Great Waffle Irons Of The 21st Century

About a week ago I happened to catch an episode of Alton Brown’s Good Eats show where he was talking about waffles. Now, I’m not usually a person who enjoys sweet foods all that much — especially in the morning — but I do have a weak spot for waffles. Good waffles. And let me explain what I’m talking about when I write “good waffles”. I’m talking about a waffle that’s slightly crisp on the outside and a bit softer on the inside. I’m talking about a waffle without a lot of sugar in it. A waffle with deep pockets for holding little pools of butter and syrup. Or maybe strawberry jam. I’m NOT talking about something covered in whipped cream.

Blech. Blech blech blech. Too sweet! Blech!

Well, anyway, so Alton Brown (actually, his assistant) gave a little run-down of all the things you should look for in a waffler and the one he was using — that had all the great features — was the VillaWare V2002 UNO Round Belgian Waffler. That’s it, right up there.

I’m afraid I was caught at a vulnerable moment.

Within minutes of the television show ending, I went online and ordered one from amazon.com.

In my defense, it’s absolutely indisputable that my old waffle iron was a piece of crap that made really substandard waffles and seemed to take forever to do so. It’s also true that you can make lots of healthy kinds of waffles. Really. And I’m going to be making a bunch of those in the future. Honest.

This afternoon I tried out my new UNO waffler and, there’s no denying it. This is one really great waffle iron! It’s quite heavy and solidly made. It heats up super-fast and cooks the waffles quickly. It beeps when the waffles are done — so you don’t have to stand over the waffler waiting for the little light to turn on…er…or off? I could never remember. Which is probably part of why I always had such a hard time making good waffles. This thing just beeps at you — there’s no guesswork.

The waffles themselves turned out great! It’s a Belgian style waffler, so the pockets are quite deep. There are 7 done-ness settings. I used 6 or 7 on my waffles today. I can’t imagine what a person would want to cook at a lower setting… there must be some other kinds of recipes that need a lower heat.

I really like this waffle iron! So, I was registering the thing with the VillaWare people and I flipped it over to get the serial number and what should I see but…

“Made in China”

Sigh.

Posted by RebeccaHartong on June 23, 2007 under Food

3 Comments to Read

I remember our mother used to make waffles once in a while, and she would occasionally lay strips of bacon across the waffle batter before she closed up the iron. I guess the theory was that the bacon would cook at the same time as the waffle, but the inevitable result was a waffle containing stringy strips of half-cooked bacon. It was.. uh…interesting.