I’ve had my OptiGrill for about a week now, I too purchased it elsewhere to save money. So far I’m very happy with the purchase. My old grill was a George Foreman, nothing fancy just plug in & grill. Both grills take up about the same amount of counter space. With the Foreman having a larger grilling area (about 13″X9″) than the OptiGrill (about 12″X7 1/2″). I find the added “bells & whistles” of the OptiGrill make it a better cooking experience. I just cooked frozen chicken breasts in about 16 minutes. 5 minutes for the grill to warm up & 11 for the chicken to cook. I like that I can walk away from it & do other things while it cooks. The OptiGrill beeps loud enough I can hear it from another room. With the Foreman I would need to stay close by and check on the food from time to time. That wasn’t much of an issue because I normally cook other things on the stove near by while using the grill. I have however over cooked things on the Foreman because my attention was too focused on the pots & pans & oven. So far the OptiGrill has cooked all my food consistently. I’ve enjoyed well done chicken, pork, & steak that was still juicy inside. I tried a grilled cheese & leaving it in till Well Done made it very flat. I’ve been using a paper towel to wipe a little olive oil on the plates before powering on & my meat has come out with nice char marks every time. I’ve noticed in some of the other reviews people complain about “No Char Marks” & I wonder if it’s because they don’t lightly oil the plates. I’m not so concerned with looks as I am taste, and my food thus far has tasted great. Though I’ve noticed cooking thawed meat tastes better than frozen. Last of all I really like the ease of clean up on the OptiGrill. On the the Foreman I had to let it cool a bit but not too much, then wash it down where it stood on the counter. Careful not to over fill the catch tray or burn my fingers. I found if I let the Foreman cool all the way it was a beast to clean. Despite my best efforts it was often a messy clean up. The OptiGrill has a much larger catch tray and REMOVABLE PLATES. If you don’t buy an OptiGrill make sure the grill you do get has removable plates. There is no more mess left on my counter top after cleaning my OptiGrill. That alone has made the upgrade worth while.
0
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
This review is from: T-fal GC702 OptiGrill Stainless Steel Indoor Electric Grill with Removable and Dishwasher Safe plates,1800-watt, Silver (Kitchen)
Purchased this online just over a week ago. Had a Foreman grill been using awhile. I liked the Foreman grill ok but many times I would overcook my food or the chicken would be a bit dry (probably cause I overcooked it too). The Forman Grill worked well enough. It was the Next Gen version with temp controls. I did like the removable grates which this one has as well. The build quality of the T-Fal is at least 1 order of magnitude better than the Foreman. You can see some of this when you pull the grates or open and close the lid. The grease trap is much larger on the T-Fal. The controls on the T-Fal are fine I would had liked a bit more solid feel to them for the price but they are not bad at all. Just use with some degree of care and feel.
Cooked a 1.5″ thick NY Strip for my 1st cooking. Turned out FANTASTIC! Used Weber Chicago Steak seasoning and PAM high Temp Non stick spray. It cooked the steak to a perfect med rare and fork tender n juicy. I may or may not have made a better steak on my Weber charcoal grill but that takes about 30-45 mins of prep. This prep took 5 mins.
Next I cooked a Frozen chicken breast. Using the same PAM high Temp spray again, set the grill to defrost, poutry and then OK. After a short preheat put the frozen chicken breast on and seasoned it with some Weber kick-n-chicken seasoning . Now doing it this way will take about 3x longer than cooking a chicken breast from thaw. Once it was done I immediately pulled it and cut and tasted it. It was pretty darn good from frozen I will say. Much better than when I use warm water or microwave(microwave thawing I think makes it a little tougher and slightly chewy). By far best same day frozen to done chicken I ever did.
I also cooked a thawed chicken breast. This was a Cilantro Lime pre-marinated breast from Wal-Mart (about $5.98). I set the grill to just poultry – then it preheated a bit longer, sprayed on the PAM High Temp Grill spray and let it rip. It was done a good bit quicker than the frozen and was absolutely marvelous! Very very juicy and fork tender. While the results were “good enough” on the frozen chicken to eat and enjoy cooking from say an overnight thaw should produce excellent results. Anytime you quick thaw something you tend to lose a bit of tenderness in either beef or poultry. I have to say I dont think I have made a chicken breast this good over open flame. While I miss the charcoal twang in the taste just a little, the fork tender and evenly cooked state of the breast is simply fantastic.
I did burgers from Frozen. I used SAMS Choice Jalapeno Black Angus frozen patties. They are 1/3rd pound thick. I used PAM High Temp Grill spray – Turned out perfectly! Now these were tender and juicy unlike poultry ground beef does pretty well from frozen.
My sister came over and made her Salmon on it and LOVED IT! Now if your doing fish DONT use the Pam High Temp cooking spray, Use your normal olive oil or regular spray as I believe the grill presets begin at a lower temp. Use normal olive oil for grilled veggies,shrimp and other stuff.
So what is the huge advantage vs the Foreman? Well in a busy schedule it removes a lot of the guesswork out of the time to grill and uses temp presets ,auto thawing, temp change programming and thickness of the selected item to predetermine time to done. And it really does work great! The only caveat to it and they mention it in the guide is if you want a medium rare steak, you cook it to Medium Rare but then let it sit say 5 minutes before eating it , most likely carryover cooking will take it to more Medium done. So stop your cooking about halfway between the Rare and Medium rare color change as I have started doing, let it sit 5 minutes and it will be perfect.
This is a great grill for a college student, elderly or someone who needs a fast efficient cooking grill that takes a lot of uncertain guesswork out of cooking.
Pros SUPER EASY! Takes a lot of guess work out of cooking meats to desired doneness Efficient – 1800 watts – about the same power as a hairdryer – lot less power than the oven Removable grates – Cleanup isnt bad at all about the same as the Foreman Fairly compact – fits easily and for me permanently on my counter
Cons A little pricey – I paid $89 for my Foreman 4 or 5 years ago. This was about 2x that price Alert beeper – Could be a little louder if your in another room or have noisy kids around Soft Touch Controls – I prefer more solid feeling controls
0
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
First off, let me start by saying that the price on here is messed up. It is about twice as much as on other sites. This can be had for $179.99 at almost any other retailer. Not sure what Amazon is thinking, but they are seriously messed up. That being said, I received this as a Christmas gift, and it works fantastic. Easy to use, easy to clean, and the results are perfect. The cook time is amazingly short too. Once preheated, this little marvel cooked 3, one inch NY strip steaks in under 5 minutes to a beautiful Medium. The results were juicy perfectly cooked steak. I have also made chicken, a panini, and bacon (yes bacon!The slanted cooking surface makes all the fat run off.) This is a wonderful machine a great way to cook fast and healthy meals. I love outdoor grilling but it is way too cold for that where I live in the winter. This definitely is a great substitute, plus, I never have to worry about the meat being under or overcooked. It is perfect every time. If you like grilling, this is a great product at $179.99. Don’t pay more than that though.
0
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
REMOVABLE PLATES,
0
Was this review helpful to you?
|Works as advertised for me..Good results everytime!,
Had a Foreman grill been using awhile. I liked the Foreman grill ok but many times I would overcook my food or the chicken would be a bit dry (probably cause I overcooked it too).
The Forman Grill worked well enough. It was the Next Gen version with temp controls. I did like the removable grates which this one has as well.
The build quality of the T-Fal is at least 1 order of magnitude better than the Foreman. You can see some of this when you pull the grates or open and close the lid. The grease trap is much larger on the T-Fal. The controls on the T-Fal are fine I would had liked a bit more solid feel to them for the price but they are not bad at all. Just use with some degree of care and feel.
Cooked a 1.5″ thick NY Strip for my 1st cooking. Turned out FANTASTIC! Used Weber Chicago Steak seasoning and PAM high Temp Non stick spray. It cooked the steak to a perfect med rare and fork tender n juicy. I may or may not have made a better steak on my Weber charcoal grill but that takes about 30-45 mins of prep. This prep took 5 mins.
Next I cooked a Frozen chicken breast. Using the same PAM high Temp spray again, set the grill to defrost, poutry and then OK. After a short preheat put the frozen chicken breast on and seasoned it with some Weber kick-n-chicken seasoning . Now doing it this way will take about 3x longer than cooking a chicken breast from thaw. Once it was done I immediately pulled it and cut and tasted it. It was pretty darn good from frozen I will say. Much better than when I use warm water or microwave(microwave thawing I think makes it a little tougher and slightly chewy). By far best same day frozen to done chicken I ever did.
I also cooked a thawed chicken breast. This was a Cilantro Lime pre-marinated breast from Wal-Mart (about $5.98). I set the grill to just poultry – then it preheated a bit longer, sprayed on the PAM High Temp Grill spray and let it rip. It was done a good bit quicker than the frozen and was absolutely marvelous! Very very juicy and fork tender. While the results were “good enough” on the frozen chicken to eat and enjoy cooking from say an overnight thaw should produce excellent results. Anytime you quick thaw something you tend to lose a bit of tenderness in either beef or poultry. I have to say I dont think I have made a chicken breast this good over open flame. While I miss the charcoal twang in the taste just a little, the fork tender and evenly cooked state of the breast is simply fantastic.
I did burgers from Frozen. I used SAMS Choice Jalapeno Black Angus frozen patties. They are 1/3rd pound thick. I used PAM High Temp Grill spray – Turned out perfectly! Now these were tender and juicy unlike poultry ground beef does pretty well from frozen.
My sister came over and made her Salmon on it and LOVED IT! Now if your doing fish DONT use the Pam High Temp cooking spray, Use your normal olive oil or regular spray as I believe the grill presets begin at a lower temp. Use normal olive oil for grilled veggies,shrimp and other stuff.
So what is the huge advantage vs the Foreman? Well in a busy schedule it removes a lot of the guesswork out of the time to grill and uses temp presets ,auto thawing, temp change programming and thickness of the selected item to predetermine time to done. And it really does work great! The only caveat to it and they mention it in the guide is if you want a medium rare steak, you cook it to Medium Rare but then let it sit say 5 minutes before eating it , most likely carryover cooking will take it to more Medium done. So stop your cooking about halfway between the Rare and Medium rare color change as I have started doing, let it sit 5 minutes and it will be perfect.
This is a great grill for a college student, elderly or someone who needs a fast efficient cooking grill that takes a lot of uncertain guesswork out of cooking.
Pros
SUPER EASY! Takes a lot of guess work out of cooking meats to desired doneness
Efficient – 1800 watts – about the same power as a hairdryer – lot less power than the oven
Removable grates – Cleanup isnt bad at all about the same as the Foreman
Fairly compact – fits easily and for me permanently on my counter
Cons
A little pricey – I paid $89 for my Foreman 4 or 5 years ago. This was about 2x that price
Alert beeper – Could be a little louder if your in another room or have noisy kids around
Soft Touch Controls – I prefer more solid feeling controls
0
Was this review helpful to you?
|AMAZING RESULTS EVERYTIME,
0
Was this review helpful to you?
|