Don't waffle, this is the (pancake) grill of your dreams!

Well, it's a new year, so it is time for another review. I certainly don't lack products to review, but I like to use them for awhile before reviewing them and inevitably the review falls by the wayside. Not this time, however. I'm reviewing a product that I received over a year ago, on my birthday: the Black and Decker Grill & Wafflebaker (G48TD series). First, however, there is a story behind this gift which I would like to relate for whatever amusement it will provide. If you aren't interested in how I came to acquire such a fine product, you can just scroll on down to the review section.

It was November of 2002 when my then 3.5 year old daughter asked me if I could make her waffles for dinner. I hesitated briefly, ready to say no as I knew there were no waffles in the freezer, but then I had an attack of conscience. I have a cookbook, I have waffle ingredients, and most importantly, I have a waffle iron. Whipping up some waffles shouldn't be a problem, right? It wasn't an unreasonable request and what kind of mom would I be if I couldn't make something like waffles? These were my thoughts as I pulled the old Toastmaster waffle iron from one of my cabinets. That particular waffle iron belonged to my husband's first wife, a woman who apparently enjoyed acquiring interesting kitchen stuff but not using it; this I'm guessing from the odd assortment of dishes and appliances that she left behind when they separated. Our taste in men notwithstanding, it seems as if we had a few things in common. They divorced in 1993 and my husband suggested getting rid of some of the stuff he never used when we moved cross country. But, heck, not only did I have a new husband, I had a lot of cool stuff and I thought of it as stuff I was acquiring from him. I knew I'd use the waffle iron eventually so into the moving van it went.

Six years, three moves and one child later, I got my chance. I whipped out my Toastmaster waffle iron, my trusty Better Homes and Garden Cookbook, and set out to make waffles. I used the obscene amount of oil called for and separated the white from the yolk. Then I put the specified amount of batter onto the heated waffle plates. Unfortunately I didn't grease the iron first. My thought was that it was a non-stick surface and I'm always using oil on non-stick cookware to no avail. It beads up and just makes the thing I'm cooking oily. Since I don't like the way the first few pancakes turn out after having absorbed all the oil, I figured I'd forgo the greasing part of it. Big mistake. When I opened the iron, I had waffles that looked more like crepes, but thinner. Nothing the girl could eat, and nothing I could get off the appliance. I was a bit upset by this point, but I turned the waffle iron off, waited it to cool a bit then did my best to scrape and pick the dried batter from the plates.

It was useless. I applied water. That made things worse. Against my better judgment I tried running water over the plates and washing with a cloth, trying to avoid getting the water in the unit. That made even a bigger mess. At this point I was melting down and good judgment flew out the window. I used a screwdriver to remove the waffle plates from the plastic exterior, thinking to wash them that way. Unfortunately the heating element was attached and I realized that I had probably just destroyed the appliance. Smoke was coming out of my ears and maybe a few choice words, too. Being the packrat I am, I still had the instructions that came with the waffle iron, so I pulled that out of the drawer to read the instructions. Now you may be wondering why I didn't read the instructions first, but I'm one of those types that says, "How hard can it be?" all the while I'm destroying the things I'm trying to put together, as my husband looks on asking, "Why don't you read the instructions?"

I discovered that taking the waffle iron apart was a no no and greasing the plates was a prerequisite to making waffles. Meanwhile the girl was asking, "Are my waffles done yet?" Nope, Mom's a dope. At this point I heated up a pan and tried using the batter to make pancakes. The result was a dark, greasy pancake that had me wailing and gnashing my teeth. I threw the pancakes in the trash and was screaming about my failure as a human being. You may have figured out that my coping skills are poor, especially near the holidays, but what kind of moron can't even make pancakes? I was eyeing the pantry at this point, thinking of having a shot of something to calm my nerves. I tried swigging brandy from the bottle, but it burned my throat, so I put some Maker's Mark in a glass and was gentler about it. A bit later, I used the rest of the batter to make the pancakes, and they turned out well enough to feed them to the girl. The waffle iron was toast, though. Two weeks later I got a Black and Decker waffle iron for my birthday. My husband made sure to buy the one that had removable plates.

For the record, yes, I destroyed the waffle maker the first time I used it, after toting it around for years. And, no, it wasn't some subconscious attempt on my part to destroy anything that belonged the the first wife. I like her stuff!

The Review
Since receiving the Black & Decker waffle iron, I've put it to good use. It has removable plates (or grids according to Black & Decker) that are smooth on one side for making pancakes or something small like eggs or a grilled cheese sandwich. The other side is waffled and subdivided into quarters for the purpose of baking a waffle that can easily be cut into 4 smaller ones, each about the size of a toaster waffle. The shiny chrome exterior has plastic handles for opening the lid or carrying the appliance. The unit has an indicator light that lights up while the appliance is heating, and goes out once it is hot enough and again once the waffles are done baking. The heating knob allows you to select temperatures of low, medium, waffle, and high, as well as anything in between. For cooking pancakes I always use the high setting as it cools down once the lid is up for open grilling.

The first time I made pancakes, I was amazed at how well they turned out. The first pancake looked as good as the last. Normally my problem with cooking them in a frying pan on the stove is that the first set is oily but by the last couple of sets they are drying out and starting to stick. My father never had this problem when he made pancakes, so I've never quite understood why I couldn't get it right. This time I was so excited that I actually took a number of photos of my fabulous flapjacks, convinced I would never again achieve such pancake perfection again. I was afraid that because I was using a mix, that was what made them turn out so well, but since then I've made many a batch of great pancakes with a cookbook recipe. I even substitute whole wheat pastry flour for the regular, and they still turn out well. I suppose this just goes to show that it is hard to mess up pancakes.

According to the instructions, the grids should be conditioned with a little oil before using them the first time. I believe I read that far the first time because I actually did do that, but I only did it the one time. Since then I've never had a problem not using any oil for grilling pancakes or baking waffles. Apparently I didn't read very far in the instructions; alas if I had just turned the page, I would have seen the drawing of the grill fully opened with both grids fully functional. For over a year I used opened the grill so that the top half was perpendicular to the bottom, and I cooked on only the bottom half. Disclaimer: I never claimed I was bright.

By pulling up on the handle once the waffle baker is open, you can release the top grid so that it also sits flat on the counter top. I actually figured it out myself the last time I used it and was amazed I hadn't thought of it before, but it made my pancake cooking time go twice as fast, unsurprisingly. In this open grilling mode, you can cook eggs and pancakes. In the closed grilling mode where you pull the top half down over the food you are grilling, you can make such tasty offerings as bacon, frankfurters, french toast, lamb chops, sausage, precooked ham slices, sandwiches and sausages. Perhaps you can make other things as well, but these are the listings in the cooking chart found within the instruction manual. Because of the type of hinge, the grill can accommodate food items as thick as hamburgers or sandwiches, allowing contact on both sides.

If you are observant, you may have noticed that I haven't actually mentioned my experience baking waffles. That is because I don't care for waffles and the recipe is a little more complicated, so why not just stick with pancakes? Eventually the day came where my daughter asked for waffles. I didn't steer her towards pancakes this time because I really needed to test out the waffle baking ability of this appliance. I didn't add quite enough batter the first time and had to add a little more. The second time I put in a little too much batter and it got cut off on the outside. In spite of this, the waffles turned out well and I discovered that I could freeze what I didn't use and stick them in my toaster oven for the other days when the girl wanted waffles. The only issue is that the waffle iron "semi-cuts" the waffle into four squares so it has a tendency to separate as you lift the waffle off of the grid.

The only other things worth mentioning is that outer chrome of the unit should be cleaned with a soft cloth to avoid scratching it, and grease should be cleaned off or it could discolor the chrome when the appliance is heated. Also, the grids, even when removed from the unit, should never be placed in the dishwasher. This is stated in uppercase letters under the Care and Cleaning section of the instruction manual, so, of course, I have put the grids in the dishwasher many times. I've never had a problem. I'm not really sure why they shouldn't be put in a dishwasher other than perhaps it removes the oil conditioning. The wonder of Epinions is that you can read about the dumb things people do with their appliances and find out ahead of time what will be a problem. That is if you actually read reviews before making purchases, and I only manage that about half the time.

All in all, I am quite pleased with my Black & Decker Grill and Wafflebaker and have definitely gotten my husband's money's worth from it. The only drawbacks to it are that it doesn't seem quite as sturdy as the Toastmaster because of the removable grids and the hinge design. The grids are easy to put in and take out, but they only fit in one way which isn't apparent right away. If you want to make pancakes and forget to turn them around before preheating, which I've done many times as you might have guessed, you have to get an oven mitt and make sure to get them oriented properly before they will fit in the clips. Since the outer covering is chrome, it can get hot. I've accidentally touched it and while I didn't sustain any injuries, it was hot enough to make me jerk my hand back and resolve not to do that again. With little ones around, you will want to be careful to keep it far enough back on the counter. Fortunately my older daughter, even while insisting on helping me cook, is paranoid about anything hot and doesn't get close to it.