I owned a compact version of the George Foreman grill, large enough to cook a big steak on but nothing else. The machine itself is a grill however a good analogy is to a sandwich toaster as it has 2 hot surfaces cooking the meat from both sides, essentially frying it but at an angle so the fat and juices from the meat drip out of the device into a plastic drip tray that comes with the machine. The weight of the machine is quite heavy compared to a sandwich toaster of comparable size and, like a sandwich toaster, it heats up quickly and is ready to use in about 3 minutes.

When I first got the machine I used it to cook steak and chicken breast, after the first few times I used it the food began to taste quite dry and plain perhaps this was because I did not really do much in the way of marinating the meat I was 'grilling'.

The worst aspect of this product is the cleaning. The problem is not so much the machine itself, which is relatively easy to wipe down, but the plastic drip tray the machine comes with, it seems that you can wash it 100 times and it is still greasy and slippery. I personally found this one aspect so annoying that I just stopped using the machine altogether.

By using this product and writing this review I have come to the conclusion that the George Foreman Lean Mean Grilling Machine is the story of how skilful marketing allowed millions of sandwich toasters to be sold as weight-loss devices by an overweight, smiling, ex-boxer, famous for losing a fight.