George Foreman little grill

furrypig · 6 April 2005 at 11:44AM

Found a George Foreman grill reduced to £12.99 in my local Sainsburys and bought it.

Not sure if I will use it much or not so thought I would ask your opinion as to whether or not you use yours lots, which might help me to decide if I should return it or not!

Any help/opinions/likes or dislikes appreciated!!;)

Ps still haven't bought a slow cooker since the recommended Morphy Richards sold out on Tesco and Amazon, so any other recommendations for these would be good and maybe I'll get my grill money back and join the slow cooker gang!!

Curry_Queen · 6 April 2005 at 12:02PM

I recently got the Big George grill for a bargain price of £30 (when Boots had their discount day) and I have to say I absolutely love it

It takes up a fair amount of room on the worktop (but so does my slow cooker and bread maker, all of which live on top of the fridge/freezer in their boxes with only room to use one at a time

) but I find I use most of the space in the grill, even though there's only two of us, as I'll do veggies and burger buns or pita breads at the same time

It's amazing to see how much fat, and water :eek:, comes out of certain meat and meat products, which all drips off into a tray below. It's certainly convinced me never to buy burgers again and I make my own now, which produces no fat at all

I also noticed that Powter's Newmarket sausages don't produce any fat either, which is great as they're one of my fav sausages

Queenie · 6 April 2005 at 12:23PM

When others reply, could they please also explain to me (a non convert to GF grills) how they are better than using the grill on your cooker?

I take the point about the fat and water, but, I get all that out when I grill usually anyway (I have never been much of a one to fry food and have always used the grill).

TIA

Luis · 6 April 2005 at 12:58PM

I have only bought my GF grill since coming on here and I love it.

It is helpful to me, as when I bought my cooker, I was living on my own post-divorce, and could only afford a cheapy - so you cannot use the grill and oven at the same time - obviously now there are 2 of us (and sometimes his 2 kids too), now I have the GF I can use this when using the oven, saving all the previous juggling.

Other advantages - it is very quick at cooking things, it is easy to clean, it is fascinating looking at all the fat (and yes, water, gross) coming out, and so far, I seem to be able to leave it to it's own devices when it's on (no need to turn things you see - except sausages). Plus also, it doesn't set the bl**dy smoke alrm off every 5 mins like my grill does lol.

It also makes a mean toasted sandwich.

jaimeo · 6 April 2005 at 1:13PM

kicks !!!!!! mainly because you can whack stuff in it. close the lid for X mins and its guaranteed to be cooked.

sausages were a nightmare to cook for me, especially under the grill. The george does them perfectly every time.

have you got a bun warmer on top? if so, cook veggies in george, transfer to bun warmer while you cook whatever meat you want.

by the time the meat is done the veggies will taste like you slow roasted the,

mmmmmmm

r.mac_2 · 6 April 2005 at 1:29PM

well, I was given a medium sized one as a present and I have to say I am really less than impressed.

I have tried a number of different foods on the grill and even that hasn't convinced me!

Meat tends to get too 'squashed' in my opinion, and chicken breasts are best left far away from Mr Foreman's invention. Yuck - cast iron grill pan, or cooker grill makes the meat much more appealing to look at, as doesn't dry it out the same and generally taste nicer.

You can do a version of roasted veg on the grill, which was OK, but as this is the kind of thing I would cook when the oven was on anyway, so using a seperate appliance just uses more power. Still prefered the oven roasted veg taste wise.

I still have it, but it only ever comes out for toasted sandwiches. The coating on the grill means that you don't have to butter the bread so it's slightly healthier. They are nice, but an occassional treat at weekends. £12.99 is a lot for a sandwich toaster!

Personally, I would invest the money in something else, although, honestly, I am not really a fan of 'gadgets' and would suggest putting it towards a cooker upgrade???! lol

hope this helps :beer:

mrsmab59 · 6 April 2005 at 1:46PM

I have a small George Foreman for two of us so I use the bun warmer on the top to keep anything warm while other things are being grilled. Next time round I would get the largest size grill. The bun warmer is also excellent for warming up pittah bread if you don't like the crunchy bits that you get from toasting it.

My only gripe is that I think I've been a bit too vigorous in my cleaning of the grill, so much of the non stick coating has been scrubbed off

I still use it regularly though and meat etc cooks just fine...but it's getting harder and harder to clean now. My son says he wipes his grill while it's still very warm with kitchen roll and his is still like new.

malolo · 6 April 2005 at 2:06PM

I think my George Foreman grill is great... I've never had any problems with any food that I've cooked on it and I've always found that it's cooked thoroughly but not to the point where it's dry and unpalatable. It's convenient because I can just put some food in and not worry about having to turn it so I can get on with other things. I also find it really quick and easy to clean... I tend to wipe the majority of the residue out before it's had the chance to cool and stick.

The amount of fat and water that comes out of some things is truly shocking but is at the same time somehow fascinating... I find myself being stupidly smiley at the knowledge that it's lying in the little plastic tray rather than clogging up my arteries.

Also, as Luis said, it makes great toasted sandwiches in a matter of minutes.

Curry_Queen · 6 April 2005 at 2:07PM

mrsmab59 wrote:

My son says he wipes his grill while it's still very warm with kitchen roll and his is still like new.

This is the only way to clean any non-stick surface, be they grills, pans or woks!!! Never, ever use soap or detergents as they damage the suface and food will stick to them then. Also, after a few uses the surface becomes seasoned making them even easier to cook and clean in

... I have a 15 year old wok that still looks and cooks like new and has never seen a drop of washing-up liquid

Queenie, I agree that you can use a regular grill to do exactly the same job, but as others have already mentioned, you can put food on and leave it to cook on it's own (great for someone like me that forgets I've put something on to cook until the smoke alarm goes off!) and it also takes less time as it's being cooked from both sides at the same time so doesn't dry meat out like regular grills can.

For example, I cooked a couple of substantial sized pork chops in 9 minutes on the GF grill and they were cooked through perfectly and very succulent. Had I put them under the grill (or in the oven) they'd have taken at least 20 mins and the meat would have been much drier.

And anyway, the grill compartment of my cooker is where I store all my baking sheets and roasting tin so I just had to go and buy a GF grill to use instead :rotfl:

Curry_Queen · 6 April 2005 at 2:13PM

malolo wrote:

I also find it really quick and easy to clean... I tend to wipe the majority of the residue out before it's had the chance to cool and stick.

Yup, much easier to wipe off if it's warm but if you're anything like me that often leaves the kitchen in a mess for several hours after eating

all you need to do is switch it back on for a minute to warm the plates (but not get too hot) and give it a quick wipe over and bob's ya uncle

System · 6 April 2005 at 2:17PM

I hate cleaning mine, and i have never used the bunwarmer, what a complete and utter waste of time that was. I moan about it everytime i use it, but to see the amount of fat comes out of my food is trully amazing. i agree about food being a bit flat though, but i dont care as long as its good for my health. It isnt as messy as the normal cooker grill i find and you dont get splashed with fat off the food.