George Foreman's Liposuction For Hamburgers
 Jul 8th, 2003
(Jul 9th, 2003)
Advantages:
Extracts huge amounts of fat . Cheap to run
Disadvantages:
Everything gets the 'brown - stripe' treatment .
Recommendable:
Yes
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Quite why an ex-heavyweight boxer should be endorsing a range of kitchen gadgets is a mystery, now ‘Wozza’s’ range of kettles, toasters etc I can relate to, but a boxer’s? Anyway, be that as it may, George Foreman does endorse kitchen gadgets, and good ones they are, if my experience of the ‘Lean Mean Fat-Reducing Grilling Machine’ is anything to go by.
Still, it could have been worse - it could have been George Formby. ‘Eeeee, this bacon’s turned out nice again!’
‘I’m sitting on the worktop,
Next to the microwave,
Until a certain little banger comes by,
Oh grill, not fry,
Until a certain little sausage comes by…..’ …..but I digress.
APPEARANCE On first exit from the box, you appear to have bought an overgrown sandwich toaster, since it consists
of two platens, the first forming the base, and the second forming a hinged lid. The design differs in three ways from a sandwich machine. Firstly, it’s considerably larger than the demands of even the largest slice of bread, secondly, it’s tilted down towards the front, and thirdly there’s the ‘bun warmer’ on top of the lid.
I tried dropping my shorts and sitting on it, and do you know, they’re right, it IS only big enough for one bun. Joking apart, the most significant feature of this grill is the fact that it has a permanent down-hill slant to it’s Teflon ® coated grilling surfaces. These are also heavily ribbed, particularly at the bottom, where the ends curl up like a ski jump to stop sausages rolling out!
At the bottom of the ‘hill’ sits a separate tray, ready to catch any fat that runs away during the grilling process. They (Salton, not Mr. & Mrs. Foreman) give you two trays, to allow for one to be encarcerated in the dishwasher just when you need to grill something. You are warned to put these only in the top tray of the washer.
The main bodywork is a silver-painted metal casting, which adds a certain ‘gravitas’ to its feel. I dislike anything, which has an unholy combination of heating elements and plastic construction. I’m reminded constantly of my sandwich maker, which went an unhealthy brown after heavy use and stayed that way, like a heavy smoker’s fingertips. The angle of tilt can be altered, by adding extenders to the rear feet. Ours only came with one (thanks Debenhams!), instead of a pair. Frankly at the moment, we’re not too bothered, since the current angle seems fine.
USING IT Curiously, there is no on-off switch. Any turning on/off is strictly an ‘at-the-socket’ job. There is a neon light, which is ON when the machine is BELOW working temperature and extinguishes when it is hot enough. This seems a curious arrangement, since there is no indication that it is hot when it really is, only when it nearly is! Whilst this may sound a trifle dodgy, the outer case (i.e. the silvery bits) don't get very hot anyway - you'd have to feel inside towards the platens to hurt yourself, but I agree it's just the kind of thing that a toddler might be able to do!
The hinges of the lid can extend to allow for thicker items of up to 1" (2 cms approx)to be grilled, large sausages for example. The ribbing of the grill platens doesn’t actually touch even under normal circumstances, so the extra flexibility afforded by the hinges is adequate headroom for most of the items you’d normally grill. Don't worry about anything slightly over-sized, as long as it's a bit 'squashable' and you don't mind it having brown stripes on it when done. I won’t dwell too long on what it can do, since this depends entirely on your own tastes in grilling. Thus far, we’ve grilled sausages, bacon and marinated chicken breast, all to our satisfaction, although of course, the occasional peek inside is needed to check for progress. Not everything grills in the same time span. Inevitably, everything that comes into contact with the ribs gets the ‘brown stripe’ treatment on both sides when it emerges. Thinner items are only striped on the underside.
The instruction book gives you a chart of suggested grilling times for different foods. For example, a half-inch thick pork chop should get 5 to 6 minutes, whilst a cheese sandwich gets the Foreman treatment for a mere 2 to 3 minutes. What is amazing is the amount of fat, which drains off, sausages being a prime culprit. Whilst this looks pretty revolting, congealing in its tray, at least it’s contained and ready for disposal, and more to the point, at least you didn’t eat it!
Anyone with a medical reason for eating grilled meat could do far worse than get one of these. They are easy to use, and furthermore, easy to clean after (unlike our grill pan, which despite our best efforts to line it with foil, always ends up looking revolting). NITTY-GRITTY
There is only the one temperature setting (i.e. ON!) and the machine takes 750 watts of electricity, therefore, in 1 hour 20 minutes, it would use one unit of electricity. I can’t think of many circumstances when it would need to be on that long, except perhaps during a rained-off barbecue, AFTER the 50 guests have turned up! Compared to the grill in an electric cooker this is pretty damned economical, due in part, I suspect to the fact that both sides of the food get grilled at the same time, and there is little space between the hot surfaces and the food, therefore, little heat is wasted escaping into the kitchen.
Marketted by Salton, expect to pay around £30 for the grill, which comes with the drip-trays and a ‘comb’ for cleaning the worst of the debris from the Teflon runners afterwards, leaving only a wipe with kitchen roll to get it clean. We also bought some wooden tongs to allow for picking up the items (they shouldn't need turning over) without scratching the Teflon ®.
Well, I’m off to warm my buns if anyone’s interested – I’ll warm yours if you’ll warm mine.
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25.10.2003 17:28
I've put on a few pounds over the last couple of years, and bought one of these. I can't say I'm any slimmer, but have to say I can't believe the amount of fat that ends up in the drip tray and not me!! - Has to be a good thing!
29.07.2003 02:40
Hi. We bought one of these a few months ago and now we hardly eat anything unless it's grilled! We love it! Excellent op.-very well-written and informative. Take care, love, Stace.x
28.07.2003 09:57
Sounds ideal for the Atkins Diet, or am I supposed to eat fatI can't remember?