Friday, April 15, 2011

Giorgio Foreman Cooked My Lunch

If you have one of those stupid meat "waffle iron" cookers, use it for hot sandwiches.
I got my little George for free when I worked at a newspaper. Swag was supposed to liberate me from my ethics, and lure me into writing wonderful things (aka unpaid advertorial, look it up) for the George Foreman Grill. Whatever it's called.
But really, would you trust a mangle to give you good steaks? Because that's all this thing is, a laundry press. With groovy griddle ridges inside.
Cook meat the way god intended, over fire. Flatten hot sandwiches the way god intended, in a small electrical appliance.
This flattened ham and cheese sandwich was decorated with homemade mustard and homemade pear chutney. Not bad, not bad a' tall!
It didn't cook long enough; the groovy stripes didn't turn toasty-dark, and not all the cheese melted. Someone in the kitchen was hungry, someone in the kitchen I know.
Well, that would have been mostly cosmetics, anyway. This tasted great, nonetheless.
Still, what a dirtbag machine.
No! Repurpose, repurpose, repurpose.
It's a tool for making panini, you ninny. Fancy! Stravagante.

21 comments:

Denise | Chez Danisse said...

I'm curious about this homemade pear chutney. Recipe?

cookiecrumb said...

Oh, Denise (ooby-doo): You know I don't do recipes here... So sorry. But take a recipe you like and sub pears for the fruit. Here's a great example:
http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Tomato-and-Apple-Chutney-105230

Very close to what I did (I didn't USE a recipe), though there were no raisins in mine. You just want to get it tasting like you think it should. Remember, it concentrates when it cooks, and gets stronger. :)

Denise | Chez Danisse said...

Okay, this link is bringing back memories. Thanks. I've made plum chutney, but it has been a while. Actually...I think I still have some in the cupboard. I need to pop one open.

cookiecrumb said...

Denise: Good, I'm glad it helps.
I'll have plums in a few months, too. They'd be great with pears. I also have prunes from those plums; might be even yummier.
Get goin'.

cookiecrumb said...

PUT ON THEM BOXING GLOVES, OBAMA, THERE'S A GOOD FELLOW

Kalyn Denny said...

I've only found one thing it's good for, and that's cooking bacon (all the fat runs down to the little tray and bacon gets nice and crisp.) Okay, two now that you've shown me that it can be a panini maker!

cookiecrumb said...

Why, Kalyn of all fabulous people! Bacon, no never thought of that. This is Trade Ideas Day. Thank you for that one. I'll have to find the drip catcher, but I think I know where it OUGHT to be. :)

kudzu said...

Love today's post --- perfetto! There's an upbeat quality to it that tells me spring is in your air.

Ms Brown Mouse said...

We have a sarni press, with ridges. I HATE cleaning it. So it sits in a cupboard.

cookiecrumb said...

Kudzu: Gee, thanks, really. Funny stuff. And so much room to grow.
Sounds like I feel better? Love to you.

Mouse: I cleaned the press today. Cranky thought he cleaned it, but he was just rubbing dryly in circles, missing all the grease. Dig it out, fun.

Nancy Ewart said...

Oh the G-D, G.F. grill! I hate those things. I found one of the small ones on sale years ago. I used it a few times and realized what a b**(&ch it was to clean. It was so old that you could not detach the grill portion and it quickly picked up flavors that I wanted to keep separate. Off it went to the Salvation Army and I gratefully returned to my old, trusty cast iron skillet with the grill ridges.

cookiecrumb said...

Nancy: Oh, my, the GD GF grill picked up flavors? I'm horrified. Ours has teflon/metal plates. The plastic casing doesn't smell bad, but you do have to clean the outside as much as the inside after you use it...
Sorry yours didn't work out. I actually kind of like mine, though the bohemian cynic in me is not supposed to.
:D

Nancy Ewart said...

My GF grill was so old that you couldn't detach the grill part and clean up separately. Obviously, I couldn't submerge the electric part in water and the grill part wasn't accessible enough to clean thoroughly.

But I agree with Kalyn - it was great for cooking bacon and if I had more room in my kitchen, I'd buy another one and just use it for that.

Zoomie said...

Seems that this is another piece of American culture that I missed somehow... happy grilling!

cookiecrumb said...

Nancy: Mine's not detachable either, but it opens wide like a clam shell, and just wipes clean-ish. Always a little pall of grease remains...
Storage for kitchen items! Do you have a balcony? :D

cookiecrumb said...

Zoomie, I swear I never would have bought one. Even resisted using it until I thought of sandwiches, a couple of years after I brought it home.
But are you saying you've never heard of them?

Greg said...

Someone's in the kitchen with cookie!Oh yep you got me singing in my head. Time to up the medication:)Sandwiches are hot!

cookiecrumb said...

Greg: Thanks for the kind mention on your blog. I loved your sandwich, and am currently looking up Christopher Ranch. Ha!

cookiecrumb said...

PUT THE BOXING GLOVES ON, OBAMA, THERE'S A GOOD FELLOW

Zoomie said...

I think I saw an ad for them once, with George the First smiling at the camera, but have never to my knowledge eaten anything cooked in one.

cookiecrumb said...

Zoomie: Funny. You probably don't want to get one.