George Foreman Grill

dso · Wed, June 29th, 2005, 12:57 PM

I looked for a thread asking this, but I couldn't find one...

Anyhow, how much of a difference do you think it makes? I don't just mean in chicken, its usualy low in fat to begin with. What about with pork chops and ground beef? Would it make it a healthy food to eat acouple times a week?

Another question...i was in the store the other night and saw Ground Turkey had about 18g of fat a serving. Whats up with that, I thought this was supposed to be a healthy alternative to ground beef?

Thanks,
D

Bluestreak · Wed, June 29th, 2005, 01:13 PM

We had a Foreman grill for years. When it died, we bought an el cheapo gas grill from Home Depot. I will never again cook on a Foreman grill.

They're great if you have limited space or live somewhere that doesn't have a good place for a conventional BBQ. Otherwise, I'd skip it and put that money towards a regular old gas grill. The Foreman dries out meat too much and I could never get a good, medium-rare burger to cook properly on it.

We have many people here who love them, so don't take this as gospel, it's just that once I had a piece of chicken or a burger cooked over an open flame, and I noticed the vastly improved taste and moistness of the meat cooked as such, I realized what I'd been missing in not using a regular grille. I don't think the Foreman does much for you if you use very lean meats (we always use 93%+ lean beef).

-R

dso · Wed, June 29th, 2005, 02:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bluestreak

We had a Foreman grill for years. When it died, we bought an el cheapo gas grill from Home Depot. I will never again cook on a Foreman grill.

They're great if you have limited space or live somewhere that doesn't have a good place for a conventional BBQ. Otherwise, I'd skip it and put that money towards a regular old gas grill. The Foreman dries out meat too much and I could never get a good, medium-rare burger to cook properly on it.

We have many people here who love them, so don't take this as gospel, it's just that once I had a piece of chicken or a burger cooked over an open flame, and I noticed the vastly improved taste and moistness of the meat cooked as such, I realized what I'd been missing in not using a regular grille. I don't think the Foreman does much for you if you use very lean meats (we always use 93%+ lean beef).

-R

Yea I'm in college, and there is a community kitchen on each floor of my building, so I have to carry it back and forth from the kitchen to my room. Gas grills are def. better, but I cant see myself wheelin one down to the kitchen every night. How does it do for cutting out the fat or typicaly fattier meats (Steak, Pork chops, etc.)?

Thanks for the reply.
D

scorpiosnow · Wed, June 29th, 2005, 02:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dso

Yea I'm in college, and there is a community kitchen on each floor of my building, so I have to carry it back and forth from the kitchen to my room. Gas grills are def. better, but I cant see myself wheelin one down to the kitchen every night. How does it do for cutting out the fat or typicaly fattier meats (Steak, Pork chops, etc.)?

Thanks for the reply.
D

Cook on a propane grill inside and you'll have bigger problems than wheeling it back to your room. Like death.

Mooshie · Wed, June 29th, 2005, 03:14 PM

I'm pretty sure I saw a review somewhere reputable, can't remember off the top of my head, that tested the Foreman Grill's effectiveness at reducing fat. I think their conclusion was that it doesn't really eliminate any more fat than by cooking over a regular grill. Most of that "fat" they they claim is dripping off into the container is just the meat's natural juices, aka "flavor".

I'd just buy really lean meat to start with and cook over an open flame.

curvature · Wed, June 29th, 2005, 03:21 PM

I live in an apartment complex with a no grilling policy, so I love my foreman grill. I have to agree with bluestreak that you can't do medium-well on the grill - it's either done or it's not done.

As far as fat, when I grill lean hamburger, I get quite a bit of fat off - it normally almost fills the little fat catcher that goes at the bottom of the grill. I'm sure it's "juices" too, but when it hardens into one solid mass of white blech, I think I'm saying that it's mostly fat.

Anyway, I'm happy with mine - I would prefer a real grill, of course, but that's not an option for me. Just watch because it is really easy to dry your meat/chicken out. My suggestion for hamburger patties is that you season the ground beef and then form the patties. If you put the seasoning on after the patties are formed, you're going to lose all the seasoning when you grill - it will run off with the fat.

Bluestreak · Wed, June 29th, 2005, 03:27 PM

I think all you're doing is draining the obvious grease out of the meat. I find it hard to believe that you're going to alter the meat's chemical composition all that much by using a grill with a bit of a slope on it. If you buy cheaper, fattier meats and grill them on the Foreman, I don't believe you're really going to alter the nutrient content of the meat itself all that much. Wouldn't that mean a convential grill would run rings around a Foreman? The open grate of the grilling surface on a conventional grill would allow for as much if not more drainage of the meat, wouldn't it?

If anyone has any proof to the contrary, I'd definitely be interested to see that - not some hokey thing posted on the Internet, I can find those myself. Perhaps a certified lab test where they measured the nutrient content of the meat pre and post cooking on the Foreman grille. I bet George himself wouldn't be able to produce such a study because one hasn't been performed.

Can you tell I'm bored at work?

For once...

-R

curvature · Wed, June 29th, 2005, 03:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bluestreak

I think all you're doing is draining the obvious grease out of the meat. I find it hard to believe that you're going to alter the meat's chemical composition all that much by using a grill with a bit of a slope on it. If you buy cheaper, fattier meats and grill them on the Foreman, I don't believe you're really going to alter the nutrient content of the meat itself all that much. Wouldn't that mean a convential grill would run rings around a Foreman? The open grate of the grilling surface on a conventional grill would allow for as much if not more drainage of the meat, wouldn't it?

I don't imagine the foreman grill could get out any more fat than a normal grill. I don't see how it would, anyway.

When stats are given on meat, are they given for the raw or cooked meat? I'd always assumed it was for the raw meat.

Thrillhouse17 · Wed, June 29th, 2005, 05:22 PM

I honestly think that a real grill is much better. For some reason the meat on my Foreman likes to sag between the 'grills', sitting in it's own oil. With a real grill the fat, oil drips down and off. I don't think that the slope has anything to do with it. It's just gravity at work, not some magial angle. Can't beat the taste of a real grill though. I personally like to use some wood chips to add a little bit of a smoked flavor. Mmmm, cooking tuna and swordfish this way is too good...

Solag · Wed, June 29th, 2005, 06:16 PM

NICE AVATAR!!! As someone so wisely put it before

Steelers Fuckin Ownage

Wasted · Wed, June 29th, 2005, 08:50 PM

Well you have to look at how the Foreman people worded it. They said that it cuts down on the fat, by draining it out. I don't believe they ever said that it got rid of all of the fat or even near that. In fact they may have just said that it cuts the fat, which means that all it would have to do is get rid of any fat, something that happens often when you cook anyways, and they wouldn't be lying. On a side note, I love my Foreman grill, it may be illegal to have in my room, but hell if I'm going to walk all the way across the building to cook 2 pieces of chicken. Not to mention a Turkey and cheese sandwich, thrown on the grill for a minute or two...amazing

.

dso · Wed, June 29th, 2005, 08:56 PM

Thanks for all the replies. Im going to cook on it simply because its the only thing I can cook meat on. Anymore suggestions are welcome.

Yes, the Steelers own.

D

Kenny · Sat, July 2nd, 2005, 01:44 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dso

Thanks for all the replies. Im going to cook on it simply because its the only thing I can cook meat on. Anymore suggestions are welcome.

Yes, the Steelers own.

D

Speaking as a college student, the Foreman grill is the best thing to cook chicken and steak on if you don't have access to a real grill. I don't eat hamburgers any more so I can't speak about how effective it is for hamburgers. I don't buy into all the fat draining hype, I just love it for the sheer convenience.

Jaybird · Sat, July 2nd, 2005, 02:15 AM

I had a Foreman grill for a year and it recently died. It worked ok, but in reality, it was a piece of junk. I live in an apt. with a small kitchen, so it was good for me. But it's not really something good to cook with on a regular basis if you have other options. But if you live in a place that has a no grill policy, it's probably an ok option.

I noticed the Foreman grill was really only good at draining fat from cooking ground meats. If I cooked a hunk of real meat, it didn't drain much fat at all. Ironically, it doesn't cook very evenly. The outsides get seared like crazy before the middle even gets warm. And by the time the middle got warm, the outside is crispy. But it worked fine for ground meats. If you want to cook chicken, pork chops, or a steak, I recommend an iron skillet on a regular stove.