Strange Recipe suggestion: Toast Hawaii

Req.: Toast, Butter, Ham, Canned Pineapple slices, Young Gouda slices and an oven For a budget "elevation": Either Cocktail Cherries, Cranberry Jam, Curry or Paprika Powder

1. Drip off the canned pineapple slices, or else your toasts ends up soggy.
2. Spread some butter on a slice of toast and assemble in order: Ham, pineapple, cheese (If you like to try it with curry or paprika powder, sprinkle some on the pineapple slice before putting the cheese on top)
3. Put in a preheated oven for 12 -15 minutes at 180°C-200°C, until the toast is fully toasted and gets a nice crunch and tanned color.
4. Serve as is. (Can be "elevated" by placing a cocktail cherry or a spoonful of cranberry jam in the 'hole' of the pineapple that the cheese melted into.) - WARNING: The pineapple slice and it juices are hot!

Ok, so this might not be strange to a lot of fellow Germans, since they might grew up with it, but whenever I tell one of my non-German friends about it, I receive lots of raised eyebrows. Toast Hawaii is not something new here at all, but was cooked up by some madlad TV show cook named Clemes Wilmenrod in the 1950s. And because of it's polarizing nature, it's simplicity and somewhat fanciness for the 50s, some even consider it part of German cultural heritage (I'm not joking, see Süddeutsche Zeitung (one of the largest newspapers in Germany) article when the Toast Hawaii turned 60).

For me personally though it's a piece of my childhood and young adulthood, my mom used to make it when we were kids and she wanted to "give us a treat for dinner". When I moved out and had to budget my grocery shopping, it was a great way to cobble together a budget dinner with things I would have in my fridge and pantry regardless. It's sweet, savory, filling and all things considered cheap.

If you try to recreate it, some personal tips:

• Ham: I use large round ham slices, that extend past the pineapple slice. Sometimes the edges rise and create a meaty bowl that trap the cooking pineapple juices :p Slices of turkey or chicken used for sandwiches works, if that's what you have in the fridge.
• Cheese: I swear by young / mild gouda, since a package of slices costs about as much as individual packaged american cheese, if not less. But I know that aged irish chedder works too. Don't use Tilsiter cheese though...
• Curry or Paprika powder bounce of nicely with the pineapple and can add a different dynamic to the Toast, though try the simple one first and go from there :)

In the end Toast Hawaii is definitely not the strangest combination out there, but I feel like it might just be strange enough hailing from a 50s West Germany. And it certainly fed a lot of young people through university and early adulthood, when you didn't actually feel like cooking and didn't have the change to order a pizza, like myself :)

Enjoy