Sorry everyone - not managed to do anything for a few months. Will try and catch up and get a new re...
Sorry everyone - not managed to do anything for a few months. Will try and catch up and get a new review on soon. Hope all is well x
Member since:07.11.2006
Reviews:20
Members who trust:14
Whenever I use this grill the classic Peter Kay quote comes to mind, about his Nanna caling it a George Formby grill. Now I don't know how I managed without Formby-ing my meat!
Me and my Mr were bought this grill by by best mate as a moving in present when we bought our first home last summer. Now my cooking skills aren't the best, as my now skinnier Mr is finding out. But give me one of these babies and Delia better watch out.
Okay, so I'm exaggerating slightly. But honestly, this is one of the best additions to our kitchen we have received.
APPEARANCE The grill is silver in colour, and is shaped like an oyster shell. It has what they call a floating hinge, so it opens very wide and means meat/food of any thickness can be placed on it. It comes with a drip tray which you simply push under the grill when you are cooking to catch any of the stuff that runs off the food. It plugs into the wall, but the cord isn't very long, so you have to place it right by a socket, which would be tricky in a very small kitchen. There is a small implement which looks like a flat fish slice/fork,
which I presume is to be used to move the food off the grill, but I have never used it. Unless it has a different use that I have not worked out yet! The grill plates are ridged. It looks like a sandwich/toastiemaker but without the little compartments. The appliance comes with a handy little booklet, which details how to use the grill and gives some recipies along with estimated cooking times for a whole host of food, which I have used as guidelines and are usually spot on. Well, we have had no cases of food poisoning just yet, so they must be about right! The appliance has a light to the front of it, which lights up when it is turned on and then goes out when then grill is hot enough to use. This particular one doesn't have any timers or heating controls, and the grill plate is quite small. But it is the ideal size for a two person household.
USING THE GRILL
I read the instructions thoroughly and it said to wipe the plates over with a small amount of oil. Being quite health concious I use spray oil for cooking, (only one calorie per spray!) and this works very well on the grill. I simply squirt a few sprays on the grill plates and then switch it on.
It takes about 10 minutes or so to heat up, so it's something to bear in mind if you are timing different foods to be ready at the same point. When it is ready the light on the front simply clicks off and away you go.
Take care placing the food on the plates, as they are obviously very hot. The last thing I cooked on it were chicken breasts, so I'll use them as my main example. Not that there is a lot to say about them actually. I put the chicken pieces on the grill, closed it, left them for about 8-10 minutes, took them off and ate them. Simple. Another thing I like to do with them, and also with pork, is about 2 minutes before they are cooked, sprinkle some spice over the top of the meat. My faves are Cajun, Jamaican Jerk or Piri Piri. They really give it a kick.
The grill is great for cooking frozen meat on too. The frozen quarter pound burgers I cooked the other day (not very healthy..but it was the weekend and everyone knows calories don't count Friday to Sunday!) took about 10 minutes. The beauty of it is you don't have to turn the meat over as you would on a conventional grill as the plates cook it on both sides. So there is no messing about with tongs, or in my case a normal fork, trying to flick the meat over with one hand while buttering bread with the other.
The booklet says you can cook almost anything on this grill, including vegetables, panninis, fish...basically anything. I have yet to try the vegetables though.
CLEANING
This product is so easy to clean. Even if I have sprinkled spices every where which have stuck to the grill paddles, it still wipes clean. The plates are non-stick so I tend just to wipe it over with a damp cloth with a little washing up liquid on. You can then simply empty the drip tray, wash that, and the grill is ready to store once it has cooled down. Now that is my kind of cleaning...something that takes literally 2 minutes. It's so much better than scrubbing a grill pan.
OTHER POINTS
The grill plates on this model are rather small. Enough to fit a couple of good sized steaks on, or three ot four chicken breasts, but it could be more difficult for say a family of four. For bigger families I would recommend getting the biggest sized grill possible.
Also, I am not sure how healthier it is than cooking under a grill. Yes, the stuff that comes off the meat is vile (turns my stomach!) but isn't this the stuff that would drip into the grill plate on a normal grill? Maybe because the plates press down together, it squeezes more of the juices/fat out.
I find this a god send as our oven is an oven/grill in one, meaning you can't have the oven and grill on at the same time. If you are baking potoes etc, it means you have to stop cooking them to use the grill. With this you can do them both at the same time. And it cuts on the bending down! Oyr grill is in the oven part, so it means a lot of bending down, pulling out the grill pan, checking the food, turning it over and putting the grill bakc under. Here, you simply lift the lid, take a look and carry on.
PRICE
As we were bought this as a present I'm not sure on the actual price, but by having a quick scour on the net it looks like you can pick these up between 20 and 40 quid, which isn't bad considering the hassle free cooking it gives you.
OVERALL
I would definitly recommend this grill. If like me, you work full time and are not the greatest of cooks, then it could be your lifeline. My Mr has piri piri pork, and special fried rice the other day...he was gobsmacked! And it's all thanks to my George Formby grill.
How helpful would this review be to a person making a buying decision? Rating guidelines
Great review there - I've seen these around and wondered if they were any good or not - thanks. By the way, this review is far more helpful than Costas'! :o) x
Apr 5th, 2007
very helpful by (97%):
somewhat helpful by (3%):
