Advanced Features, a Few Unavoidable Problems

Hi there, it's your friendly neighbourhood Cuisinart groupie here and I love using this grill/griddle!!

My first contact grill was an older Foreman grill which was OK if you watched your food as it cooked to ensure you didn't overcook it on the one heat setting it had. Eventually the non-stick coating started flaking off so I had to discard it.

Then I tried an Ultrex grill from Home Shopping Network, which was a little better because the cooking plates were removable, making it much easier to clean, but again...the non-stick coating started flaking off. I also still had to baby-sit it to prevent overcooking because of lack of variable temperature control.

When I asked HSN’s customer service dept. about replacing the flaking grill plates, they gave me an 800 number to call and Ultrex wanted about 50 dollars to replace them. Considering how soon the last set starting flaking after I’d bought it, I was reluctant to buy them.

So, just as I was about to try one of the newer Foreman grills, I found out about the Cuisinart Griddler and it was like someone had asked me exactly what I would want in a contact grill.

It has temperature control that goes from 200 to 425 degrees on the griddle and from warm to sear on the grill so I can cook fish, chicken, and vegetables at a lower temperature (FINALLY!). It has one set each of removable, and simple-to-change grill and griddle plates for easy cleaning, it can be used as a contact grill, panini maker, or opened out to use as a griddle or hibachi type grill. I couldn’t do any of this with the previous grills I’ve had. You just press the button on the side of the lower part to release the lower plate and do the same on the upper half. The plates snap in easily once you get the hang of it.

The lid has a floating hinge to accommodate thicker foods easily and a handle to make pressing those panini (pressed grilled sandwiches) a snap!

There are two cups to catch rendered fats from food (you use one at a time) but if one is in the dishwasher (or just full) you can use the second one or if you have a teacup with a low enough profile, you can use that as well.

You can purchase new grill plates if need be right on their web site, though the griddle plates are $30.00 each and the grill plates are $32.50 each top and bottom, about half the price of the whole unit, but still better than buying a new grill. (I’ve had my grill now for almost a year and the non-stick coating is still completely intact.)

The power cord is fairly short, about 3 feet, but this is intended as a safety feature, to prevent entanglement in or tripping over a long cord. The manual, however, does state that there is no problem with using an extension cord if that's what you want to do.

The 11.5 x 9 inch cooking surface (doubled if the unit is used opened out) is a good size for singles, couples or possibly a family of 4, but I wouldn't recommend it for larger families or those big Sunday morning breakfasts unless you were using it in tandem with another cooking appliance or your stove. The surface area, opened out can handle two normal sized pancake or about 6 to 8 silver dollar pancakes at once, or closed, it can cook 4 normal sized hamburgers at once.

Which brings me to the downside. The packaging and many ads I’ve seen show the Griddler being used to make sunny-side up eggs. I attempted this and the egg ran right off into the grease cup. I tried again using a higher temperature setting and the egg touching the griddle cooked too fast and the rest ran off. It appears that you have to have your unit perfectly level for this not to occur, so be warned. Personally I’ll stick with my skillet (Cuisinart of course, darling!) for eggs. (It works just fine for pancakes though since the batter isn’t as runny as an egg is.)

I noted in another review here that the user had had some problems with drips and grease spattering out of the sides of the grill. I don’t know of a contact grill that doesn’t do this since they’re all made pretty much the same way. Your best bet is to make sure you’re using any contact grill in an open area and if you have to put a cutting board or some other heat resistant item to protect the table or counter the grill is on. Barring that, you can prevent the drips by opening this grill out and using it as a flat grill but you’ll double your cooking time. The spattering, however, appears unavoidable.

A Culinary Tip: I know a lot of people complain that contact grills dry their meats out, but I have a feeling they’re not completely thawing the meats or fish before cooking and at the same time, not allowing the grill to get sufficiently hot before putting the food on it. This is a sure way to turn perfectly good meat into shoe leather. (The cuisinart grill is great for this because it has a green indicator light that lights up and makes a low clicking noise when it has reached your selected temperature.)

Sear completely thawed meats on both sides at 400 degrees until the meat releases easily from the grill or griddle, lower the heat and finish cooking. Then let the meat rest for 20 minutes before cutting or serving. You’ll never eat shoe leather again…unless you like it that way.

I digress, all in all, the benefits of the newer features on the Griddler far outweigh the unavoidable downfalls and I highly recommend it.

UPDATE 5/29/07: I recently saw some of these grills for sale at Costco and they had plastic chrome lids instead of stainless steel ones. I'm not sure if these were poorly refurbished grills or if Cuisinart has been cutting corners on the newer models (I doubt this). My best guess is the former. Make sure yours has a stainless steel metal lid before you buy.