George Foreman Fryer

The idea of a deep fryer that produces healthier fried food is a tempting one. And who better to develop such a product than George Foreman, who revolutionized healthy cooking with a line of fat-reducing grills?

Unlike a traditional deep fryer, the machine has a round fry basket that lifts out of the oil and spins rapidly, using centrifugal force to pull excess oil off food. The company put the product through its paces at an independent laboratory test to determine that the fryer did indeed remove more fat than traditional deep fryers. According to the test, onion rings had up to 38 percent less fat and breaded chicken, 55 percent less.

With a number of parts, the machine looks a bit intimidating and complicated, but a detailed instruction booklet makes it easy to assemble and use, and the booklet also contains helpful tips, a chart of cooking times for different types of food, and a few recipes.

A handle lifts and lowers the fry basket and locks it into position, all without having to open the lid. Dials set the temperature and cooking timer. The spin cycle has low and high speeds, and another dial sets the timer for the spin cycle, turning it off when time runs out.

The food I fried in this fryer (one recipe I tried: Fried Chicken Tenders with Creamy Salsa Cilantro Sauce) turned out crisp and perfectly cooked, and it did seem less greasy. What's more, the cover, with its built in vent, helped to cut down on the usual "fried" odor, and kept grease from spattering the area. On the spin cycle, the machine wobbled precariously, but nonskid feet kept it firmly in place on my counter. The George Foreman Lean Mean Spin Frying Machine sells for around $150, and is a good option for those who like to fry (slightly healthier) food with minimal mess.

The design of the machine presents a few drawbacks. For one, the cooking area is small, and the spindle in the middle (which holds the fry basket in place) cuts down on the capacity even more, and you can forget about frying anything very large, like a fish fillet.

The design of the machine makes it necessary to close the cover when you're frying, which takes some getting used to if you are accustomed to the open fryers. The cover makes it a little difficult to monitor the cooking process, and the viewing window quickly gets covered with condensation, which makes it impossible to see through.

I also wasn't fond of the dials that set the timers, because it seemed hard to know if you were setting them accurately. The button that opens the lid is also difficult to push, requiring a lot of effort, or requiring you to grip the sides of the machine in order to push it hard enough.

George Foreman Evolve Grill

The latest George Foreman aims to do it all: muffins, sliders, waffles and more.

One of the latest in the vast family of George Foreman Grills is the Evolve: a grill that comes with a multitude of interchangeable plates (and more can be purchased separately). Different versions come with different configurations, depending on what store you buy them from; along with the traditional grill plate, you could get a waffle plate, a deep dish bake plate, a muffin pan or a slider plate.

It's a neat idea, being able to do so much with a countertop appliance, especially one that takes up a significant amount of space. But are you really going to pull out your countertop grill the next time you want to bake some muffins?

The grill itself is designed similarly to many of the other George Foreman grills. There's a lever that can switch the grill from being flat (for sandwiches or small pieces of food) to angled (for meat, so that fat can drain into the included drip tray). The hinges "float" to accommodate large pieces of food.

The controls are a bit mystifying. To turn the grill on, you have to set a timer and the temperature, both are digital, with up and down buttons to control. There appears to be no way to override the timer and just have the grill be "on" until you turn it off, which means you also have to factor in five minutes for the grill to warm up (The temperature display flashes until the grill is at temperature, and a soft beep also chimes when it's heated). Then again, when the timer reaches zero, it just beeps, and the grill remains on. Still, I found myself wishing that you could deactivate the timer, and also that the timer wouldn't begin its countdown until the grill has reached the right temperature. The display and controls are on top of the grill, so if you're using the grill open, you'll have to close the lid in order to use the controls.

Another complaint: the actual surface of the grill is not very large; about 11 by 8 inches (Other Foreman Grills, including the Stainless Steel model have larger cooking surfaces). If you're cooking for more than 2 people you might have to work in batches. And while the fat did indeed drain away while I was cooking a steak, the design of the grill plate also caused small pieces of onions and peppers to fall of the edge, since there was no rim to contain them.

I liked the grill marks of the special top "Crosshatch" grill, which gave pieces of food a picture-perfect criss-cross look. But later I discovered that while the bottom grill is a breeze to clean, that top half has lots of crevices that can trap grease, making it laborious to clean.

But complaints aside, I felt like the grill got plenty hot enough to nicely sear the food I was cooking, something that other countertop grills don't always accomplish. The grill was most effective when the lid was closed, so that food was cooked from both top and bottom.

Even though the idea of baking brownies or muffins in your grill might seem preposterous, it's not ill-advised: I baked brownies in the grill, and they turned out moist, with deliciously crunchy edges. The baking option would be great for a small apartment or for the summer months when turning on the oven can heat up the whole house.

On the George Foreman web site, you can buy a range of other plates, including a a deep dish baking pan, an omelet and snack plate set, a shallow griddle pan, a waffle plate set, and a cupcake or muffin pan set.

George Foreman Fryer

The idea of a deep fryer that produces healthier fried food is a tempting one. And who better to develop such a product than George Foreman, who revolutionized healthy cooking with a line of fat-reducing grills?

Unlike a traditional deep fryer, the machine has a round fry basket that lifts out of the oil and spins rapidly, using centrifugal force to pull excess oil off food. The company put the product through its paces at an independent laboratory test to determine that the fryer did indeed remove more fat than traditional deep fryers. According to the test, onion rings had up to 38 percent less fat and breaded chicken, 55 percent less.

With a number of parts, the machine looks a bit intimidating and complicated, but a detailed instruction booklet makes it easy to assemble and use, and the booklet also contains helpful tips, a chart of cooking times for different types of food, and a few recipes.

A handle lifts and lowers the fry basket and locks it into position, all without having to open the lid. Dials set the temperature and cooking timer. The spin cycle has low and high speeds, and another dial sets the timer for the spin cycle, turning it off when time runs out.

The food I fried in this fryer (one recipe I tried: Fried Chicken Tenders with Creamy Salsa Cilantro Sauce) turned out crisp and perfectly cooked, and it did seem less greasy. What's more, the cover, with its built in vent, helped to cut down on the usual "fried" odor, and kept grease from spattering the area. On the spin cycle, the machine wobbled precariously, but nonskid feet kept it firmly in place on my counter. The George Foreman Lean Mean Spin Frying Machine sells for around $150, and is a good option for those who like to fry (slightly healthier) food with minimal mess.

The design of the machine presents a few drawbacks. For one, the cooking area is small, and the spindle in the middle (which holds the fry basket in place) cuts down on the capacity even more, and you can forget about frying anything very large, like a fish fillet.

The design of the machine makes it necessary to close the cover when you're frying, which takes some getting used to if you are accustomed to the open fryers. The cover makes it a little difficult to monitor the cooking process, and the viewing window quickly gets covered with condensation, which makes it impossible to see through.

I also wasn't fond of the dials that set the timers, because it seemed hard to know if you were setting them accurately. The button that opens the lid is also difficult to push, requiring a lot of effort, or requiring you to grip the sides of the machine in order to push it hard enough.