The Perfect Summer: Blending, Grilling with Krups and Cuisinart
Now that warmer weather is officially here, we enjoy cooking out with select family members and friends- especially our Fathers, on this holiday set aside for them. And as we get closer to the 4th of July, we thought we would do our Truly Obscure readers a favor and check out some cooking gear in time for the upcoming parties.
Cuisinart has mastered the art of kitchen gadgets and griddles, and are likely to please Dad again with their GC-17 Griddler Grill Centro with Rotating Kebabs. A slightly odd device, it is indeed what it sounds like- a 2-tier combination griddle and grill with the perfect places to cook shish-kebabs and hotdogs.
The efficient 2-tier grill is a must for those of you who prefer to get your meal cooked as quickly as possible so you can enjoy a cool beverage by the pool. The top tier provides a reversible nonstick die-cast grill/griddle plate to expertly cook hamburgers or America’s favorite; grilled cheese, etc. and the opposite griddle size is ideal for breakfast food like pancakes and omelets. And speaking of pancakes, our bunch came out fluffy and even. Though we’d like to account for our sub-par cooking skills we have to give the GC-17 due credit as there were no cool spots that prevented them from cooking thoroughly and evenly. There is an adjustable temperature control and easy to read on/off switch.
We appreciated that the 1700-watt grill was a decent size in the form of approximately 24 by 13 by 8 inches and fitted aptly onto our counter spaces and tables. The grill comes with a 10-piece stainless-steel skewer set and 10-piece hot-dog roller set which allowed our hot dogs to be cooked to perfection. We were overjoyed at the amount of food we could grill at one time as we had hamburgers and hotdogs going at the same time along with some veggies and fed four friends in less time than taking them to the local diner for fried catfish.
Clean-up is the part that irks me the most and this was mostly simple. There are removable drip trays that slipped into the dishwasher and the quality of construction is fairly good. We were able to purchase from Amazon around $100- a pretty great bargain considering the accessories and ease of use.
And for those of you on the go who plan on camping or road tripping this summer, don’t forget to check out the O-Grill from Iroda and the Coleman RoadTrip Portable Table Top Grill. Both are lightweight and convenient and boast decent price tags.
Now, if you can all remember back to the movie “Father of the Bride”, a blender was considered a gift reminiscent of an earlier era and implied a certain housewife mentality. It almost caused the breakup of a semi-sweet engagement between two decent-looking but mind numbingly boring people. Well ladies and gentlemen, prepare yourself for the Expert Series 7000 by Krups, also called the KB720. This blender might break up relationships, but only if you’re arguing about which person gets to use it.
Truth be told, it’s fairly easy to be happy with any old blender, if all you want is the occasional milkshake. But when we blended a strawberry margarita in this one, we knew we had found a kitchen appliance worth keeping- it’s fairly quiet, but boasts 1100 watts of power and 4 stainless steel blades. Our margarita turned out smooth and evenly blended. And though we love our Margaritaville Frozen Concoction Maker, we enjoyed the price and ease of this one.
We enjoyed the ergonomic design and easy to read illuminated button panels, not to mention the large 60-ounce jar, enough for even the biggest batches of sauces. Five speeds and a pulse button keep your drinks coming. The ice crushing was worthwhile, though we apparently need to find a new hobby as watching ice crush as entertainment is about as appealing as watching clothes in a front-loading washer. And there is even a slow speed for light blending. Detachable blades allowed us to toss them delicately into the dishwasher and clean up. We only wished this blender looked as impressive as the power it contains within. The stainless steel and black style aren’t an eyesore, and the base is stable, but the button colors aren’t attractive.
We were find it for purchase online from Amazon for about $130.
