MESS-FREE Indoor Grilling…

Tuesday, December 6, 2011 …and the DELICIOUS results! Since the OUTSIDE barbecue season has ended where I live (it was 9 degrees this morning!!!)…this past weekend I decided it was time to haul out my ancient George Foreman grill for a little INDOOR grillin’. But as much as I love a good burger….I really despise cleaning this thing! Mine is so “ancient“ that the plates aren’t detachable like most of them sold today are. And you can see by it’s “well-loved” appearance…it doesn’t have much of its’ NON-stickiness left. So lately I’ve been using it less and less….because it has become more and more of a pain to clean! Until now that is. Hello foil! Where have you been all my life? Take a piece of foil twice to size of your grill area, fold it in half, place it on the grill and put your burgers in the middle…like a foil sandwich of sorts. Close lid of grillin’ machine….cook as usual. When burgers are done to your liking…remove from grill…unplug grill. When cool enough to handle…scrunch up foil and throw away! ZERO clean up! I’m almost embarrassed to admit that this never even occurred to be until my daughter pointed out that is how she and her boyfriend have been using their George Foreman. You can definitely file this one under….I can’t believe I never thought of that!!! All the years I’ve been using this thing…and all the years I’ve been cursing the process of cleaning it. I can’t tell you how many dish towels I have RUINED attempting to clean it. Now, as if this amazing discovery weren’t enough…I also inadvertently discovered how to make the perfect STEAM-GRILLED burger! Any fans of White Castle burgers out there? The hubster LOVES those little gems and quite by accident we discovered that if you cover your grill with foil and throw a couple of frozen hamburger patties on it…they come out perfectly steamed and delicious…just like those funny square-shaped sliders! After some research tonight…I discovered there are a whole slew of copycat recipes out there for White Castle Sliders. It appears the secret of the sliders is cooking them on a bed of onions and the steam from the onions does the cooking. But the recipes I found are all fairly complicated and involve mixing the meat in a food processor…rolling it out between layers of plastic wrap…cutting into little squares…poking holes in each patty with a straw, etc, etc, etc. I think you’ll find my “recipe” is much easier…and just as tasty! But just in case you don’t….here’s one of the copycat recipes I found online. There you go. A nifty clean-up tip AND a delicious “recipe” all rolled into one post! Must be your lucky day. http://www.onegoodthingbyjillee.com/2011/12/mess-free-indoor-grilling.html