I cook a lot of chicken, either in the skillet, or in the oven. With this grill, you don't have to worry about turning the chicken, watching it, etc. All I really do it watch the clock. The first night I had the grill, I made salmon fillets, and they turned out great.

While I love the grill so far, there are a few things to watch out for. The first time I cooked chicken, I overcooked it..you kind of need to play around with the times in the booklet enclosed with the grill. I also found that I needed to push the grease tray farther back (closer to the grill) than I initially thought. Also, it does get quite smoky, so it would probably be most ideal if your kitchen had some kind of window.

With cleaning, you really do have to do it while the grill is still warm, or it makes it a lot harder to clean off.

I've barely used my oven since getting this grill..in the summer it will be great not having to heat up the whole house.

140 of 144 found the following review helpful:

Cooking is easy and tasty with George!  Nov 21, 2001
By yarden "yarden"
I bought the George Foreman grill as a joke for my husband (it DOES say "Lean Mean Fat-Reducing Grilling Machine" on it), but we used it for three weeks solid after it arrived. The reason? It's EASY, and the food turns out really tasty!

This particular model is big enough to cook several portions of meat at a time -- it cooks from the top and bottom all at once to cut your cooking time down to mere minutes! The grill is tilted and comes with a trough so that all excess fat is drained away from your food. Pretty nifty! It's also fairly easy to clean up -- you just wipe down the grill and throw the trough in the dishwasher.

We've used the grill for chicken breasts, Boca Burgers, regular burgers, pork chops, steaks, and even bacon strips (it's GREAT for avoiding a bunch of messy bacon grease). It cooks even frozen meat in a relatively short period of time, and it cooks it thoroughly. It's easy to throw something on the grill, sprinkle some seasonings on it (BAM!), and let it cook for a few minutes while you fix the rest of the meal. It is hard to overcook things, and it's fun to have grill-lines on your food.

It took me awhile to believe the hype about the George Foreman Grills, but they are easy to use and deliver good results. In fact, this might be a good way to introduce your older children (12 and up) to rudimentary cooking. The George Foreman grill would be great for people who don't have a lot of time to cook & clean, who aren't yet confident cooks or don't have a lot of cooking experience, or for anyone who wants an easy way to make a tasty meal!

46 of 46 found the following review helpful:

Received this as a wedding present - very useful!  Dec 10, 2002

I read the rave reviews on [Amazon.com] and registered for this (on [Amazon.com]) and received the Family size grill with small cookbook as a wedding present.

It's taken me awhile to get the hang of this product but now I love it. Cleanup took a bit of figuring out for me. I now use only damp paper towels (no scrapers or sponge) to just wipe after use. If I don't end up cleaning it until the next day I just heat it up again with a few wet paper towels in it and then wipe clean. This makes it so easy because you don't have to clean up a sponge or scraper afterwards.

I brush on a bit of olive oil onto the grill (very lightly) before grilling any foods. That seems to help make it taste better and also clean very easily.

This family size fit 4 very big salmon filets easily. (Marinated with Yoshida Gourmet Sauce - yum!) I also grilled two very big chicken breasts last night for a chicken quesadilla recipe. It was so nice not to have to drag out a pan and spatula and stand watching over the chicken. All I did was sprinkle McCormick's Grill Mates Roasted Garlic Montreal Chicken spice over the chicken breasts and slap it in there. Very quick and simple and tasted great.

I also grilled sliced sweet potatoes this morning. Turned out great. Again, no fussing with a pan and oil splattering. There was a bit of smoke though so make sure you have ventilation in your kitchen.

One last thing I wanted to mention... I've only had this item for a month now so I'm not qualified to give feedback on the durability of the teflon yet. Right now it is going strong and I can't imagine it peeling ever but because of the other reviews mentioning the problem I use only chopsticks or some other wooden utensils when removing food. But I'm very good at holding heavy pieces with chopsticks so I don't know if that solution would work for everyone. Chopsticks do make really good cooking utensils though because they are small and easy to clean and don't scratch the nonstick surface.
The other thing I do is not to apply wet paper towels on the grill until it has cooled down a bit (from hot to warm) because I think cooling the grill too fast can be tough on the nonstick surface... maybe make it crack.

BTW, my husband doesn't rave about this product, it's just a good product to him but he wouldn't run out to buy one if he didn't have it he says. But I would. Also, this family size is good for cooking meat for 2-4 people. However, I recommend getting as big a size as you can stand because vegetables take up more space per serving so if you like grilling onions or other vegies, the bigger the surface area the better. It's just the right size for my husband and me with a bit of room to spare in case we have a guest or two over. Thanks everyone for the helpful reviews that led me to this product!

38 of 38 found the following review helpful:

Worthy of the hype.  Apr 01, 2002
By Shopster
First off, let me state that I never buy anything that I see on television or any mass-marketed, "must own" product. With my wife being 8 months pregnant, it suddenly became a priority for me to pitch in and take care of some meals. We purchased the George Foreman "Family Size" grill, thinking that I could grill some things up without trudging outside to fire up the gas grill, cooking it, and scraping the grill, etc.

Well, we have now had it one week and thus far I have already prepared: chicken breasts, salmon, cod, hotdogs, hamburgers, grilled cheese sandwiches, potatoes, and even ostrich (the most nutritional red meat there is)! Each of these things were among the best I've ever tasted. The quality of the grilling rivals that of any I've ever achieved on an outdoor grill. Each meal took under 10 minutes (including pre-heating) to cook, and 5 minutes to clean up. I cannot say enough about this product.

I recommend buying at least the family size grill. It's perfect for easily getting multiple items on at the same time. For example, I grilled three burgers and some sliced, red skinned potatoes at the same time. This size seems perfect for 2 or 3 people, despite claims that it can hold enough for 5 or 6 people.

35 of 36 found the following review helpful:

So long, but no thanks for the fish  Feb 05, 2005
By bensmomma "bensmomma"
You know how you go through an infatuation period with a new kitchen appliance? Then it gets put in a storeroom and falls out of your life like an old boyfriend or girlfriend. It happened to our pastamaker, our ice-cream maker, but I don't think it's going to happen to our George Foreman grill. I really think it's going to occupy prime kitchen counterspace forever.

The main reason is that it is extremely versatile. It grills meats easily; everything comes out firm on the outside and juicy on the inside. But it is also a dandy sandwich-maker - it makes the world's best grilled cheese; the cheese and bread undergo a kind of spiritual transformation and become as one.

Do yourself a favor buy a really good loaf of bread, spread it with a little olive oil, and make the world's best toast.

But - although it does an excellent job with fish fillets, you use it for this purpose at your peril. Even though I scrubbed it daily it took five or more days before my toast did not taste like Charlie the Tuna. So no fish would be my advice (or, get the newer Foreman grill with the removable grill plates, which presumably could be de-salmonized in the dishwasher).

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