About one in three of our geezer friends who cook for two seem to have a George Foreman Grill.  So, I thought I better get one and see what it is all about.  “Hey, why not borrow ours and give it a test drive,” suggested our good friends (pre-geezers) next door.  Then, I got up on Foreman’s Web site and a few others to discover that the grill comes in two sizes, has enjoyed huge sales and that old George doesn’t have to box anymore. 

So I borrowed the extra large grill model from next door.  It’s a big white, articulated-hinged clamshell grill, 7-inches high and taking up 18 square inches of counter space. Inside the shell, are opposed, non-removable cast aluminum, non-stick, heated grill plates, mounted on a forward-sloped bias that promotes the runoff of fat and grease to the front of the grill where it is collected in a provided drip tray.  The bias and runoff feature is the basis for Foreman’s “lean mean fat reducing grilling machine” logo. 

The stamp on the underside of the grill rates it at 1400 watts, which tells me this thing will quickly heat up and maintain its set temperature, which is too low.  When I plugged it in, the heat light went on and, sure enough, the grill was up to temperature in five minutes. As best I could determine with my calibrated Thermapen, it operates at 360ºF.  That’s a high enough temperature for caramelization and browning reactions to take place (which become noticeable at 310ºF), but not sufficient to grill-mark meat. 

Hamburgers, steaks and hotdogs are what grilling is all about and this grill does a good indoor job of it.  I found that the sloped bias of the grill plates does indeed run off fats and greases, but it also runs off marinades and sauces.  Their cookbook suggests that the runoff in the drip tray simply be poured back over the product while it is still cooking.  OK.  It also suggests that the run off can be used as a table sauce on the finished product.  Not OK.  I would not put marinade or sauce from a drip tray on the table without first bringing it to boil. 

The extra-large grill comes with a very nice cookbook with nine chapters of inviting recipes.  Not to quibble, but the introduction champions the myth that grilling is all about “searing the outside of food and then sealing the juices inside the food.”  McGee demonstrates otherwise in the opening chapter of The Curious Cook, wherein he shows that juiciness is determined solely by the doneness to which the meat is cooked.  The Foreman Grill does a nice job of caramelizing and browning the juices that flow from the meat, and that’s what really counts.

Oh, cleaning. ... It’s electric and can’t be put in water.  The cookbook says to use cooking spray.  The grill comes with a special scraping tool that fits the grill-ribs.  The grill plates are non-stick so only wood or plastic should be used to scrape off the hard stuff.  Foreman says and friends confirm that the grill should still be warm when cleaned.  All that helps, but I still found it a chore to clean, especially the nooks and crannies around the edges and hinges. 

Bottom line? 
· The Foreman Grill does what it is designed to do.
· The grill surface does not get hot enough to grill-mark meat.
· The extra-large (13.5 x 9.5-inch grill size) is pretty big to leave on the counter, but it can be stored in the pantry on its legs or upright on the floor.
· If you are only cooking for two and space is a limitation, the large (8.25 x 8.25-inch grill size) is clearly the better choice.
· The whole machine gets very hot and should not be moved while in use. 
· It’s a chore to clean. 

In all, The Foreman Grill is a useful—cooking for two—appliance of good design and quality.  At $90 for the big one and $60 for the smaller one, they’re good value too.