I participated enthusiastically in the waffle innovations threads on Chowhound. We are into hot weather now, a great time to get out this appliance as an alternative to hot stoves.
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I seem to recall a âthings to make in your waffle ironâ series onâŚmaybeâŚSerious Eats? It was fascinating: creative and lots of ideas to riff upon. (Though, to be completely honest, Iâm not even sure where my waffle iron is currently hiding.)
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These devises are excellent for pressing a Cuban sandwich.
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Serious Eats: http://www.seriouseats.com/tags/will%20it%20waffle
On foodnetwork: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/photos/12-recipes-you-didnt-know-you-could-make-in-a-waffle-iron.html
I once tried to cook aubergine without pre cooked, didnât workâŚ
I might try the pizza and the hash brownâŚ
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My waffle iron has different plates, and one is special for sandwiches! Original usage is for Croque Monsieur.
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Does it work well?
Thanks for the Serious Eats link. I successfully experimented with puff pastry today. I let homemade plum filling come to room temperature, then used rectangular strips of Trader Joeâs frozen puff pastry (in my freezer for a long time) which, folded over and sealed with beaten egg, made 2 square turnovers.
I let my cheap-o wafflemaker, which has no controls at all, run through a full cycle first. The turnovers were not done when the âfinishedâ light came on, so I unplugged the waffle maker and let it sit for 5 minutes. At that point, the turnovers were the perfect golden-brown. Of course, the rise isnât the same because the plates compress the dough, but there is some rise, and the crispy end result has flakiness. SE calls for a Belgian wafflemaker, which I do not possess. I imagine mine took less time than a Belgian style would.
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Itâs worth it for reheating french fries alone. I almost prefer reheated waffled fries over fresh. The crunch you get out of it is unbelievable.
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Since this thread has expanded far beyond hash browns, it has been retitled. I know thereâs a book by the same title; I havenât looked at it, and donât plan to. Its negative reviewers donât seem to grasp the point that the reason to waffle other foods is to avoid stove/oven use in an already-hot summer kitchen.
Today I attempted the hash browns for the first time, with limited success. First, I waffled 3 thin slices of salami to oil the grid. Perhaps the mixture of yukon gold and onion was too wet, perhaps I didnât use enough fat, or perhaps the thickness was wrong. The edges would have burned had I not removed the potato when I did, yet the inside was flabby and undercooked. It stuck a lot, but I was able to get all the bits out with a fork. The taste was decent. I finished breakfast prep by waffling scrambled eggs. These were removed when just set; I sandwiched a slice of cheese between the two pieces, whose heat turned the eggs into an omelet of sorts.
After eating, I looked at the remaining mixture, pondered, then added a little flour and beaten egg. I got terrific latkes this way! I may never go back to frying latkes. Of course, mine is a household of one. Wafflemaker latkes for a family would take a prohibitive amount of time.
Next idea: oil the grid, place small, peeled garlic cloves into the wells, and âroastâ them in the wafflemaker. Stay tuned.
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Should waffle be a different food group? 
Just kidding.
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The âroastedâ garlic works really well. I did just a dozen cloves in case it didnât. Youâd probably want to halve large cloves lengthwise, so the size is more uniform. I coated the cold grid with vegetable oil spray before laying the cloves into the spaces. Since my wafflemaker has no controls, all I did was plug it in. At the end of the first cycle, the cloves were brown on top but clearly not cooked through. So I closed the lid, unplugged it, and left it until it was cool. The cloves were then more evenly browned, and tender.
When I use the wafflemaker for scrambled eggs, I let it heat up, spray it, pour in the eggs, close the lid, and unplug. I wait a few minutes, until thereâs no wetness visible.
I bought the aforementioned cookbook (Will It Waffle?) last year and have found it to be interesting. By far, the most successful recipe has been the fawaffle - in fact, thatâs whatâs for dinner tomorrow night. The regular waffles are pretty darn good too. The chicken parm, waffled meatballs, and sandwiches were good but not awesome. And having recently been introduced to bibimbap, Iâm excited to give that recipe a try.
As far as other options, this is a pretty good deep-dish-style pizza: http://www.thecollaboreat.com/deep-dish-chicago-pizza-waffles/
Last week, I made quesadillas. My wafflemakerâs grid makes two 4-inch waffles. While four very thin slices of salami browned in it, I arranged onion jam, mustard, sliced tomato, and cheese in the -middle of two 6" tortillas. After putting the heated salami atop the stacked ingredients, I topped it with a little more cheese, then folded the edges over to form two square packets, with toothpicks to hold the flaps in place before waffling. This is a real keeper!
Anyone ever try crisping corned beef hash in the wafflemaker? I made a batch using Libby canned corned beef. But itâs too tasty to risk getting it stuck in the grid. Perhaps there are tricks, like forming a patty and freezing it first?..
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Iâm reading this thread with interest. Who knew? We gave our waffle iron to Goodwill years ago and I think we
still have a large George Foreman up in a cabinet. Tried to pawn it off on one of the kids but no takers.
So will a GF work like a waffle iron? I see them as essentially the same
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I think I recall seeing some models of GF grill that include waffle iron plates that can be swapped out with the grill plate. Should work for most of the stuff mentioned in this thread, though not for scrambled eggs or anything else that starts as liquid, which would run out with the regular GF grill plate. Some cheese leaks out, too. The waffled version of âquesadillasâ I made tend to leak cheese and the juice from the sliced tomato.
I tried making hash browns in our âflip overâ waffle maker the other day. I used Ore-Ida frozen hash browns and the result was not good. Maybe because they were frozen they just sort of broke up and didnât form a solid anything. Had to turn the unit in its side and use a knife and brush to get the potatoes out. Not even crispy.
All the ârecipesâ I read said to mix in some melted butter but that didnât work out with frozen potatoes. Next time Iâll remember to use the âSimply Potatoesâ or whatever theyâre called. Not frozen. Should make a big difference. Live and learn.
Today: beef burger. Very fast, good sear, and the indentations keep some of the juices from running off. It was hot enough in the house that I did not want to use the toaster oven for the bun and cheese, so I just shredded the latter and put it on the bottom half of the bun. The heat of the burger melted it adequately. BTW, the Sporkfulâs Dan Pashman says the cheese should go beneath the meat. That way, the tongue hits cheese sooner, imparting more cheesy flavor to the bite. Also, the cheese on the bottom slows down the absorption of meat juices by the bottom half of the bun, so it holds together better.
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Tried the hash brown thing again this morning, this time using pre-shredded but not frozen potatoes from the supermarket. I added salt, pepper, and some melted butter to the potatoes and sprayed lightly with vegetable oil spray. Much better than with frozen potatoes BUT still didnât get a âsolidâ result. Looked like maybe too much liquid so the lower parts and edges didnât adhere to the central mass. Not sure why Iâm having so much trouble with this method. Will try no spray next time, but this may be just from the water content of the potatoes.
The result was OK but the need to dredge out 1/4 of the potatoes and the cleanup (added to getting the waffle maker out of its perch in the first place) make me ask if this method is worth it. Much easier to just use a fry pan.
A few days ago, I tried the hash brown recipe in the OPâs food and wine link.
I used fresh potatoes, a mixer to shred, and mixed with melted butter, and salt. It came out quite good, crispy outside and soft interior.
For me, the butter should be reduced by at least half. I added the same amount as shown in the video, and it ended up a big pool of butter on my worktop and some getting inside the waffle machine, not easy for the cleaning.
I agreed with Midlife:[quote=âMidlife, post:18, topic:5420â]
Much easier to just use a fry pan.
[/quote]
Not sure I understand how the butter ended up on your worktop and that only âsomeâ got inside the waffle maker. I used a bowl for mixing. Did you mix it directly on your worktop so that most of the butter drained out before you put the potatoes in the machine? That would square with my thought of too much liquid.
