George Foreman GR1212 14532

When it came to moving in to my own place a few years ago the first Kitchen Appliance on my list of must haves was a George Foreman grill. My mum and Dad had one at home and as soon as I moved in I made it my mission to get one too. So having looked around quite a bit I opted for the George Foreman 14532, which was billed as the largest of the Foreman grill range at the time. Of course there was only me living in the flat at the time but as soon as Jenny moved in it turned out that buying the biggest one on the market actually saved us going out and buying another one.

So what is a George Foreman Grill? Well after his retirement from professional boxing, George Foreman wanted to develop a method to still enjoy his favourite foods but he wanted to be able to enjoy them in a healthier way. So in 1996 he launched his first Foreman grill and an international phenomenon was launched and since making the first Foreman grill they have gone on to sell over 100 million of the various different models.

In the box with the Foreman 14532 you obviously get the grill, a grease drip trays, a spatula, an instruction book, which includes a number of recipes and a 12-month warranty. It's relatively easy to set up, as it simply needs to be plugged in and its ready to go. When setting it up you place the drip tray under the discharge area for the grill and set the timer to 5 minutes to warm the grill. Once this is done it is ready to cook. I found the set up process to be incredibly simple and straight forward making the Foreman grills easy to use with or without the instruction manual.

The grill boasts that it can cut dramatically the cooking times required for items such as Chicken and meat and if I'm honest at first I was rather dubious. Of course once you look at how the grill works its quite clear how it can reduce the cooking time. The set up sees a pair of grills, which by way of floating hinge adjust dependant on the thickness of the foods placed within. Once in the grills on both top and bottom cook the food from both sides faster than if the item were placed in an oven. I have to admit to being incredibly impressed by not only the speed items are cooked but by the delicious texture some items, particularly chicken seem to have when cooked on a Foreman grill.

Thankfully the cooking times required aren't just guess work and within the instruction manual provided there are guide times and even a few recipes for anything you might want to cook on a Foreman grill. With the arrangement of the grills and the proximity to the food whilst it cooks it also drains out a large amount of the fat whilst it cooks. This fat is then guided away from the cooking food by way of channels to the bottom and into the drip tray provided. This is perhaps one of the most shocking things I've seen from the Foreman grill is just how much fat there is in some of my favourite foods.

This particular grill boasts enough room to cook 10 items at any given time but I found that whilst it didn't reduce the overall cooking performance it did mean the grease from some of the items was running into others. The larger grill space though allows you to spread things out if your cooking less than 10 items and for that reason having the bigger grill works particularly well.

As well as the speed of cooking the taste of the foods is very important and I've eat to cook anything on my Foreman grill that doesn't taste as good, if not better than when they are cooked the normal way. Of course the Foreman isn't just idea for cooking meat it also doubles up as a Sandwich toaster, creating perfect toasted sandwiches and can also be used for Belgian Waffles, although it doesn't remove the fat or grease from either of these.

When you've finished with the grill it is pretty easy to clean up. The surfaces are non-stick and can be wiped clean with relative easy. If there are a few stickier crumbs then the spatula seems to be ideal for getting these loose and then just wiping clean afterwards. The Foreman's design makes it the perfect way to make fast food that little bit healthier. But then anything that can give me a delicious tasting Chicken breast in just 6 minutes will get my vote every time.

Overall I have been incredibly impressed by the George Foreman 14532 grill. It does exactly what it says on the packet and gives you delicious tasting, healthy food in a fraction of the conventional cooking times. It's easy to clean and maintain and touch wood after 3 and a half years of pretty substantial use I've still not had a single technical problem with my grill. At £38.50 from amazon it has decreased significantly since it's original release but when you look at the results and the taste it is money well spent.

Amazon.co.uk - £38.50