Next month our Canadian grandkids are coming to visit so we got a George Foreman Grill to better cater to their tastes. Having a practice with it, and following the cooking time recommendations the food ends up looking a wee bit burnt.
As there are no temperature controls on the grill, is there a bit of kit that can go between the socket and the plug to somehow regulate the amount of heat produced by this contraption?
I remember that it cooks by time as directions shown in the little booklet.
I just pull the plug out for a minute if I want to cook for longer without getting too crispy.
Owain
visit so we got a
Just take the food out when it is cooked to your liking.
All very good and sensible points, thanks. My only (grilling) experience so far has been with chicken breasts. Following the times in the little book we have pink on the inside and black on the outside. I could keep switching the grill on and off at the wall but lower temp cooking would be a more reassuring method.
Might be faulty?
We have a very small George Foreman grill and that cooks well but not too hot.
Thermostat might be defective?
Cheers
Dave R
It surely is timer based, not output from the elements based, a bit like microwaves are. Its a common complaint though about such grills. I don't have one. Brian
Yes, there are power regulators which will do this, but for some reason I can't ever recall them being advertised for public use. I make up my own; they're very useful indeed for all sorts of things and not just heat control. A 555 timer and a triac and away you go. If it's designed properly you can get pretty much infinitely variable heat which when set low is far easier to control for optimum cooking times. The other alternative is you just get used to what you have as it is and learn to live with it. Definitely simpler!
It's obviously too thick. If you "butterfly" the breast it takes five minutes:
===================================================================== To "butterfly" a chicken breast: Place a breast on the work surface, with the top side (the side that would have had the skin attached to it) facing up. Put one hand on top of the chicken breast and take a sharp knife in your other hand. Slice into one side of the breast and keep on slicing through horizontally until you are nearly, but not quite, through to the other side. Now open up the chicken and press the centre flat - it will look like a cross between a butterfly and a love heart. =====================================================================
They have a thermostat that turns the power off and on.
You could try an energy regulator such as one of these
That's what I originally thought I needed. I still do. Thanks.
That will be most helpful. I've been conditioned by the media to minimise the handling of raw chicken. I'm pretty sure I can overcome that.
The timer is the user, after consulting the booklet. I'm looking to cool the element a bit. This machine attacks a chiicken breast like a heavyweight boxer. This is supposed to be a healthy cooking option and it is, apart from all that charred flesh. Napalm would be kindlier and smell better I'm told.
It's only healthy if you still think that fat is the bête noire. (That accolade has passed to sugar.) That's why it's (still) called a "fat reducing health grill"; the fat drains down onto the counter (or the drip tray if you haven't lost it).
I like it for toasted cheese or sausage sandwiches. Very simple. And hot cross buns.
I've never had an issue with steaks, whether meat or fish. But they are usually not more than half an inch thick.
Often in processed low fat food they replace the fat with sugar to make it palatable.
Hat tip to Fredxx who suggested it to me a few months ago.
I've got one on order. Combining this and going for a slimmer chicken should do the trick.
It does great cheese and onion toasties. Tilting the grill so that it is more horizontal stops the cheese running out of the bottom. I also split chicken breasts for fear of undercooking , taking care to wash the knife immediately .
Brian
For toasted cheese sandwiches you just put slabs of cheddar between slices of bread and put them in the grill for 4 minutes. No need for butter.
Much easier than the dedicated sandwich grills. I had use of one and the bread had to be just the right size and shape to fit. You had to use grated cheese and put butter on the *outside* for some reason. And the thermostat light worked the opposite way to the usual for some reason: it lit when the element was off. And you couldn't really use the grill for much else than cheese toasties.
For sausage toasties I use Richmond Thin Pork Sausages. I cook them on the grill for 5 minutes (or 7 if you are nervous about undercooked meat), split them lengthways and put them between two slices of buttered bread. Then just put them in the grill for 5 minutes.
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