Party Grill

[paulg]

Went to an estate sale today hoping to pick up an RCA-license Silvertone color from about 1960... I got there 15 minutes after opening and it was gone! Wow.
But ended up with a never-used Sunbeam Party Grill.
You just never know what you'll come home with..
Have any of you ever used one of these? ;-)
Admittedly, I've known these existed but actually thought the concept was pretty... odd.
However, just last night over cocktails we - in a very rare move - ate these frozen pizza-roll things you buy at the store in a bag. Not bad.
Now I am thinking that this device could be actually fun to use... Especially if one can make these appetizers and freeze them ahead. I an NOT going to roll this out on a cart and have my guests clamp their own food into pods like the manual suggests.
Since we host Bridge night alternately. I think I have a new appetizer for my dummies to try!
If you all have tips, tricks or recipes for this device, lay it on me!

 

[whirlcool]

I guess there was a collector waiting for such a television to pop up.

 

[paulg]

You're right

What really shocked me was the TV wasn't all that great and was in rather dreary shape.
The experience was a good one as I was being a bit cavalier and now know to be on my game. I thought being there just after opening for a not-so-great-but-kinda-rare TV was good enough. I was wrong.
This sale was about 10 minutes from my house. One young fella wanted the TV and drove 60 miles. He bought a rather mundane Admiral b&w for 10 bucks as he "wasn't coming all that way for nuthin. "
Actually I was actually glad to see some young blood in TV collecting. I'm nearly 50 and one of the young ones. A lot of my colleagues have disappeared over time.

 

[tomturbomatic]

A lot of my colleagues have disappeared over time.

Do you mean like a tiny white dot in the middle of the screen that disappears into blackness?

There is a segment of the population very interested in those party grills and therefore they sell for big bucks when one comes up on eBay. Great find.

 

[paulg]

White dot to black.

That concept of us TV guys just turning into a white dot - then fade to black is rather poetic. I would put that on my headstone if I could figure how to do it.

Nobody is commenting on the use of the Party Grill. That is completely ok as I suspected that I bought a white elephant.
Actually I probably did buy a white elephant that nobody knows how to use. However, I am intrigued by this gadget and am going to experiment soon. If I ruin it who cares. Someday I'll tell y'all about my trying to season a waffle baker... very unsuccessfully. What I did do is pull Brennan's New Orlean's Cookbook and will try to merge their recipes into the Party Grill format. How's that for innovation!! Sunbeam's recipe for cold chicken in undiluted mushroom soup pressed into a bread-encrusted puck just didn't seem too appealing to me. I haven't tried it though so I should be nice...

I remember another Sunbeam...oddball unit. (Others may argue). I worked at a bank as a kid and they gave away the Sunbeam Lather Dispenser. It had a bar of Dove soap in it and a motorized brush. You had to put water in the reservoir and out came lather. But you were left with gummy soap goo inside. They weren't popular but I would play with the unit on break.
I love Sunbeam and all my stuff is great. But even the greatest manufacturers have a few funny ones thrown in the mix. Doncha think?

 

[perc-o-prince]

Hey Paul,

Let me try: Butter a slice of bread and put it butter-side down on the grill. Put a scant tsp of jelly/jam over each of the quarters, then top with a buttered slice, butter up. Clamp and grill. Mini hot desserts! Drizzle w/glaze or dust w/pwd sugar as desired.

Or, make savory pockets. A dab of sauce, some quartered pepperoni and a dot of cheese: pizza rolls!

The possibilities are endless.

I believe the brush is for either brushing the grill or bread with butter.

Chuck

 

[paulg]

Thank you!

Hey, my first tip. Thanks Chuck ! Sounds like a quick and tasty start to put this unit through its initial paces. I haven't fired it up yet. Will try your idea.
I just remembered... my brother-in-law (who works for a meat processing company) just dropped off a bunch of chorizo. It's still in the freezer.
Hmm. I wonder just what I can do with chorizo and this device? Gears are turning. I see more Bridge appetizers comin' round the bend.
Chorizo wasn't part of the Sunbeam lexicon it seems. I'll just adjust " Frankfurter Sandwichettes" to these modern times.
Sunbeam's salmon seafood appetizer (page 11) seems adaptable to Brennan's Crab Meat Ravigote page 61 (if you have Brennan's 1961 cookbook with the big rooster on the front).

 

[aquarius1984]

One idea

How about using it to make some Rissole/Pattie kinda things of bite size nature?

In the week I quite often use my Breville sandwich toaster to knock up this recipe from leftovers.

Leftover roast meat pulsed in the food processor with onion until its a minced texture.

Add chilli flakes or garlic too or whatever floats your tastebuds like herbs, spices (curry is good) horseradish, mustard etc.

Mix the meat into equal quantities of leftover mashed potato or even Instant powders mash which works very well for this recipe when made up using less water than stated on the packet so its a very thick pliable mash - sometimes add a couple of whole neaten eggs too but it kinda defeats the point of a cheap quick easy meal and can bump up the cost of it by a good 50 or 60p.

This stage needs to be done by fork in a bowl as the food processor makes slop of it. Dont say I didnt warn you

Lightly oil the toaster plates and pile the meat mixture onto it and simply cook until the patties are well browned and cake like. Around 12 minutes is the norm ,

Serve with a salad and your good to go.

 

[coldspot]

You can make yummy mini grilled cheese sandwich. Even a grilled ham and cheese or what ever you like I love a grilled ham and cheese. I use hot pepper cheese if I dot he ham but the good old cheap singles work great also.

Can this thing do pastry dough? If so you could do meat pies,mini apple pies,and so much more.

Now I got to go cook something to eat.

 

[perc-o-prince]

Troy- buttered bread with the crusts removed makes great apple pie pockets in things like this! I remember the infomercial selling the snack maker that made two triangular pockets (instead of the 4 square ones this makes) using white bread and canned apple pie filling. I doubt it'll do it with fresh.

They also used canned biscuits for other things.

Paul-

Chorizo, seeded chopped tomato (flesh only), onion and cilantro? Maybe a little cheese too?

Chuck

 

[paulg]

Thanks for the good info.

Yes, the unit can do pastry dough. The instruction manual seems to flip between pastry dough and bread as the "pocket" type material.
Aquarius hit upon a key point of this device. Since the portions you place on the grid are small, this is perfect for extending leftovers. What would have been disposed scraps can be turned into small appetizers or perhaps part of a dinner.
I suppose that is why I love my grinder. You take scraps from a ham (for example) and they turn into MOUNDS of ground ham great for ham salad. For this machine, you make hot pockets.
For those doing hams today - bring out that grinder and throw in those "useless" scraps. I swear you'll eat for a week on the result. It surprised me.
Thanks for the ideas. I've got some free time next week and so I am going to play with this and have fun.

 

[perc-o-prince]

bring out that grinder and throw in those "useless"

No such thing as useless scraps!

I just got done cutting the ham off the bone, leaving enough for a decent boil as a start for split pea soup. Some will be for sandwiches, some will be for breakfast ham, some for scalloped potatoes, et cetera.

Chuck

 

[coldspot]

I have to keep a eye out for one of these.

You could try mini meatball or meatloaf sandwich. Can not till size of pockets but say half a meatball sauce and a little cheeses and bread. I would put some garlic on the butter side of the bread for the meatball.

You could also do pigs in a blanket. even bread egg and meat or hash. Heck even canned biscuits would work.

left over roast beef and some gravy and make mini pot pies.

If I had one of these it would get a work out big time.

 

[paulg]

Garlic

Great ideas with garlic, meatballs. Boy do I love cilantro. My date with this unit is tomorrow evening. First I'm going to COSTCO to buy motor oil, food and Crown Royal and ink cartridges. Let's hope I don't mix them up !

 

[paulg]

OK, here we go...

Tonight was the first spin using this machine.
First, my attitude was not of trying to get perfect results but to just play with it and just see what happens.
I did have a couple of glasses of wine too.
Much to my complete surprise, the results were quite good.
I did plain cheese appetizers, cheese with pickle and crabmeat ravigote. All came out crispy and well formed and they all tasted quite good. I froze half to see how they will fare later.

A couple of tips:

The instruction manual is absolutely spot-on. Have butter, bread handy. Have your condiments on the bread before placing them on the grids. Use scissors to cut them apart afterward. Breaking them apart works but yields ugly results. I started on medium heat setting which worked well. Have tongs handy too to remove the toasts.

Buy LOTS of bread. I bought two jumbo white-bread loaves and used one completely. Remember, each cycle of this machine uses 6 slices of bread.

Have LOTS of melted butter handy. You have to brush the grids and the bread. You'll use much butter.

The appetizers themselves are quite filling. I had about six and was getting quite full.

My first impression:
If you have a "clean the refrigerator" night, this device is for you. Take little bits of this and that, butter your bread and clamp yourself into some decent appetizers. I had a bag of aging shredded cheddar. They turned into easy appetizers tonight. Woo hoo no waste.

The unit worked exactly as the instruction manual stated and is very good at what it does. The results are not "guest quality" in my opinion but I didn't exactly try that hard.

The unit is not messy. It is so good at clamping that it didn't ooze. It cleaned up perfectly afterward and actually looks perfectly new again. Nice job Sunbeam.

These appetizers were sort of appetite killers for me. They would replace dinner rather than add to it. Don't serve these if you want people to still have room for dinner. Not diet food either in my opinion.

I look forward to using this again. Here's how. Hubby and I have rather stressful jobs and sometimes one of us comes through the door and blurts "I WANT A MARTINI !!" Trust me, we are not lushes but we do enjoy our evening cocktails. While dearest shakes the cocktails I can raid the fridge and clamp some tasty (and absorbent) appetizers.

 

[coldspot]

Cool this unit sound total worth it. For 1 or 2 people you could do a whole dinner with it fast and easy. Wonder why they no longer make this type of cooker. Heck I would buy a few for gifts.

 

[rp2813]

Wonder why they no longer make this type of cooker.

Sunbeam may not produce the Party Grill anymore, but there are "Snakmaster" and other knock-offs in the thrift stores all the time. They do the same thing, but I don't think any of these later versions have the option of varying the temperature.

Paul cites some issues that Dave and I experienced when we had a Snakmaster, which we received as a gift. It's easy to fill up on what these toasters produce due to the amount of bread involved. I also agree that what is turned out isn't exactly guest-quality. We ended up throwing our Snakmaster on the donation pile when we moved a few years ago, but I recently found a beefy and barely used Villaware "croque" maker at a thrift store, so we have (a variation of) one again.

We often used flour tortillas instead of bread, filling them with refried beans and cheese, or anything else we felt like. The tortillas were lighter than bread and generally allowed for more filling and less casing.

 

[paulg]

Tortillas

Great idea. Thanks for the tip.
Again, Tortillas (as you suggest) and unused chorizo (that I have in the freezer) may just add a bit of twist to its their original recipe pallette ....

 

[mixguy]

Another crust idea

I wonder if wonton wrappers would work? Brushing melted butter on the side against the grill plates. And possibly using an egg wash to seal the top and bottom crusts together.