Teleidoscope

Tue, Jan 30, 2007

New Kitchen Grill

Posted at 11:22 pm MST to Technology

I actually bought my newest kitchen toy, a fancy George Foreman grill, a few weeks ago, but it stayed in exile in my truck at the end of the driveway until I was heading to the airport for my trip to California. Getting stuff from the truck to the house is still a bit of an adventure. I thought it would be inviting trouble to leave it in the back of the truck while the truck was parked in the airport garage, so I hauled the grill into the house before I left.

This isn't my first Foreman grill. I had a medium sized one that I abandoned in the apartment in Boston (it had previously travelled back and forth to Minneapolis and my previous Boston gig as well as being used in Colorado). It had lost some of its non-stick coating and become hard to clean, and was developing a crack in one control button. And I had seen ads for the new grills, which had features I wanted.

The new grill has variable amount of tilt, so it can cook things flat as well as at the classic GF fat-draining angle. It has removable interchangeable grill plates that can go in the dishwasher, and a variable heat control. One of the 'plates' is a shallow pan for baking or cooking things like eggs.

Two of the plates are wafflers, so if I get sent out of town again and take the grill, I will be able to cook different things even in a poorly equipped corp-housing kitchen. Hauling a waffle iron across the country would feel ... extravagant, somehow, and a waste of space. Hauling a couple of spare plates for a multipurpose tool doesn't.

I selected the high end grill model for the washable grill plates and multiple options, but I think the variable heat control will turn out to be one of my favorite features. My favorite thing to grill is salmon filet chunks (which are available at Costco in very convenient packages and at reasonable prices) and the old single-temperature grill tended to overcook the thinner parts of the fish before the heat had time to penetrate the thicker parts. I cooked a salmon chunk for supper last night to try out the new grill, and the medium heat setting cooked it to perfection: tender and juicy throughout, and the cracked pepper wasn't turned scorched and bitter.

This weekend I'll try making waffles using the waffle plates instead of my old waffle iron to see how they do.

And I need to try making panini and using some of the other grill options. I love quesadillas, but I've never made them at home. And grilled cheese that's actually grilled instead of baked in a toaster oven might be nice.

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