Home Cooking

Traeger’s new Pro WiFi pellet grill is smarter, faster, and smokier

NEWS – With spring and summer just around the corner that can mean only one thing, IT’S GRILLING SEASON! Traeger, the popular manufacturer of wood pellet grills, introduced a new line based on their best-selling Pro Series grill.

There are two models available for 2019, the Pro 575 and Pro 780. The names correspond with the amount of square inch cooking capacity each model has.

The new wood pellet grills have been updated with Traeger’s WiFire Technology. WiFire enables grillers to monitor and change the grills temperatures, track the temperature of the food being grilled, and even add smoke from anywhere using the Traeger smartphone app.

With the app, you can browse through and download hundreds of recipes directly to the WiFire Controller to get step-by-step guidance through the entire cook cycle with GrillGuide.

Traeger’s new D2 Direct Drive Technology delivers more power to the grill, creating ultra-fast startups. A variable speed fan and auger provide optimal wood pellet smoke for the finest hardwood flavor. 

The new Pro D2 controller gives users more precise control over cooking temperatures, leading to more consistent results.

Each Pro model includes a 2-tier grate system, meat probe, and 18-pound capacity wood pellet hopper. The Traeger Pro 575 ($799.99) and Pro 780 ($999.99) are available in black or bronze. You can purchase them online from Traeger or your local Home Depot.

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Traeger’s new Pro WiFi pellet grill is smarter, faster, and smokier originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on March 18, 2019 at 8:00 am.

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Get ready for spring with the FlipFork BOSS – the only grilling tool you’ll ever need

NEWS – Let me ask you a question. How many bbq tools do you have in your grilling arsenal? Think about it I’ll wait… If you’re like me, your answer was probably too many.

What if you only needed one?

The FlipFork BOSS is a 5-in-1 grilling tool. The BOSS takes five essential grilling utensils and puts them in one heavy-duty multitasking tool.

The sturdy stainless steel design has an extra long Acacia wood handle that’s both moisture resistant and antibacterial. It also sports a wide spatula (for flipping and holding burgers), a fork (for picking up and moving steak, d handle.sausage, or chicken), knife edge (for cutting meat or veggies), and serrated edge (for tenderizing meat).

Most importantly, there’s a bottle opener for popping the top on your favorite adult beverage.

No more clutter from multiple utensils or trips in and out of the house. And cleanup is a breeze because the BOSS is dishwasher safe.

Finally, you can focus on what’s important – GRILLING! The FlipFork BOSS sells for $26.99 and is available from Amazon.

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Get ready for spring with the FlipFork BOSS – the only grilling tool you’ll ever need originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on March 11, 2019 at 10:00 am.

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It’s a dessert topping! It’s a floor wax! Gourmia introduces air fryer toaster ovens

NEWS – Unlike the old comedy sales pitch on Saturday Night Live, Gourmia’s combinations make sense.  Fresh off their announcement of new CoolCookers that combine refrigeration with slow or pressure cooking, Gourmia has announced a complete line of combination air fryer toaster ovens.

Catering to the ever-growing market of those of us with limited counter and cabinet space, Gourmia is creatively combining appliances so one item does the job of two or more.  In this case, you get a full-featured toaster oven, technically, already a combo, combined with a capable air fryer.

The air fryer function leverages Gourmia’s AeroCrisp technology for up to 80% less fat in your meals.  The toaster oven can cook with temps up to 400 or 450 degrees, depending on the model. It has multiple rack positions and can toast up to six slices of bread at a time.

The eight new models units are sized from an 18 to 27 quart capacity, 1500 to 1800 watts of cooking power and between 6 and 22 different cooking modes.

Gourmia is ETL certified, meaning that their products have all undergone rigorous safety testing and meet Underwriters Laboratory (UL) standards for safety.

All eight new models will be available later in 2019 at major retailers. Pricing varies between $49 and $199. For more information go to www.gourmia.com.

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It’s a dessert topping! It’s a floor wax! Gourmia introduces air fryer toaster ovens originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on March 11, 2019 at 8:00 am.

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Keep your cool in the kitchen with Gourmia CoolCookers

NEWS – It doesn’t get much better than coming home to a freshly cooked meal.  Slow cookers have offered that convenience to home chefs for quite some time.  Toss in the good stuff, set it for low and slow, and come home to a house that smells amazing and fall-apart tender food. But, what about those meals that don’t need 8-10 hours?  Some cookers had timers that could start the cooking process several hours later, but your food would sit for hours at kitchen temperatures, just waiting to turn nasty. What if your schedule changes and you come home early or late?  You have undercooked food and spend some quality time with the microwave, or overcooked, mushy food that nobody wants to eat.

Gourmia has solved that problem with their new line of Internet of Things (IoT) CoolCookers. Gourmia is rolling out a new pressure cooker (GPCC1960) and multi cooker (GMCC1970) with built-in refrigeration to 35 degrees.  These units will keep your food fridge-fresh until cook time.  In addition to keeping your meal fresh and healthy, they also bring internet accessibility via WiFi and an IOS and Android app as well as integration with Google Assistant and Amazon Alexa.  I don’t think it quite gets to the dream of saying “Alexa – what’s for dinner?”, but it’s a start!  What the app does do is allow for remote changes if your schedule changes.  If you’re running late home from work, you can delay the cook time, right from your smart device.  Of course, you can’t tell it to cook more food, because your boss is now coming for dinner.

The pressure cookers offers Gourmia’s state-of-the-art automatic pressure release, an auto stir system to stir the food, and fully adjustable pressure settings.  Via the app, chefs can also remotely release the pressure, allowing for pressure cooking without having to be right at-hand at a specific time.

The multi cooker has a spacious 6.5 quart capacity and provides 11 different cooking functions including sauté, bake, roast, steam, sous vide, and stew. For those of us with limited kitchen cabinet space, having one device that can handle all of these cook methods is a great space saver.

Gourmia is ETL certified, meaning that their products have all undergone rigorous safety testing and meet Underwriters Laboratory (UL) standards for safety.

Both CoolCookers will be available later in 2019 at major retailers.  Pricing has not been announced.  For more information go to www.gourmia.com.

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Keep your cool in the kitchen with Gourmia CoolCookers originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on March 4, 2019 at 8:00 am.

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Cuisinart GR-5B Series Griddler FIVE tabletop grill and panini press review

REVIEW – I don’t consider myself a cook as much as I consider myself an eater. I like to eat but to do that I have to cook. The best thing about cooking is the eating part. The worst thing about cooking is the cleanup. For that reason, I’m always looking for shortcuts and ways that can make cooking quicker and easier without sacrificing taste. I’m already a huge fan of the Instant Pot, and now I have another favorite kitchen helper. It’s the Cuisinart GR-5B Series Griddler FIVE tabletop grill and panini press. Let’s get cooking and check it out!

What is it?

The Cuisinart GR-5B Series Griddler FIVE tabletop grill and panini press is a small tabletop 5-in-1 cooking appliance. It’s a contact grill, panini press, full grill, full griddle, and half grill/half griddle.

Specifications

Adjustable temperatures from 175-450 degrees
Weight: 12lbs
Dimensions: 8.75″ x 16.00″ x 13.75″

What’s in the box?

  • Cuisinart GR-5B
  • Scraper
  • Instruction/recipe book

Design and features

The Cuisinart GR-5B is a compact tabletop appliance that has a stainless steel exterior with a large handle on top and a small backlit LCD on the front.

Attached to the back of the unit is the non-replaceable power cord which felt a bit too short to me at 36 inches.

The right side of the unit has a sliding latch on the side of the handle that allows you to open the lid 180 degrees if you want to use the cooker as a griddle.

Without unlocking the handle, the lid opens as you see in the image above. It opens far enough that it will rest in this position without needing to manually hold it open.

Unlocking the handle will allow the lid to swing open and then rest on the handle to create a full cooking surface.

As mentioned, this is a 5-in-1 cooking appliance. You can use it as grill like you see above…

Or you can press the black button on the side which allows you to remove the non-stick cooking plates which are reversible.

Just press the button on either side and lift out the dishwasher safe plates.

Then you can flip one or both over to the flat griddle cooking surface shown above. This will give you the ability to cook different foods on either side like pancakes or fried eggs on the flat side and bacon or sausages on the grilled side that has the ridges that keep the food out of the grease/oils.

If there is any excess grease, oils, or juices, they will run off into the built-in collecting tray that can be removed for cleaning.

Let’s get cooking!

The first step to using the Cuisinart GR-5B Series Griddler FIVE is to plug it in and press the on/off button. When you do this, the LCD will light up and will show the default temperature of 400 degrees. You can use the knob on the right to change the temp from 175-450 degrees in 25-degree increments and switch between grill and griddle modes.  When the mode and temperature are set, the grill will preheat and then beep when it is ready to be used.

The first cooking test I did with the GR-5B was to make some toasted meatloaf sandwiches. I love using leftovers and toasted meatloaf is one of my all-time favorites. I also decided to split some leftover baked potatoes and put them on the grill too.

The GR-5B’s cooking surface is roomy enough for two standard sized sandwiches when using it as a panini press.

With the sandwiches in place, you can close the top. When I say “close”, that doesn’t mean that the lid will lock in place. The lid floats, so it presses the food between the two cooking plates but does not latch shut. The lid is heavy enough to keep everything in place and cooks from both sides so don’t have to manually flip the sandwich mid-way through which in the past usually meant losing some of the meat and other toppings in the process.

Besides the mode and temperature, you can also set a timer to count down or count up to a certain length of time so you won’t overcook your food.

For toasted sandwiches, I just opened the cover after 5 minutes to check to see if the bread was toasted to my liking and adjusted from there. Timing will be dependant on the type of bread and the selected temperature. I will say that at 375 degrees, the sandwiches toasted much quicker than my usual stovetop frying pan method and the meat inside was perfectly heated.

It was definitely love at first bite!

And the clean up was crazy easy too. I just waited for the grill to cool down and then wiped the plates with a paper towel since there wasn’t any residue left on the plates other than a little bit of grease from the butter.

A few days later I grilled up some smoked sausages.

Sausages don’t squish like sandwiches when you cook them with the cover closed, so the cover didn’t want to float too well at first.

Jiggling the handle and opening and closing the cover a couple of times fixed that and the back tilted so it would be flat against the sausages. Now I always look at the grill from the side to make sure the lid is positioned correctly for optimal cooking.

Almost done! Yum, another winner winner not a chicken dinner. 🙂

What I like

  • Easy to use
  • Easy cleanup
  • Faster than using a frying pan to grill/fry meat and toast sandwiches

What needs to be improved

  • A longer power cord would be nice

Final thoughts

The Cuisinart GR-5B Series Griddler FIVE tabletop grill and panini press has become a regularly used cooking appliance in my home. My favorite use for it is to make toasted sandwiches because it makes them quick and perfectly. I also like to use it grill up chicken breasts, sausages, pork cutlets, etc. I prefer to use the GR-5B with the cover in the closed position because it keeps grease spatters to a minimum which means less clean up for me. And speaking of clean up, popping the plates off and throwing them and the drip tray in the dishwasher is about as easy as it gets. The Cuisinart GR-5B Series Griddler FIVE tabletop grill and panini press gets two thumbs up and a happy tummy from me.

Price: $99.95
Where to buy: Cuisinart.com and Amazon
Source: The sample for this review was provided by Cuisinart.

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Cuisinart GR-5B Series Griddler FIVE tabletop grill and panini press review originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on March 1, 2019 at 8:00 am.

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