallet and the 15-person, 3-hour manhunt that ensued which involved the police, casino security, and a darkened tennis court (FYI-the wallet was in his shoe).

While not partaking in the wallet clusterfark, I made some kind of comment praising toaster ovens for all of their utility and general awesomeness. One thing led to another, and we discovered that all of the Jews in our family had toaster ovens growing up, but the several Catholic significant others had toasters.

Some quick followup work has led me to believe that this trend is completely consistent throughout America (based on a sample size of ~25). Why is this?

All I can think of is that Catholics praise toasters for their simplicity and sense of purpose, while Jews appreciate that a toaster oven has numerous potential settings, which can lead to error and thus something to complain about. But it could probably be something else too.

As a toaster oven-owning Jew, I’m interested in what you own and your reasoning for it – feel free to leave it in the comments. Anyway, this all came to light because of a cooking article I saw on Kitchn.com – 10 good uses for your toaster oven. Enjoy:

1. Warm plates before serving. Many large ovens only go down to 200°F which can be too high. A counter-top oven goes lower. I like heating plates for 5 minutes at 170°F.
2. Toast nuts. Arrange in a single layer on included pan or a sheet of aluminum foil. 350°F for 10-15 minutes, agitating to turn nuts every 5 minutes.
3. Make small batches of cookies, muffins, individual cakes
4. Cook side dishes (like stuffing) while the main oven is occupied with something bigger (the turkey).
5. Roast small batches of meat: a whole roaster chicken, quartered, fits easily, as does a pork tenderloin, a few pounds of ribs, etc.
6. Re-heat left-overs.
7. Defrost frozen ingredients.
8. Bake potatoes.
9. Melt cheese on top of French Onion Soup.
10. Anything you’d use the broiler for with the added bonus of using less energy and having more control: your broiled food will be at counter-height with a see-through window.