The Italians have done a wonderful thing, inventing a dish in which something savory is plunked on a piece of toast. Sometimes the result is called bruschetta; other times it is called crostini. There is no need for two words of identical meaning. So what's the difference?

The only thing I know that gets plunked on toast is chipped beef, and that's called SOS.

Welcome, Amnow of Illinois, to the conversation. This term -- the one you suggest -- was the usage in the United States Navy in the 1960's, also. But no one would confuse SOS with bruschetta or crostini.

Are you saying that chipped beef isn't savory? It sure nuff ain't sweet, an that's the onliest nother option, fars I know.

chipped beef in a white sauce on toast. yum!

What's wrong with having two words for such a lovely, savory thing? Anyway, crostino seems to be the standard Tuscan Italian word for canapé or hors d'œuvre. (It's related to our crust.) The word and the tidbit, bruschetta, hails from Abbruzzo in the South. In standard Italian it's pronounced /bruskEtta/, though in some dialects it is pronounced with a hushing rather than a hissing s, e.g., /bruSEtta/.

toast is chipped beef, and that's called SOS.
I heard that SOS is crumbled hamburg in white sauce.
There's another acroynim for chiped beef in white sauce but I can't recall it.
Any old ex-service personnel out there who can help? Like a Chief of the Mess?
Chief of the Mess (Chuckling at own joke while others groan)

Chipped beef? Do you have to use a chisel to get it off the beast's carcass? Does one eat the chip or does it have a chip missing from it?

Naw, the chipped meat comes from the shoulder, obviously. And to make it worthwhile, you'd need a beast that was evenly balanced, with a chip on both shoulders. I think being fed into the business end of a meat processing plant would be enough excuse, don't you?

"Are you saying that chipped beef isn't savory? It sure nuff ain't sweet, an that's the onliest nother option, fars I know."
Not savory, not sweet, perhaps glue??

The path followed by this thread is a wonderful example of how we get lost by associating one idea with the next and the next ...

One still wonders: what is the difference between bruschetta and crostini?

I thought jheem solved it...

whats the difference between a crust of bread or a heel of bread? or between soda and pop (or coke)?

italian is made up of regions, and all its food is regional (there is no such thing as italian food.. there are silcilan dishes, and roman dishes, and tuscon dishes, there are wheat and pork and cheese specialties from the north, and olive and tuna and basil specialites from the south, every where the food is different..

its no surprize that the same food has different names in different parts of the country.. (the north of US ate SAMP, in the south, the same food was GRITS.)

but there is a difference between chipped beef, (beef that has has been cut up into chips (hand cut into small chips)--usually a chef would use 2 knifes, to cut the beef into chips.. (similar to a fine dice)

ground beef is run through a grinder, and pushed through a mill (so that it comes out in little string like shapes.)most times its run through the grinder twice..

when you grind beef, its hard to tell how much fat is being ground in (butchers would add chunks of frozen blood to make the beef (fat) 'redder')--but about 20% is 'normal'

chipped beef is made from somewhat tough cuts of meat, the meat is finely cut (to help tenderize it by cutting up tought connective tissue) and then slow simmered (which will further tenderize it), before being 'creamed' in a white sause.

in some dialects it is pronounced with a hushing rather than a hissing s, e.g., /bruSEtta/.

Of course, I meant /bruSkEtta/.

I thought jheem solved it.

Only if you're in threaded mode. Otherwise, somebody else bussed that table.

threaded

mama mia! I forgot to quote!

To my sammarinese friend, staying with me presently, bruschetta is bread, olive oil and salt. Nothing else. Crostini, on the other hand, implies (to him) the presence of multitudinous other accoutrements, tomatos, mushrooms, and others for which he could not recall the English names.

...implies (to him) the presence of multitudinous other accoutrements...

A pizza "mini me"?