Average Reviews:
(More customer reviews)While shopping a retail cooking store, I fell in love with the Krups FDE312 panini press. A bit of Amazon research, however, turned up a disturbing pattern of sudden failures in this product. Research into other presses from Cuisinart, DeLonghi, Breville, Villaware, and others failed to produce a clear front runner. It seemed that each product had one or more issues - non-removable grill plates, difficult cleaning, lack of grill ribs, flimsy handles, tendency to dry food, non-adjustable temperature, etc. Enter the Le Creuset 10 ¼" grill pan and panini press. You can submerge them to clean. They're coated with enamel, not Teflon, which means with proper care they will last two lifetimes (although they're only guaranteed for the lifetime of the original owner). There's no electrical element to burn out, no cord to store, no moving parts to break. Use is simple. Heat the grill on one burner (we have gas, but they're supposed to work with other technologies) and the press on the other. Wait until a spatter of water vaporizes almost instantly. Brush grill pan with some oil. Place sandwiches on grill pan. Pick up the press, brush on some oil, place on sandwiches and press for a few moments. Sizzle, sizzle. Wait until the cheese melts. Serve. The panini were just like what I'd eaten in Italy. I haven't owned an electric press, but I can't imagine they'd be better. Cleanup of the enamel surface requires a bit of care but, unlike every Teflon-coated product I've ever owned, that surface will probably still be there 20 years from now. And since the grill pan actually has sides (unlike every electric panini press I looked at), there was no side-spattering and thus no cleanup to do around the cooking area. The only disadvantage - the grill/press combination cost me $150, about twice the cost of the average electric panini grill. But since many of the grill reviews I read spoke of this being their second (or third) electric grill, I suspect I'll make my money back over the next 20 years.
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Easily impart authentic grill marks on food--from cafe-style hot sandwiches to paninis and melts--with help from this 9-inch weighted press. The square-shaped press helps trap heat while creating tasty grill marks on the top side of sandwiches. It nicely complements any Le Creuset square-shaped grill, but can also be used with other brands of skillets and pans. Like other pieces in Le Creuset's line of enameled cast iron, the panini press features a long-lasting enamel exterior that resists chipping and cracking, while its underside provides a satin black enamel--no need to season the cookware in the oven before use. As cast iron is unexcelled for even heat distribution and superior heat retention, the panini press helps cook food uniformly and gently without hot spots and can be used for cooking on the stovetop or finishing in the oven. Oven-safe up to 350 degrees F, the press comes fitted with a heat-resistant phenolic knob and should be hand washed for best results.
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