Waffle Irons - worth it or not.

I'm thinking of buying my husband one for Christmas. He mentioned this to me a few years ago and I just shrug it off, thinking more mess to clean. But, now I'm having second thoughts. Yea or Nay from the DU cookers, hookers (fishermen you evil minded liberal) ;) and bakers. :hi:

Nothing is better than homemade waffles. I've had my waffle iron for 15 years and we love it. The griddles pop off and clean up is super easy. I'll make extra waffles when I fix mine and pop them in a freezer bag and freeze them for the kids breakfasts during the week. Just take them out of the freezer and pop them in the toaster or a warm oven. It's a lot cheaper than eggo's.

Once you start making homemade waffles, that junk they sell in the supermarket will taste nasty to you. And you can make all kinds of varities to suit you, rather than pick from what Eggo (or whatever co.) has for you to choose from. And no nasty chemicals or preservatives either. If you and hubby like waffles, a waffle iron is a great addition to your cookware! Get him one!

This sounds like a must have gadget.

On a weekend, make a big batch and wrap up the extras and pop them in the freezer. Your homemade waffles will put Eggo to shame.

It folds like a waffle iron, and has the waffle plates. But, you can also reverse the plates to a flat, griddle side, and open the whole thing out flat for making things like pancakes. I've had it for a long time, and I don't know if anything like it is still available. It's perfect for me; it doesn't take up much space, and since I don't make pancakes or waffles very often, it's dual purpose is great!

:hi:

I hate all store bought waffles. The only ones I liked a little were Downeyflake and they don't make them anymore.

Thanks Froggie for the name brand.

Hey you guys - how about posting some good waffle recipes and don't forget favorite toppings.

1 2/3 c all purpose flour
2 1/4 teaspoons active dry yeast
2 TBS sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1 3/4 c. milk
1/4 c. water
1/4 c. butter
3 eggs

Sift dry ingredients together in a bowl. In a double boiler, heat milk, water and butter until very warm. Butter does not need to be melted.
Add milk mixture and eggs to dry ingredients. Using a hand mixer, mix together thoroughly.
Cover bowl with plastic and refrigerate overnight.
Pour about 1 1/2 c. of batter onto heated, greased waffle iron grid in an 'X' pattern.
Close and bake.


I LOVE my waffle iron and use it all the time. I especially like making the batter the night before, so at breakfast time, all I have to do is pour the batter.

Hope this helps. By the way, did you ever make the Charlotte or the cheesecake? How did they turn out? I would be interested to know.

-chef-

Oy was it RICH! I used the Barefoot Contessa's recipe. Should have used yours. Being new to baking I didn't realize just how rich and heavy her cheesecake recipe would be.

Sorry I didn't answer sooner Chef. Been sick for a few weeks and other stuff, so I haven't been keeping up with DU.

Thanks for the waffle batter recipe, now I just need to get a waffle iron :hi:

We use ours only a few times a year, but boy howdy, when we use it we love it. Cleanup is not a problem. I think it's a Norpro brand waffle iron, it makes traditional square waffles, not the extra deep belgian waffles.

To keep your countertop clean, just spread a big dishtowel underneath the waffle iron before you plug it in and heat it up. If you put in too much batter and it oozes out the sides, then it will drip onto the towel instead of the countertop, and all you have to do is toss the towel in the wash.

We've also used our waffle iron to make french toast (shaped like waffles) and grilled ham and cheese (also shaped like waffles). The cheese was a little messy, but the nonstick surface made it easy to clean.

I also use a wooden chopstick to ease the waffle up out of the iron and flip it onto a plate when it's finished. It's too hot to touch with the fingers, and using any kind of spatula is awkward.

Mmm. Waffles are especially good with chocolate ice cream.

In addition to breakfast waffles I've made chicken and waffles. Yummy!

without a waffle iron.

And once you make your own waffles, you'll never buy those nasty things in the freezer section again.

I'm thinking of getting a Belgian waffler, even though I don't use the reguar one that much. There's just something really neat about Belgian waffles.

(oh, and my waffles, pancakes and muffins ALWAYS have a huge dollop of yogurt in the batter.)

My mom gave me a waffle iron when I was in college and it still works like a charm. Come to realize later that if I reversed the sides, I had flat sides for a panini maker too. I love to make a batch of them for eating later.

I am trying to convince my young'un now it's cheaper to make waffles than to buy 'em.

A plain square-type one, and a Belgian. They both get used on a regular basis. My family loves to see the Belgian waffler come out, in fact, I now know what's going to be for dinner tomorrow night. Belgian waffles, cherry topping, whipped cream, and bacon from the Polish deli.

Use any mix that isn't "complete" - you have to break a few eggs for good waffles.
Use butter, not oil. If you actually cut cold butter into the mix before doing the wet ingredients, they come out really rich and light. I'll do this to a whole box of mix and stick it in the freezer. Sometimes, when i really want to impress i separate the eggs and beat the whites until they are airy and form peaks and fold them in last. i use extra butter usually, so i like to lighten them up.
best addition is orange peel and pecan (or almond) pieces. that's from Joy of cooking. i used to do the whole recipe, but it tasted just like aunt jemima or pepridge farm mix, so....lemon walnut is good too.

my friend taught me an easy way to make a good sauce or topping. combine jar(s) of all fruit preserves-- especially "three fruits" - strawberry/cherry/rasberry-( a traditional french blend that you can find mixed already as preserves). place in blender or food processor and add some grand mariner to thin. you can also thin with fresh juice. again, a little fresh citrus peel goes a long way to spark it up. when you want it to be fancier, you can strain it, but it's absoltuely okay to skip the blending and just stir some lemon or orange rind + spirtits into the preserve and serve it as a topping/spread. other people mix it 50/50 / butter.
i'm trying to think of good combos, rasberry/ calvados w/ almonds
gin/citrus....
anybody have ideas?
.
i love waffles. i have a big scar on my shoulder from making them on an antique iron..
still love that iron.

Just yesterday I was cruisin' BedBaff'n'Beyond for a bread machine (yeah, that search is still on). I saw a whole raft of waffle makers. Mostly by Cuisinart. Nice looking. They had three different shapes in the Cuisinart line: Round, Traditional Square, and Belgium. There were other brands too. Removable plates, convertible to griddles and panini grills, built-in flip-em gizmos. The most heavy duty appeared to be the Waring - very much a scaled down version of a commercial unit (sorta like a Kitchenaid mixer to a Hobart mixer).

Sparkly and I have two of these. One was her mother's and one was my mother's. Seeing as how Sparkly's just a kid and I'm an old fart, my mother's is older than her mother's. It still has a removable cloth covered cord and very heavy weight to it. I'm not sure how old it is, but I'm guessing no newer than 1950, and likely older.

We don't use them, however.

Pardon my error.

I've looked for years, and it appears I have a choice of two in the UK:

One does very one small rounded heart-shaped waffle at a time; costs about £40, and the other is a commercial machine that does 2 round waffles at a time; costs a few hundred £.

The smaller one makes sense financially, of course, but these things are TINY; only about 2/3 the size of a regular waffle. If each one takes 3 or 4 minutes to cook, everyone either eats theirs separately as they come off the iron, or someone's gonna have cold waffles.

I've even thought seriously about ordering one in from the States and seeing if I can get an electrician to convert the power supply. I don't know if that's possible, though.

edit for clarity

http://householdappliances.kelkoo.co.uk/shopbot/go.jsp?pkey=5&merchantId=4006223&from=shopbot&catId=144601

It looks like this:

I've seen them in shops. The waffles are very small; each one of those little hearts is only a few inches across. But I may just have to bite the bullet and get one. I suffer from chronic waffle deficiency, and this thread may just force me to find a cure. :9

we use it a lot.. get a BIG square one..:)

We had one of these when I was a girl going camping, so you wouldn't have the power issues if you imported it. They take a bit of getting used to (as does any appliance) but since they work with the stove, they're not too hard to figure out.

Here's one from the Amish and simple living supplier: http://www.lehmans.com/shopping/product/detailmain.jsp?itemID=1998&itemType=PRODUCT&RS=1&keyword=waffle

There might be someone nearer you that does the same thing.

Pcat

I have considered a similar item, but I don't know if it would work with my ceramic cooktop. We're hoping to install a gas cooktop at some point; then I think one of these should work alright:



That place in Ohio ships overseas, though.. thank you for that link!

So long as the pan (or in this czase, aluminium waffle whiffer) has a flat bottom, it should work really well. The only issue may be the handles. If laid flat, do they protrude below the level of the cooking part, causing it not to sit flat on the burner? But even then, if its close, it still should work.

Waffles the world over!

WritersBlock's International House of Waffles

I'd wondered the same thing about the handles. There is a definite curve downward, but the handle itself is long enough that it might allow placement on the front burner. It's hard to tell in the picture if the junction of the handle is flush with the bottom/top of the iron.

We had pancakes tonight by request of my better half. It was Shrove Tuesday (Pancake Tuesday), which I must admit to being unfamiliar with before moving over here. I had an assembly line going - two skillets as usual, but we had a new high-tech addition as well: A sandwich press with large flat surfaces, opened at a 90-degree angle. That puppy worked like a charm for cooking pancakes on the bottom surface, as long as you were careful about NOT touching the top surface. Pity it can't do waffles!

(We now return you to your regular thread, still in progress.)

(edited to add the word "NOT")

35 years ago :)

The secret is in NOT scrubbing the "iron" part.. It's like a wok or cast iron skillet ..must be seasoned:)

Several years ago I bought a sandwich maker that has grids that you can flip for waffles, but the waffle function was really substandard. I used the sandwich grids a lot when the grandkids would visit. They especially loved any StoveTop dressing made up and then put in the sandwich maker to make nice crispy triangles. But waffles, they preferred the frozen ones, which I never bought except when they asked.

Anyway, this past summer, we took one of the grandkids on a three week road trip to Ohio. Except for 5 days with relatives, we were "touring" and stayed at several hotel/motels that had a make-your-own breakfast buffet. Most everyone of them had a professional level waffle maker and we loved it.

Now I see the Waring WMK300 Pro which looks exactly like the ones we used this summer. I've been hesitant, since they're $80 and I didn't think I'd want to clean up, but after this topic, I decided to check www.epinions.com and it gets great reviews INCLUDING ease of cleaning.

I think when the tax refund comes, I'll let my husband tell me some stupid thing he wants to buy and I'll just say, "Good idea, honey." , then I can buy the waffle maker without him saying, "How often do you think you'll actually use that?"

Mary

That waffle maker is one. It really, really looks nice and sturdy. It seems to be a scaled down commercial unit. All good guts in it, too.

I am also impressed with the slicer and the meat grinder in that same line of products. Each appears to be scaled down from the pro models and have what appears to be good guts.

Our local BeddBaff&WayBeyond has these three on display - and the display models appear to have been looted by vandals! They're all open and apart and the covers and sides are akimbo. Which made it easy to "look under the hood". I was impressed.

While I can't really justify the grinder (I have the attachment for the Kitchenaid and since Sparkly won't eat meat, I only occasionally make my sausages anymore), the slicer is something I've always wanted. She could use it too ... for cheeeeeez and such. (Well she could! Really! Iyain't kiddin' here!)

So .... get that waffle iron!!!!! :evilgrin:

and it's still going strong.. It's compact, easy to clean, and does a pretty good job.. and I still have all my fingers :)


http://store1.yimg.com/I/coffegear_1830_3611220

Slice-It Slicer
120 watt fold-up electric food slicer
Slices from wafer thin to 3/4" thickness.
Unique dual safety switch, stainless steel serrated cutting blades
Extra-wide slicing table
Sliding carriage and end piece holder
2-year limited warranty, 3-year blade warranty .




010942 10270 0Regular price: $75.00
Sale price: $59.00Color: White 213-70



review from epinions

Review Summary About the Author

Krups Slice It makes Roasts an easy treat!
Jan 19 '03

Author's Product Rating


Ease of Use:
Durability:
Ease of Cleaning:
Style:

Pros
Multiple thickness levels, from paper thin to thick ham slices, easy to use, easy cleanup.

Cons
none so far

The Bottom Line
A great item if you like your meats sliced thin and are tired of manually cutting uneven slices. Price is affordable as well.


Full Review
My husband loves the way I cook his roast beef. When it comes out of the oven, he slices it and it looks like something from the gourmet food channels and tastes even better. His complaint, though, was that each time he wanted some of it, he had to carefully use the sharpest knife to get the thinnest, most even cut. Alas, the holidays were upon us and I decided to get him a slicer. I was looking for quality as well as a great price. I have used Overstock.com several times with great results so off I went to their website. They had one brand of slicer, the Krups Slice It 213-A. Price was the best as well, 39.95 and only 2.95 for shipping (that's all Overstock charges for shipping, no matter HOW big your order is!). So, Christmas morning my husband opens his slicer and is in love. A new toy, or meal maker as he calls it. We had roast beef for the holiday dinner and he had a grand time using his slicer to cut away at the beast. He loved the knob for changing levels of thickness and it comes apart easily for cleaning, though the blade is extremely sharp, as it should be. It stores away flat for the next time around. A great gift for the person who loves their roasts! We figured with grocery store roast beef slices going for $7.99 per pound, we bought a 4 lb roast for $6 and sliced it up and seasoned it to his taste and we saved a bundle.

Recommended
Yes

Amount Paid (US$): 39.95

which I bought at LEAST 20 years ago and probably only used a dozen times. Why do I still have it you may ask? LOL Cause I have a storage room off the garage with a big old cabinet filled with things I HAD to have and I don't use but "might" need, if only I'd give it away.

After we moved to this supermarket rich city 20 years ago, they all had a full deli and I could get meats and cheeses sliced to order. Also, that was about the time the kids started leaving home. Soooooooo, I put the slicer in the lowest cabinet, behind tons of stuff and finally, moved it to the garage. My kids are not as impressed with "kitchen stuff", so I can't get them to take these treasures. Wait til they put on a massive "estate sale"!!!

Unfortunately for them, the longer Bushco is around, it looks like my gadgets will be the extent of the "estate" that will be left.

Mary

but not very hard. I found this one - what do you think?

If you have other suggestions, please post a link where I can see it or purchase one. This is the last, well ok maybe the next to the last appliance I'm buying. The other will be a food processor - maybe :evilgrin:

they don't make it any more, but when i need it it's great! doesn't take a bunch of space and is light to move around.

if the job's too big for my mouli grater out come the B&D and viola!

I had a big Cuisanart but it was just too honking big and i didn't use it much.

I love waffles & can't decide which of these is my favorite.

Raised Waffles

½ cup warm water (105 to 115 degrees)
1 package dry yeast
2 cups milk, warmed
½ cup butter, melted
1 tsp salt
1 tsp sugar
2 cups all purpose flour
2 eggs
¼ tsp baking soda

In a large bowl add water, sprinkle yeast over & let stand to dissolve, about 5 minutes. Add milk, butter, salt, sugar & flour. Beat until smooth & free of lumps. Cover bowl with plastic wrap & let stand at room temperature overnight.

Before cooking waffles, add eggs & baking soda & stir until well blended. Batter will be thin. Pour about ½ cup to ¾ cup batter in iron.

Batter will keep for several days in the refrigerator.

Makes 8 waffles.


Buttermilk Waffles

1 cup flour
1 tbsp sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
½ tsp salt
1 cup buttermilk
butter
vegetable oil
maple syrup

Sift together flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda & salt in a large mixing bowl.

Beat egg yolks in a small mixing bowl, then add buttermilk & 2 tbsp melted butter. Add to flour mixture, stirring until just combined.

Beat egg whites until stiff. Stir one-third of the whites into the batter, then carefully fold remaining whites into the batter in 2 batches. Batter will be airy.

Spread about ½ cup of the batter in the hot waffle iron (lightly greased w/oil if it’s not non-stick) & cook until brown, about 5 minutes.

As several other posters mentioned, cooked waffles freeze really well. Just make sure you cool them completely on a rack then wrap in aluminum foil & freeze. I then put them on a plate, spread with butter & maple syrup & nuke them. As everyone else mentioned too, these are way better than any frozen brand at the store. (at least that I've ever tried!)