George Foreman is a brilliant man for coming up with (or at least lending his name to) these wonderful, indoor grills that allow for a lot of the fat to run off of otherwise greasy meats. It not only gives people the chance to grill inside, but it provides a healthier meal.
I’ve had three George Foreman grills in my adult life. I know there’s other brands out there, but I seem to always be drawn to what I consider the original. My favorite one is the type John and I have now, because you can remove the plates and put them in the dishwasher.
Cleaning the darn grill is the toughest thing, in my opinion. Before I had the removable plates, I would have to put the entire appliance in the sink and wash it. It was always unplugged of course, but that always seemed to be a tedious and well, not so good way to clean something.
That’s when my mom taught me something that I still use today even though I can put the plates through the dishwasher.
There’s a way you can clean off a lot of the extra “gunk” that is left behind from meat cooked on the grill. That makes doing the final clean up a lot quicker and easier! Here’s what you do:
- When you’re done using the grill, unplug it. Don’t let it cool down before doing the next steps.
- Thoroughly wet double (or tripled) paper towels but don’t wad them up.
- Place the wet paper towels on the still hot grill and shut the lid. This will cause steam to be created and the paper towels themselves will be heated.
- Wait until the grill cools (usually after you’re done eating whatever it is you just grilled!) then lift the lid. Use the wet and heated paper towel to wipe off the “gunk” and bigger pieces of stuff you need to clean.
- Discard the now icky paper towels.
- Clean the now degunked grill plates as per your usual routine.
I love the above described technique. It’s simple and it really does help make cleaning up the grill easier!
Here’s a few other little things I’ve learned about using these kinds of grills:
- If you’re grilling large amounts of meat, realize that the “gunk” will build up and can create black stains on your food the more you grill in one sitting. I suggest turning your meats even though they are being cooked on both sides. On my grill, it seems to be the top plate that leaves the black marks the most.
- Don’t overcrowd your grill. If you have pieces of meat touching each other, the sides won’t cook that well because they aren’t getting exposed to heat. Take for example my grill when I cook hamburgers. If I try to cram three large patties next to each other, the sides don’t always cook at the same rate because they are touching each other
- Veggies grill OK, but if you just sprinkle the seasonings directly on the veggies (like garlic powder, etc) it will turn the seasonings black and not taste right. I would suggest using some kind of spray butter to help the seasonings spread better.
- Don’t try to make chocolate chip cookies on the grill. It doesn’t cook out any of the fat and the dough just falls apart. Yes, I’ve tried this. I was bored.