On vacation recently we stayed at a rented condo that had an indoor electric grill mounted in the stovetop. This was an early 1980s vintage Jenn-Air model. It had a vent with a fan next to it that started automatically, and it was big enough to grill a couple of steaks, or whatever. I had never used one before. My only information about these things was from a friend whose opinion I trust who once lived in a house that had one, and she said that they weren’t worth the trouble, that the results one got from grilling on one weren’t worth the expense, etc. It seems to me that it could be worthwhile, especially if like me you live in a climate where you maybe wouldn’t want to step outside to grill some months of the year.
As for my experience, I guess I got slightly better results from the grill than if, say, I had slapped the steaks in the broiler instead, but they were definitely not as good as I could have done outside on a real fire. One huge drawback to this gadget from my point of view was that it wiped out space for two burners on the stove, leaving one only two to cook with. Not a huge handicap on vacation, but I couldn’t live like that at home. So do people who have one have it in addition to a normal cooktop? Sounds expensive. What has been your experience?
I have one of the small George Foreman grills, and I love it. It’s better than cooking in the broiler - less hassle, less mess - and it’s cheaper than buying a real grill for outside. It’s very, very easy to use, and it’s not terribly expensive. Also, mine takes up very little space on the counter, and it’s built at an angle so that the fat drips down the ridges into a little plastic catcher. Yum, yum.
I used one of those George Foremans one time and wasn’t too impressed. I felt like I could get similar results putting the steak in the toaster, or holding a hot iron on it for a while. I know they are very popular, though. They seem to be especially popular with men over the age of 55, for some reason. For me they just lack panache.
No one else? I thought we had some serious grill jockeys on these boards.
I had a small indoor grill I used when living in an apartment (BBQs were not allowed for fire safety reasons). I found that when I used it, the taste was better than frying or broiling, but not as good as a real BBQ. The model I had included a tray you filled with water, and the fat would drip into that, which saved on clean up quite a bit. The grill surface itself was non-stick, which was easy to clean too.
Of course, as soon as I bought a house, I got a regular BBQ, and sold the electric grill (I don’t mind BBQing in the winter, so there was no point in keeping it).
George Foreman grills looked pretty cheesey when I first saw them on TV infomercials, but I got one as a gift a few years back, and I use it regularly. It’s very handy, and cleans up easily.
I had an indoor grill that sounds a little like what evilhomer had. A ceramic square, a heating element and a rack on top. Meat took FOREVER to cook on the blame thing! I thought it would be a nice alternative to heating up the house by turning on the broiler, but it turned out to be too big a hassle.
Another fan of the George Foreman grills checking in. We used to buy one every semester in college by pooling the money of everyone in the Fraternity. By the end of the semester it would be broken or lost and we would buy another.
That thing would make dinner for 10 several nights a week. Very good little toy, no smoke no mess.
I have several indoor smokeless grills, and they are GREAT! I use them at least twice a week for steak, chicken, fish or veggies. Clean up isn;t too bad because they are non-stick, and it’s a hell of a lot easier than firing up the BBQ and going through that whole ritual.
Costco/Price Club is a good place to find them, that’s where I got mine.
I got a George Foreman grill as part of promo freebie at work, kind of a substitute for real Christmas bonuses. 4-burger model, no temp control.
It’s good for grilling chicken breasts or portobello mushrooms in a hurry with easy clean-up.
It’s messy, but it’s also good for fajitas. Grill the meat pre-cut into strips and remove, put the peppers and onions on, grill slightly, pour you left over marinade over them, cook for another couple of minutes. But be prepared to deal with lots of juice runoff, usually three to four trays full.
To me steaks came out tough, hamburgers were too dry or too raw, and hot dogs were a half-cooked joke.
I still use it some, but I get much more use out of my oven broiler.
I’m a George Foreman fan, too. Makes great grilled cheese sandwiches in addition to steaks, burgers, shrimp, etc! Don’t do thick lamb chops, however. It’s impossible to cook them well.
To make the grill surfaces even easier to clean, we pour a cup of water over the grill plates as soon as the grilling is done. Let the water drip into the drip tray. It loosens the major sticky stuff and all you need to do is wipe with a paper towel after the surface cools down
One bad thing, though, is that I get mystery dripping underneath the grill. I always have to lay down a section of newspaper underneath the grill to catch the mystery grease. But that’s easy enough to toss!
Actually, the one I had wasn’t that slow about cooking meat. And I don’t remember a ceramic square either. It consisted of a heating element, on top of which sat a non-stick grill, and underneath the element was a tray you put water in to catch the drippings. The one EJsGirl describes sounds a lot like the one I had (I even got it at Costco).