Thursday, September 5, 2019

A waffle iron stove???


I was intrigued to read that the humble waffle iron can be used as a makeshift stove, with surprisingly interesting results.

We were not waffle traditionalists—just a family without an oven, desperate for new ways to heat food. After that first encounter with gridded cornbread, we grabbed the cheapest waffle maker we could find and began to experiment.

We started by replicating the cornbread waffles. After some tinkering, we had the recipe down. Our first homegrown success was chocolate waffle cake. The brilliance of cake as a waffle is that all those dents fill up with frosting. To this day, despite access to ovens, my kids want chocolate waffle cake for their birthdays.

After the cake success, we tried banana bread (excellent). Then we made chocolate chip banana bread (even better). Then chocolate chip cookies (difficult to perfect). Later, after we experimented with hash browns, we became slightly obsessed with trying just about everything in a waffle maker.

Remarkably, nearly all of it all has worked—though it's possible that two years of van life made our palettes more forgiving.
Not long into our waffling days, we discovered that we were not the first family to worship the waffle maker. There was a blog, Wafflizer.com, now known as Will It Waffle?, which spawned a waffling cookbook of the same name.



There were other cookbooks, though I haven't read them. Experimenting—especially with kids eager to learn to cook—is more fun.

We also discovered that, quite often, companies themselves had recipes adjusted to work in waffle maker. Info on the box of a cornbread mix mentioned that the secret to better cornbread waffles was more oil. (This is actually true in a broad sense as long as you don't get carried away.)

As we explored the growing world of waffling online, we came to realize that there's very little a waffle machine can't do. Daniel Shumski, author of Will It Waffle, includes recipes for things as exotic as Miso-maple glazed salmon, waffled tamale pie, and even filet mignon.

There's more at the link.

We don't own a waffle iron, but reading that article, and glancing through the cookbook (it's free to Kindle Unlimited subscribers), I can see us buying one, if only to try some of the recipes for ourselves.  They look delicious!  Any recommendations from readers as to the best waffle iron brand or model, or should I just buy whatever I can find at a reasonable price?  Please let us know in Comments, and thanks in advance for your guidance.

Peter

12 comments:

DaveS said...

I bought a Chef's Choice 840 WafflePro (How's that for a fancy name?) about a year ago. I use it a couple times a month - it has good even heating, easy cleanup and I've been very happy with it, but cost around $70. One could probably find some cheaper. On the other hand - I've had waffle irons that were a pain in the patootey - this one just works. Buy once, cry once.

Kevin said...

I'd probably buy a waffle iron at a thrift shop until I decided I wanted a really nice one. I'm still using a 50's model i inherited, but it isn't finger safe for small fingers because the metal exterior gets quite hot.

Rob said...

Thrift shops & the like are great places to find waffle irons, back when I had a family I had several and could feed lots of kids waffles at the same time.

C. S. P. Schofield said...

My personal suggestion would be to see if your local library gets Cooks Illustrated, and check their back numbers for the most recent review of waffle irons. Since Consumer Reports started to put Wokeness before objectivity (which I trace back to their bullshit recommendation of as front loading washer, some decades back) I've tapped Cooks Illustrated for recipes, techniques, and kitchen appliance and utensils advice. We only really disagree on 'brining'; they think it's a terrific idea, and I consider it a method for rendering meat until for humans consumption.

I would subscribe to their magazine, but they run a (not too rare) marketing style that has them mail you cars with "please return if you DON'T want this book". This is a despicable marketing technique, but I would tolerate it for thee magazine, except that with my wife's episodic health issues I can't be at all sure I won't be going crazy when one of the cards comes in, and I can't afford too many cookbooks I don't want, and won't have the stamina to send them back.

The magazine is REALLY good enough to put up with the marketing, if you can stay open top of it. I just can't.

Beans said...

One of the best waffle mixes is Pamela's Gluten Free Pancake and Waffle mix. Really. Good flavor, great texture, better than any regular mix that I've tried.

Wouldn't have ever tried it without wife having Celiac's disease, but, seriously, some good mix.

lpdbw said...

For you keto and low carb people out there, google "Chaffles".

You can thank me later.

Judy said...

Depends on how often you eat waffles. Since the kids are grown, maybe once or twice a year at my house. So the suggestion of thrift store find would be the smart way to go. That said I prefer a Belgium waffle iron. The waffle seems crisper and the pockets are deeper to hold more butter and maple syrup goodness.

George Pollard said...

For a Texan, there is only one:

https://www.amazon.com/bcoww-7707-Texas-Waffle-Maker/dp/B0012A8AWW/ref=sr_1_1?crid=3FH9OYM64NWXK&keywords=texas+waffle+maker&qid=1567728037&s=gateway&sprefix=texas+wa%2Caps%2C170&sr=8-1

JaimeInTexas said...

I have a HAMILTON BEACH 25285, for over 10 years. You can cook sandwiches, fish, chicken, vegetables, whatever. Cooks fast. We use it frequently.
The waffle iron will work with anything that is wet but I cannot imagine it working on sandwiches, and such, as well as my Hamilton.

And, as if I had to state the obvious, the waffle iron must have that most wonderful shape. As George so eloquently stated.

Francis Turner said...

Krasnovia approves

Cedar said...

We have that cookbook! It's got some fun recipes in it, and some outlandish ones. I bought a little cheap Oster waffle maker when I bought the book, but I think I want to upgrade - it's too hard to cook for the family with it.

DaveS said...

Homemade Waffles

INGREDIENTS
2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 Tablespoons sugar
1/2 cup Buttermilk (substitute 1/2 cup milk +1 1/2 teaspoons lemon juice)
2 eggs, separated
4 Tablespoons melted butter
1 cup whole milk

DIRECTIONS
Stir dry ingredients together in large bowl
Separate eggs
Mix egg yolks, Buttermilk, milk and melted butter together in small bowl
Beat egg whites until soft peaks form
Mix liquid into dry ingredients gently
Fold in the egg whites
Use 1/3 cup of batter per waffle