I just got one of these things to replace my Foreman and electric skillet but have one question about it.
What’s the difference between the the griddle and the grill setting?
If you choose the griddle setting both plates warm up and you choose the temp between 250-450.
If you choose the grill setting again both plates warm up but you choose a temp between warm and high/sear. According to their website warm is 150 and sear is 450.
Since the temp ranges are so close, does the griddle vs. grill selector even matter?
I just got one as a bridal shower gift.
The difference is, obviously, that one side is a griddle and one side is a grill. You griddle, say, pancakes. You grill grilled stuff. Puts nice lines on it and all, keeps meat from sitting in grease, use it as a panini press, etc.
She’s not asking about the differences in the plates, but about the dials.
I have one, which I love, but I couldn’t tell you the difference either. Perhaps the grill setting has to put out more heat to get the same temp as the griddle, since there is more metal to heat?
I think there’s two different heating elements. Each controlled by a different dial.
I noticed in my Cuisinart recipe book they always ignore one of the dials. Pancakes they say to set the griddle dial. Steak - set the grill temp. For steak you start at the hottest temp, Sear. that gets the nice stripes on the meat. Then after the first minute cooking you dial back to medium.
One bizarre thing. I’ve cooked several ribeye steaks on my grill and never found one drop of grease in the slide out tray. Its not leaking on the counter either. A grease-less steak? All I know is it gets them medium (little pink inside) in 7 1/2 mins.
Oh, yeah, I’ve assumed that the grill plates have to get hotter (and they don’t have specific temp markers) to heat the food as fast.
Chicken cutlets last night in 5 minutes!
I believe the way it works is, use the temperature dial on the left when the middle knob is set to griddle. Use the temperature dial on the right when the middle knob is set to grill/panini
I hope this helps, Cuisinart doesn’t make it clear. It’s possible I’m wrong.
No, doesn’t help. Why have two different temp control dials when they do the same thing? It would be like having two seperate throttles on a motorcycle you can toggle between. One attached to a speedometer marked with a mph range, the other to a speedometer with slow-medium-fast markings.
I have a Griddler, and I have no idea. I assume that the temperature range of one of the settings is wider than the other, or that the precision of temperature control is different, but I have no idea what the difference is and the manual doesn’t say.
This is the Cuisinart Griddler grill I have. I’ve used it for 2 years.
set the middle dial to Grill. Ignore the temp dial at the left. It does nothing in Grill mode. For steaks preheat on Sear (dial on the right). I sear steaks for about 2 mins and switch the setting to high.
set the middle dial to Griddle - Ignore the dial at the far right. It does nothing in Griddle Mode. You can select temperatures using the dial on the left. Lower temps for eggs. Maybe 250? Pancakes I’d set around 350. Ham or sausage links I’d set at 425. The recipe book can give you better temp suggestions.
We love the Cuisinart Griddler. Made breakfast on it several times (fried eggs and sausage links). Cooked steaks on it too. We’ve never used the Panini mode.
Yes, but what is the actual difference between “Griddle” and “Grill/Panini” mode, other than the fact that you use the left dial to set the temperature in “Griddle” mode, and the right dial to set the temperature in “Grill/Panini”? You are heating up the same plates with the same heating elements either way.
Exactly. The machine is not that complex. It’s got two heating elements. Both turn on in both “modes”. The griddle mode does the same thing as the grill/panini mode. You just use a different dial with different markings to control the temp.
They could have easily just had an on/off switch and one dial.
I guess it has two different temperature sensors? The sensor is attached to the griddle plate and shuts off the heating element when it’s the right temp. If it’s only got one sensor then yes, I’d agree that extra dial is kind of silly.
I haven’t looked that closely but that’s what I’d expect to see. The grill function should get hotter (especially on sear) than the griddle.