George Foreman George Jr Rotisserie GR82B - By George! I was disappointed!
Written: Jun 20 '03 (Updated Jun 20 '03)
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Pros: It works, less expensive than Ronco
Cons: Small, takes a while to heat up, takes longer to cook than the Ronco.
The Bottom Line: It works, but I prefer my Ronco. It's faster and holds a larger turkey!
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| LisaDo's Full Review: George Foreman GR82B Indoor Grill |
When we moved from California to Virginia, we sold a bunch of our appliances. The plan was that Zack and I would stay with family for 8-10 months until Matt got back from being out to sea, so we didn't want a bunch of stuff just sitting around in storage. We even sold our beloved Ronco Showtime Rotisserie and BBQ ST1000 (review seen here: http://www.epinions.com/hmgd-review-734-17BFC7EC-39A43D92-prod1 ) figuring we would get another one later.
Well, later came and we just couldn't come up with the (roughly) $150 to replace our Showtime. We saw the George Foreman George Jr Rotisserie GR82B on the Exchange website and thought it looked good. We read the blurb about it on the site and thought it was a little more in our budget, and since shipping was free, we went ahead and ordered it.
The George Foreman George Jr Rotisserie GR82B is white with a roll top type front that has a clear center so that you can watch your food cook. It is 18" wide, 13" deep and 14" high, so it can take up a fair amount of space in a small kitchen. The shipping weight is about 20 lbs, so it isn't real heavy. We keep ours on a shelf in the closet when not in use. Our apartment is to small to allow for constant cupboard space. The entire outer casing is white metal, except for the drip tray, which is silver medal with a white handle. There are slots for venting on both sides of the rotisserie.
While the George Foreman George Jr Rotisserie GR82B comes with some accessories, we didn't use all of them. It came with the rotisserie remover (it lifts the items out of the rotisserie so you won't get burned), the wheel for chicken and such, six skewers with handles, an adjustable flat basket, and a roasted veggies/air bake basket (which is circular). The only thing we really used was the wheel and occasionally the remover. I found it to be awkward to use. We wanted it mostly for chicken and turkey.
The timer for the cooking is on the right hand side, when facing the rotisserie. Next to the timer is also a chart telling you how long it takes per pound of meat, and it has it broken down into chicken, turkey, and rib roast, both on the wheel and in the flat basket. There is also a chart, and a few recipes, in the back of the instruction manual.
The George Foreman George Jr Rotisserie GR82B took a couple of minutes to warm up from the time we turned the time to a time that is premarked. There is no On/Off switch. If the timer is set, it's on. It won't shut off or stop until the timer dings. When in motion, it was pretty quiet. You couldn't hear anything unless you were right next to it. It does give off quite a bit of heat, so we had to watch our son. He loved to watch the chickens roll over and over as they cooked. We had to make sure that it was pushed as far back on the cupboard as possible.
So why did I only give the George Foreman George Jr Rotisserie GR82B three stars? I am sure it has a lot to do with the fact that we owned a Ronco before. The George Foreman George Jr Rotisserie GR82B only holds up to a 10 lb turkey. At the time that we purchased it, 10 lbs seemed like a lot, that is until we started looking at Turkeys. It took a while to find one that was small enough to fit, and then it didn't look big enough for us to bother with.
One thing we didn't like, the Ronco came with a stand for the wheel to rest on while you either put the chicken on or took the chicken off of it. It stood upright, making it easy to place the food on the wheel, or let food rest after cooking. The George Foreman George Jr Rotisserie GR82B doesn't come with anything like that, making it harder to put the food on or take it off of the wheel.
Another thing that we didn't like was that for chicken, a staple in our how because of the price and the fact that our son loves it, takes 17 minutes per pound to cook. The Ronco only took roughly 15 minutes per pound. No, two minutes per pound doesn't sound like a lot, until you figure in it's a 5 lb chicken or so. That's 10 minutes. Plus, we also found that because it took longer for the George Foreman George Jr Rotisserie GR82B to heat up, we always added at least 5 minutes to the cooking time. That was usually enough to bring the internal temperature of the chicken to at least 180 degrees.
I suppose if the George Foreman George Jr Rotisserie GR82B was our first rotisserie, we might have been happy with it, except for it being to small for a Thanksgiving Turkey. But because we have had another rotisserie, and we know that there are bigger and better out there, this was nothing but a waste of money for us. Our new Ronco showed up via Fed Ex today. "George" is heading out the door tonight. He is no longer welcome in our home.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 94.95
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Epinions.com ID:
LisaDo
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Member: Lisa D
Location: Back home in Indiana!
Reviews written: 552
Trusted by: 273 members
About Me:
Proud SAHM, Navy wife and member of SHLEPS!
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