I got an early Christmas present last week: a Cuisinart Griddler. (See here for the urbanmoms.ca Research Panel's review of the Griddler)
There was a time when I would have looked at the Griddler and thought "why would anyone want that?" But then a friend of mine got one and raved about it. She used it almost every day. And then I bought some ready-made souvlaki skewers, and the cooking instructions had an "indoor grill" option that was much faster than the other methods. It got me thinking and I pulled out my panini press and cooked the souvlaki there. Fast, yes, but the cleanup! A disaster.
So, when the chance to get a Griddler came along, I jumped at it. And, like my friend, I have used it almost every day since I got it over a week ago! I've cooked a lot of chicken breasts on it, and made my souvlaki (in under 10 minutes!) as well. I've made grilled cheese sandwiches for the kids, and grilled panini sandwiches for myself. I've made pancakes; I've made scrambled eggs & ham. I've grilled peppers & onions. About the only thing I haven't made on my new Griddler is soup!
Here is a series of pictures of the Griddler in action, with both sets of plates (griddle and grill):
Now, the instructions that come with the Griddler don't tell you to close the lid on chicken breasts like I did here...that's how you're supposed to cook burgers. But hey, Kitchen Party is all about learning the tricks and shortcuts, so here's one: put the lid down on any meat and it will cook in half the time!
And the best part! I can cook all 12 pancakes at once instead of doing 3 batches of 4 in my frying pan. Woohoo! Hot breakfast just got a whole lot faster!
Just about the only thing that I would like to see added to this product is a set of plates for making waffles (hint, hint, Cuisinart!). But other than that, this appliance (billed as a 4-in-1) can do just about anything you can dream up that otherwise you would have done on a grill (BBQ) or frying pan.
And, in contrast to my old panini-press turned indoor grill (and the infamous souvlaki incident), clean up is a breeze. The Griddler comes with a specially designed plastic scraper that will get in between the raised areas of the grill if anything gets stuck in there. Plus -- and this really is a plus -- the grill/griddle plates come off and -- get this -- GO IN THE DISHWASHER! Unbelievably easy.
So, if there's still some room left on your Christmas list, you might want to tell Santa about this one! In the next little while I plan to try some of the recipes that come with the Griddler (like flank steak - a family favourite BBQ recipe) so stay tuned for more in the weeks to come.
I'm with you, and love, Love, LOVE my Griddler. Besides the coffee pot and my Kitchen Aid stand mixer, it's the only appliance that gets counter top space in my kitchen. I use it almost daily. My kids are hot breakfast fanatics, so pancakes and french toast are a breeze. Hubby likes to grill up hamburgers or turkey bugers, as well as panini's for lunch, and I love to do souvlaki, chicken breasts, indonesian satay, grilled shrip etc...for a quick, healthy supper. I gave my old Hamilton Beach grill the heave-ho when I got my griddler...clean up was so much easier thanks to the removable and dishwasher-able plates.
I'm looking forward to your recipe reviews!
Oh my that is a big ol'freezer of asst animals.I am not a fan of that kind of stuff either,but maybe you can donate it??
Lora, that is an idea I had thought of, but my husband insists he'll eat it. If he hasn't made some headway in the next month or so I think I'll broach the subject of donating again...you can only store this stuff for so long, after all, frozen or not. Thanks for the suggestion!