Flash in the Pan

This is the first time I've had a chance to try one of the George Foreman-branded grills. After trying it a bit, I can largely recommend it. On the plus side, it gets real hot, real fast, and cooking food from both sides speeds the time to meal. A good amount of grease does pour off the grill when you use the built-in tipping stand that causes the hot liquid to roll off the grill and into a receptacle. There are replaceable surfaces, so you can switch from a grill to a quesadilla maker to a baking dish. The surfaces clean up quickly, and we had great luck grilling burgers, pork chops, fish, and vegetables. There is also a lot of space, and you should be able to cook a 1.5 pound, or perhaps larger, steak.

Now for the cons. Be careful how you set the grill, otherwise you might have the grease container at the edge of a counter and accidentally knock it over, spilling a big mess, as I did. If you like rare or medium-rare meat, then this can get tricky. The grill will cook far faster than you're used to because both sides are getting heat simultaneously. Because of the speed, you won't get the same degree of grilling char marks on the surfaces, and if you look for those, a steak or burger will have already sailed into well-done territory. It's still worth using if you're in a hurry or if the surface appearance isn't so important.

We did try the baking dish for a deep-dish pizza, as the marketing lit says is possible, but I wouldn't even bother. The lid keeps the dough compressed, which makes for a heavy pie. I've yet to try it for a frittata, and suspect that will work well. It would also be good if there latches to keep the lid closed when moving it from a cupboard to a surface for cooking and back again. However, it's a fast way to make dinner with a lot less grease. Retail price is about $150.