Max. heating temperature
The maximum heating temperature of the electric grill panels supported by the device in normal operation. It is desirable that its optimal indicator is about 230 — 240 ° C. Electric grills with such a heating temperature threshold will be able to fry any food with high quality.
A high temperature may only be needed for some specific types of cooking, and a lower temperature will not ensure proper grilling for home use.
Work surface size
The size of the work surface installed in the grill — that is, the surface intended for the cooked products.
The amount of food that can be cooked directly depends on this indicator at a time. On the other hand, a large work surface requires high power, and also directly affects the overall dimensions of the grill. Therefore, when choosing according to this indicator, it is necessary to take into account the expected volumes of cooking and the amount of space available for installing the device first of all.
Note that this parameter is indicated by the length and width of the working surface, regardless of its shape. Therefore, the same dimensions — for example, 30x30 cm — can mean both a square and a round device, while the usable area in the first case will be noticeably larger than in the second. So in such cases, it will not prevent clarify the specific shape of the working surface.
Plates included
The number of individual plates in the device delivery set.
For operating the contact grill (see "Type"), two plates are needed, for other types of grills, one is enough. So if the characteristics state more such parts (4 or more for contact models, 2 or more for the rest) — this means that the device has removable plates (see "Functions") and is equipped with several types of plates that can be changed to your discretion. Most often, such replacement parts differ in the shape of the surface (see "Surface of the plates"); in addition, the set may include specialized devices for waffles, for pancakes (see below), etc.
A separate case in this regard is represented by pizza makers (see "Type"): although they use two-sided heating, but only one complete plate can be indicated in the characteristics. In such cases, we are talking about a removable plate that is attached to the upper half of the device (lid): when this part is installed, the pizza maker actually turns into a contact grill, and without it there is free space under the lid, which is convenient for cooking pizza and other similar dishes.
Plates for waffles
The presence of
plates for waffles in the grill delivery set.
Most often, such plates are intended for the preparation of Belgian waffles — we recall that they are distinguished by rather larger and deeper “cell” notches than most other types of waffles, as well as a rather significant thickness. The preparation of such a dish is not the main purpose of the electric grill, so waffle attachments are found exclusively as an additional accessory in models with removable plates (see "Functions"). Only contact grills are completed with such accessories (see "Type")
Frying mold
A device that allows you to turn the grill into an analogue of a frying pan or even an oven.
A frying mold (sometimes also called a baking mold) looks like an additional tray with a bottom and sides, but without a lid — the top plate of the grill plays the role of a lid, if necessary. Such an accessory provides additional features that are not available with a more traditional design. For example, you can cook dishes with sauce/gravy, or effectively bake food in a frying mold — in the second case, the heating is more uniform than just between the contact grill plates.
