Top positive review
5.0 out of 5 stars10X the Price of Other Grills . . . Is it worth it?
Reviewed in the United States on June 3, 2016
I have been a fan of George Foreman grills for a long time, and hence I was a little taken aback by the price of this one, which is 10X the price of an entry level George Foreman, so the obvious question is, it is worth it.
I have put the unit through its paces, and have been very impressed. First, I should say right off the bat that I purchased the extra ribbed grill plate. Call me old fashioned, but I like grill marks on both sides of my food, and I really did not plan on using the flat plate. Hence, most of my testing was with the ribbed plate on top and bottom.
The first thing I notices was how quickly the unit comes up to temperature. I like to chargrill/sear meat, and after plugging in and turning on, the unit was up to 450 degrees in a matter of minutes. My first test was Gyro patties. I had almost two pounds of ground lamb, which I portioned into 6 patties. The fat content of the meat was fairly high . . . 20%, so this was a good test to see if spattering was going to be a problem. When I put the almost 2 pounds of ground lamp onto the grill, and closed the lid, the unit came back to full temperature quickly. I took at peak inside at 4:00 minutes, and meat was nicely seared on both sides, and it looked fully cooked. I left it on for another two minutes, and the meat was nicely well done with impressive chargrill marks on both sides. So for two pounds of meat, it was perfectly done in about six minutes. I did a test where I put one gyro patty on by itself, and it was completely cooked at about 4 minutes.
While I love my wife, she is a little bit of a Kitchen Nazi, and I take my life into my hands when I cook something, especially something that might generate a greasy mess in her kitchen. I must say I was extremely pleased to see virtually no splatter cooking with this thing, with the lid down. Again, the meat I was cooking was fairly high fat lamb. and cooking two pounds, the meat was getting close to the edge of the grill on all sides. So, this was pretty much a worst case test, and almost no splatter at all.
Cleanup was a snap. The grill plates snap right off. They are listed as "Dishwasher Safe", but I would never risk that. I washed them by hand, which took just a couple of minutes, hand dried them with a soft towel, and then put them back safely on the unit. Understand that is no such thing as a rugged non-stick surface, and to be happy with this unit, like all fine things, you must be very careful cleaning, handling and cooking on the non-stick surface. Use only soft spatulas, and no metal against them. Be careful washing them as well. The grill plates are relatively expensive, and I dont want to have to replace them for years, so I am being very careful with them.
The food I have cooked on the grill has turned out perfectly. The unit is easy to use, easy to clean up, does not make a mess while you are cooking and cooks meat FAST. The meat can be cooked with pronounced chargrill marks, if that is what you are after. Of course, you can turn the temp down and get more of a slow roast effect, but I like the chargrill marks, and associated char flavor.
OK, the big question . . . was it worth it. What I like about this unit is that it gets the grill plates hot, and keeps them hot even if you put a big load of cold meat on them. The second thing is it has a very large cooking area. Like I say, I cooked six large portions of ground lamb in one cooking, so you can cook for a fairly large group with it.
So, as a fairly serious cook, I think these two features make it worth the money. I do love the little George Foreman grills and still have several, but I musts say that I am very pleased with the Breville, and can suggest it to anyone wanting to take their indoor grilling to the next level.
OK, a couple of minor quibbles. I think shipping the unit with one flat and one ribbed grill plate is the worst of both worlds, and was stung a little by having to pay an extra $50 because I wanted top and bottom with ribbed plate. With these really high prices, Breville should offer the purchaser the option of which plates they want, two smooth, or two ribbed, or one each.
Again, even though this unit is expensive, I think it is worth it, and I am pleased to own it, and recommend it to other serious cooks.
