Waffle Weekend

[jetcone]

So Ron

that looks like one serious waffle machine, do you have the money shot and who made it?

 

I find the wattage rating is what makes a good crisp gold waffle never settle for anything less than 1200 watts and preferably 1500!
Now you've all given me a waffle jones!

 

 

[ronhic]

I actually have no clue as it isn't mine - yet....but it will be in the near future...

 

[mattl]

Flip and Turn...

One of the places we stay at balloon events has a waffle station. They have the flip and turn type you see often. I'm wondering if there is any advantage to that type over the conventional style. I really don't see much of an advantage.

 

[henry200]

Waffles with rhubarb sauce

I finally got around to making waffles and taking some pictures of the process.

Starting with a super-simple sauce:

5-6 cups of rhubarb cut in 1/2 inch pieces

1/2 cup sugar  (I like it tart!)

1 healthy tablespoon butter

 

[henry200]

Stir over medium heat and bring to a gentle boil, about 10 minutes or until the sauce thickens.

 

Sorry about the small pics, my camera battery was dead and had to use my phone!

 

[henry200]

The batter:

1 lightly spooned cup of all-purpose flour.  Cake flour is best if you have it, but I sometimes will even use 1/2 whole wheat and 1/2 oat   flour for a slightly healthier alternative.

2 teaspoons of Rumford baking powder

pinch of salt

wisk dry ingredients together

separate 2 eggs.  Beat egg whites until stiff peaks form

 

[henry200]

To dry ingredients add:

2 egg yolks

1 teaspoon vanilla

1/4 cup melted butter

1 cup buttermilk.

Stir together.  The batter will start to bubble as the baking powder activates

 

[henry200]

Gently fold in the beaten egg whites.  The batter should be very light and full of air.

 

[henry200]

My belgian waffle iron takes one cup of batter.  Notice the batter hangs together and doesn't immediately spread out.  Close the lid and set a timer.  This particular waffle iron takes exactly 4 minutes for a perfect waffle.  Your results may vary!

 

[henry200]

The recipe I use makes 3 waffles in this iron.  Here's what I had for dessert tonight.

 

[jetcone]

WOW Neil that looks like a good recipe

Now I can't believe I am out of waffle irons gotta get one! I had a Manning Bowman until it went critical one day, the temp regulator broke during baking and by the time I got back to it from the dining room black black smoke was rising and the needle was pinned at INFERNO setting so the last waffle became charred glue/epoxy! The chrome on it turned BLEU. I am really jonesing for a waffle now. What a thread.

 

 

[frigilux]

What a great thread!  Thanks for starting it, Kelly.  I have never been a waffle person (toast or pancakes, please), but caved into a recent craving for them.  Having never owned a waffle iron, I looked to the equipment tests at Cooks Illustrated online, which recommended this Chef's Choice model.  It has neither the stylistic panache nor the capacity of the beautiful vintage models shown in this thread, but it makes a darn good waffle two ways: very crisp outside/moist inside or crisp through-and-through.

 

If there are other waffle newbies perusing here, heed the advice from the posts above:  Make your own batter!  I made the first batch with Hungry Jack Pancake/Waffle Mix, and they were really quite good.  Subsequently, I used the waffle batter recipe from Cook's Illustrated (or was it Cook's Country?) and those were to die for.  

 

Kelly, Ken, and Neil:  Thanks for posting your recipes;  looking forward to trying them.

 

[mattl]

Just as a side note, I've been working over my cousins house, were building a roof over their deck, and yesterday when I got there she had a new in the box Black and Decker Waffle iron sitting on the counter.  She works at Lowes and picks up LOTS of bargains, original price was $39, she picked it up for $0.99.

 

She's not sure what she'll do with it, might save it as a gift or pass it on to one of her kids.

 

[rp2813]

Neil, thanks for posting the rhubarb sauce recipe.  I've jotted it down for next time I see rhubarb in the store. 

 

[mattl]

In honor of this thread...

I rescued this waffle iron.  The Good Will and Sally An got wise and opened outlets across from my local mall, no one would want to go to the section of town they were/are still in.   Anyway was wandering through yesterday and sitting on the top shelf all by itself was this little  Dominion unit priced at a whole $2.00.  I initially walked away but it got the better of me and I went back and picked it up.

 

It was not in too bad shape, but a few minutes with some Dawn Grease Remover and it shines like new!  I have no idea what the grids are made of, they are an odd color and they are clean.  Anyway here are a few shots,  Curious as to the vintage, it has some wave lines and curly cues on the top near the magic eye -which works as it should, kind of reminiscent of the '50s but I don't think it's that old.

 

[mattl]

grids....

 

[mattl]

profile....

 

[mixfinder]

Lokking Beyond

I love to look in people's homes and see what they have.  I was checking out the kitchenaid behind.  The Manning Bowman waffle iron, both round and square kept a vintage look until the very end of the run.  Since the waffle iron is early Teflon my guess is it is somewhere in the 30 - 40 year old range.  The nice thing about a round waffler is that it can draw the same wattage as a full size, heat more quickly, bake faster and produce crispier waffles.