Cooking with sandwich toaster?

[Phred]

G'day mates,

I saw a Ronson 4-sandwich maker (toaster) on sale today. It has two
electrically heated flat nonstick plates. The top one is floating.

It looks like it *should* be able to do more than just make toasted
sandwiches! Maybe cook a burger patty, or a slice of bacon, or slices
of onion.

Has anyone ever tried these things? Or is it just obvious that it
won't work like that?

Advice/comments/experience with such kitchen appliances would be
welcome.

Thanks.

Cheers, Phred.

[Ed Pawlowski]

Post by Phred
G'day mates,
I saw a Ronson 4-sandwich maker (toaster) on sale today. It has two
electrically heated flat nonstick plates. The top one is floating.
It looks like it *should* be able to do more than just make toasted
sandwiches! Maybe cook a burger patty, or a slice of bacon, or slices
of onion.
Has anyone ever tried these things? Or is it just obvious that it
won't work like that?
Advice/comments/experience with such kitchen appliances would be
welcome.
Thanks.
Cheers, Phred.

Heat is heat. The only difference is convenience of the appliance and
clean up. We have a 40+ year old grill for grilled sandwiches, but
you can do pancakes, burgers, whatever. I've seen some where the lid
folds back completely so you have two griddles.

The pannini presses have been popular for a couple of years now. They
are no better than my old Toastmaster appliance, except for the price.

[sf]

Post by Phred
G'day mates,
I saw a Ronson 4-sandwich maker (toaster) on sale today. It has two
electrically heated flat nonstick plates. The top one is floating.
It looks like it *should* be able to do more than just make toasted
sandwiches! Maybe cook a burger patty, or a slice of bacon, or slices
of onion.
Has anyone ever tried these things? Or is it just obvious that it
won't work like that?
Advice/comments/experience with such kitchen appliances would be
welcome.

I think Toasties are more popular in Australia or Britain than the
USA. I look at people (not Americans) talking about Toastie makers
(mainly inquiries like yours) on usenet and wonder why they waste
their money on those things.

Some people here use "grills" to cook meat and (to me) they look like
they could be used for hot sandwiches too. I don't recall anyone
saying they use it for sandwiches too, but it seems possible.
Loading Image...

[Ema Nymton]

Post by Phred
G'day mates,
I saw a Ronson 4-sandwich maker (toaster) on sale today. It has two
electrically heated flat nonstick plates. The top one is floating.
It looks like it *should* be able to do more than just make toasted
sandwiches! Maybe cook a burger patty, or a slice of bacon, or slices
of onion.
Has anyone ever tried these things? Or is it just obvious that it
won't work like that?
Advice/comments/experience with such kitchen appliances would be
welcome.
Thanks.
Cheers, Phred.

Have not tried it, and I do not need any more kitchen gadgets, I would
just use a skillet, but I did see some recipes for toasters.

http://www.ifood.tv/network/sandwich_toaster/recipes

Becca

[Julie Bove]

Post by Phred
G'day mates,
I saw a Ronson 4-sandwich maker (toaster) on sale today. It has two
electrically heated flat nonstick plates. The top one is floating.
It looks like it *should* be able to do more than just make toasted
sandwiches! Maybe cook a burger patty, or a slice of bacon, or slices
of onion.
Has anyone ever tried these things? Or is it just obvious that it
won't work like that?
Advice/comments/experience with such kitchen appliances would be
welcome.
Thanks.
Cheers, Phred.

I had one. Husband bought it for his grandma who had no kitchen. Just a
counter, cupboards and a fridge. The type I had would only make two
sandwiches, cut in half. It made a mess! I got rid of it.

[Phred]

Looks like another gadget one can live well without. If I want to

toast a

sandwich, I slap it on a skillet, and put some kind of weight on top

of it.

My advice is save your money, space and KISS.

G'day Kalmia,

Thank you for taking the time to respond. However, if you had
actually read my request you would know I *wasn't* asking about
toasting bloody sangers (I use your method for that), I was asking for
informed comment on whether the damn things could be used for cooking
other items such as burger patties, sliced onion, etc.

I see that someone referred to those George Foreman grills as just
steaming meat rather than searing it. So it seems likely that
"sandwich makers" may be similar -- they may get up to a good
temperature but have inadequate heat reserves, so cool too quickly to
cook properly. Dry bread, probably having quite low specific heat,
may brown ("toast") on the surface acceptably, but a moist patty may
just steam. I would be interested to learn from anyone who has tried.

(My apology if I sounded a bit rude to begin with, but quite a few
replies simply dealt with sandwich toasting and I was getting a bit
frustrated with the lack of comprehension, though I admit I should be
grateful that people have actually taken the trouble to reply!)


Cheers, Phred.

[Geoff Muldoon]

Post by Phred
I saw a Ronson 4-sandwich maker (toaster) on sale today. It has two
electrically heated flat nonstick plates. The top one is floating.
It looks like it *should* be able to do more than just make toasted
sandwiches! Maybe cook a burger patty, or a slice of bacon, or slices
of onion.
Has anyone ever tried these things? Or is it just obvious that it
won't work like that?

Excellent for doing meat kebab skewers. And ham steaks. The girls do
vego hamburger patties on it so they won't get their food "corrupted" by
meat fat/juice when I do a BBQ.

GM