Two places where you should always look for such advice are America's Test Kitchen and Consumer Reports.
They're both on the web, but I believe the part you're looking for is a paid service on both. While those sites have professional test reviews, you can also look on eGullet.com for consumer comments. If you register and pay to become a member then you can post as well, in case no one has asked your question before. Here are a couple of general things to look for: 1) The evenness and thickness of the cooking surface (look for perfectly even and thick [no jokes, please]. If it looks like it was manufactured in a sheet metal press, forget it.) 2) The cooking surface material (the actual thing that touches the food -- not necessarily the metal. If it's genuine SilverStone Teflon, then you're good to go. Cast iron if good for masochists who like to painstakingly clean and season.) 3) The metal used to make the cooking plate (the heavy structure on which the cooking surface is composited. Iron is best, steel is great, aluminum will work, but better be mundo-thick.) 4) The distribution of the heating element across the cooking plate (how much surface does it cover, and how evenly? More area, and more evenly over that area is always better.) 5) The distance between the bottom of the cooking plate and the heating element (most touch; the better ones don't, IMHO. A gap prevents heating by conduction, which is the biggest cause for hot spots. A small gap ensure heating by radiation only, resulting in a more even distribution of heat.) Best of luck! Respectfully, Adam Phillip Churvis President Productivity Enhancement > -----Original Message----- > From: Zaphod Beeblebrox [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] > Sent: Wednesday, August 20, 2008 11:17 PM > To: CF-Community > Subject: more kitchen advice > > Recently I told my wife that I wanted an electric griddle. We've > tried to use double burner griddles on our smooth top range and it > just doesn't work very well. So my wife shows up with Black & Decker > family griddle that she found at target for $20. First couple of > times, it works ok. Then eventually, I start realizing how uneven the > cooking is, e.g. when you put a bunch of scrambled eggs on it, the > portion overtop the burner is done while the portion inside the burner > circle is still close to raw. > > I've always liked our Circulon electric skillet so I thought I would > look for the accompanying griddle. No such luck. It looks like they > used to make one, but nobody carries it any longer. > > You guys steered me right with the iron, hopefully you can do the same > with an electric skillet. > > -- > Hindsight is always 20-20, > But looking back it's still a bit fuzzy > Speak of mutually assured destruction? > Nice story... Tell it to Reader's Digest! > > > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Adobe® ColdFusion® 8 software 8 is the most important and dramatic release to date Get the Free Trial http://ad.doubleclick.net/clk;203748912;27390454;j Archive: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/CF-Community/message.cfm/messageid:266315 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/CF-Community/subscribe.cfm Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/unsubscribe.cfm?user=11502.10531.5
