Health Grills

Comments

Rob \| 2008-11-20 19:52:09 UTC Was it just my monitor or was the room actually full of smoke by the around 5.29? Also how did you get bacon to turn into steak so well? Can I have the recipe please?
Hugh \| 2008-11-20 21:24:23 UTC Secret family recipe… You need some really good bacon, a bit of salt, and Final Cut Pro.
cha0tic \| 2008-11-27 12:25:10 UTC …and how easy was it to clean? I used to have a sandwich toaster. I got rid of it because it was a bugger to clean as you couldn’t immerse it in water.
Hugh \| 2008-11-27 12:45:52 UTC We really should have covered the cleaning. It’s not too bad – the surface is gently ridged and plastic, so you can just scrub it off.
pipesdreams \| 2008-11-30 04:32:18 UTC (yes, I am going to use a different URL every time I comment) Two things: 1) @cha0tic, @Hugh – re: the cleaning being “not too bad… you can just scrub it off”. No. Wrong. Bad. Untrue. Having owned both a sandwich maker and a George Foreman grill I can say with authority that you can only clean these things with ease if you’re the sort of neurotic individual who scrubs cooking implements immediately after use, while they’re still quite hot. This is an unlikely occurrence if you are the sort of slacker who uses a grill rather than a stove in the first place. The direness of the cleaning situation becomes particularly acute if you cook meat with bone in it (pork chops) or make a grilled cheese sandwich. As scientists, you must know that as soon as the gelatine or casein proteins cool & congeal, they adhere to the purportedly “non-stick” surface like glue. Not surprising, since you can make glue with exactly these animal proteins. Amino acids arranged in a linear chain and joined by peptide bonds = hours of fruitless scrubbing in the tiny nooks and crannies of your sandwich maker, which due to its wired electrical nature, cannot be submerged entirely in a sink full of hot, soapy water. Boo-urns. 2) More science, please! :( After all the grumbling about how inefficient stoves were in the pre-heating episode, and your extravagant purchase of a £100 hand blender, I fully expected you lot to lash out and spend twenty quid on one of these little gadgets (http://www.reuk.co.uk/Kill-a-Watt.htm) to compare the amount of energy used cooking bacon in the health grill versus on the hob. Sheesh. Also, for your geek pleasure, info on the accuracy of & a peek at the guts of said energy-measuring instrument can be found here: http://cafeelectric.com/killawatt/ Looking forward to tea episode.

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Health Grills

We test a Health Grill. Scientifically. No, wait, that’s not right. Sureallistically. That’s it.

Length: 6 minutes

Links:

This episode on YouTube

Credits:

Presented by Hugh, Alex and Paul

Camerawork and Direction by Hugh and Stuart Brown

Editing, Motion Graphics, Sound by Hugh Hancock

Photos by

Jeff Kubina @ Flickr
Paul Watson @ Flickr
Atomicshark @ Flickr

Exec. Producer Hugh Hancock

License: Released under Creative Commons BY-SA-NC

Rob \| 2008-11-20 19:52:09 UTC Was it just my monitor or was the room actually full of smoke by the around 5.29? Also how did you get bacon to turn into steak so well? Can I have the recipe please?
Hugh \| 2008-11-20 21:24:23 UTC Secret family recipe… You need some really good bacon, a bit of salt, and Final Cut Pro.
cha0tic \| 2008-11-27 12:25:10 UTC …and how easy was it to clean? I used to have a sandwich toaster. I got rid of it because it was a bugger to clean as you couldn’t immerse it in water.
Hugh \| 2008-11-27 12:45:52 UTC We really should have covered the cleaning. It’s not too bad – the surface is gently ridged and plastic, so you can just scrub it off.
pipesdreams \| 2008-11-30 04:32:18 UTC (yes, I am going to use a different URL every time I comment) Two things: 1) @cha0tic, @Hugh – re: the cleaning being “not too bad… you can just scrub it off”. No. Wrong. Bad. Untrue. Having owned both a sandwich maker and a George Foreman grill I can say with authority that you can only clean these things with ease if you’re the sort of neurotic individual who scrubs cooking implements immediately after use, while they’re still quite hot. This is an unlikely occurrence if you are the sort of slacker who uses a grill rather than a stove in the first place. The direness of the cleaning situation becomes particularly acute if you cook meat with bone in it (pork chops) or make a grilled cheese sandwich. As scientists, you must know that as soon as the gelatine or casein proteins cool & congeal, they adhere to the purportedly “non-stick” surface like glue. Not surprising, since you can make glue with exactly these animal proteins. Amino acids arranged in a linear chain and joined by peptide bonds = hours of fruitless scrubbing in the tiny nooks and crannies of your sandwich maker, which due to its wired electrical nature, cannot be submerged entirely in a sink full of hot, soapy water. Boo-urns. 2) More science, please! :( After all the grumbling about how inefficient stoves were in the pre-heating episode, and your extravagant purchase of a £100 hand blender, I fully expected you lot to lash out and spend twenty quid on one of these little gadgets (http://www.reuk.co.uk/Kill-a-Watt.htm) to compare the amount of energy used cooking bacon in the health grill versus on the hob. Sheesh. Also, for your geek pleasure, info on the accuracy of & a peek at the guts of said energy-measuring instrument can be found here: http://cafeelectric.com/killawatt/ Looking forward to tea episode.