Meet my new man! (George Foreman Grills)

Member Name: blonde_girl774

Product:	George Foreman Grills
Date:	03/11/05 (827 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Easy to use, easy to clean, cooks quickly, reduces fat drastically.

Disadvantages: Bit bulky to store easily.

Let me introduce to you the new man in my life, his name is George, he’s absolutely wonderful and a perfect dream in the kitchen. Oh and did I mention that he’s a grill?

I bought my George Foreman grill back in September to take back to University with me; my parents thought it might encourage me to eat more healthily and to avoid ringing up my local takeaway quite so often. The product’s actual name is a George Foreman Lean Mean Fat Reducing Grilling Machine which is exactly what it is. The packaging of the grill estimates that cooking using this will cut down the food’s fat content by 50% which is quite an achievement really. It cooks the food in a way that reduces the fat content drastically making it a much healthier and often nicer tasting dish to eat.

Appearance

The cooking plates of the grill itself are black in colour with ridges running down and evenly spaced in order for the fat to run out of the grill. The coverings of the grill are a silver chrome colour which say George Foreman on top and have a light to indicate when the grill has heated up. The actual grill measures 10 inches in width and 14 inches in length while the machine itself measures 14 inches in width and 16 inches in length. This is the largest one available in the George Foreman range and there are multiple smaller ones obtainable. Also included in the box are two small spatulas to allow you to turn your food over as well as two drip trays to be placed at the bottom of the grill. As the grill is on a slight angle all the fat from the food will drip into the dips on the cooking plates and run off into the drip tray. It’s really not pleasant to look in the drip tray after a couple of uses of the grill!

Cooking

After plugging the grill into a power supply the red light will come on to inform you that the grill is heating up, it normally takes about 3-4 minutes for it to turn to green and then you’re ready to cook. The light will then go on and off as the thermostat monitors the temperature of the grill so don’t worry about the grill cooling down at all. Food should always be cut quite thinly to ensure thorough cooking and it’s recommended that food is no more than an inch thick, of course this isn’t always possible when cooking fairly thick items such as steak so just ensure that you allow a little extra time for them. Once you’ve placed your food on the bottom cooking plate merely close the grill and allow your food to cook. Luckily there’s no need to turn the food over half way through as both plates are equally hot. The hinge of the grill is designed so as to cope with oddly shaped food; don’t worry if the top plate isn’t always flat down on the food. And that’s really all there is to it, once your food is cooked removed it from the grill and enjoy!

With regards to what you can cook on the George Foreman it’s really no different to any other grill. It’s suitable for all types of meat and fish and can even be used to cook toasted sandwiches, vegetables or fruit. In the past I’ve cooked everything from a piece of steak to onions and sausages to cheese! In the instructions booklet there’s a rough guideline given for the majority of foods as to cooking time but I’ve found that for the majority of foods less than 10 minutes is plenty. As a typical rule you can half the time the food would normally take to cook under the grill as you’ve not got to turn the food over and the heat is much more concentrated.

Cleaning

I’ve always had a problem with washing up and cleaning up after myself, I’ve just never really been able to do it. I bought a sandwich maker and had to throw it out after about two months through lack of cleaning, purely as it was such a pain to clean. The beauty of the George Foreman grill is that cleaning is kept to a minimum at all times. Before cooking your food it’s important that you spray the cooking plates with an oil spray or wipe with butter to ensure that food doesn’t stick to the plates. Once your food is cooked and the plates have cooled off slightly, usually takes about ten minutes, you can then just wipe the cooking plates clean using warm water (or warm soapy water) and place the drip trays in the dishwasher. If you do let it cool before cleaning it then hot water usually removes all grease that’s left on, if not a bit of spray of an oil spray tends to shift hard to remove marks. It’s really as easy as that, I’d say that cleaning time takes a maximum of two minutes and that includes running the water to clean it with. It’s magic!

My Opinion

In all honesty I can say that it was a blessing, there’s not a day goes by when my housemates or I don’t cook something on the grill. I tend to use it about 4-5 times a week as it’s just so versatile, certainly worth its money! You can cook multiple items at once as all juices and fats run off there’s no risk of non-vegetarian food being contaminated by meat that you may also be cooking at the same time. I bought my large George Forman on special offer from Comet for £34.99 but it can also be found at Tesco for £40.56. Smaller versions start off at £19.99 for one half the size of my one. There also normal grills available without the fat reducing speciality which start at £19.99 too.

So if you’re short of a man in your life at the moment then look no further than your very own George Foreman!

Summary: A new fat-reducing grill from George Foreman.

Processing/Quality:
Reliability:
Ease of use:
Noise:
Quality: