On Tue 08 Feb 2005 04:20:59a, wrote in rec.food.cooking:

> I just bought an old waffle maker at a second hand store.

You didn't mention whether the grids on your waffle iron were coated with
Teflon or some other non-stick coating. I'll assume they are not. They
are probably cast aluminum.

Non-coated waffle irons need to be seasoned and, over time, become less
prone to sticking.

For the present, once the waffle iron is preheated, spray both the top and
bottom grids generously with a product such as Pam just before pouring in
the batter. You could use vegetable oil instead, but the spray will work
better. When the first waffle is cooked, toss it. It will have absorbed
most of the spray or oil.

You can tell when the waffle is done by watching the cooking progress and
observing when the steam stops coming out. Do not lift the lid before
this.

After the first waffle, you should not have to apply more cooking spray or
oil fo the rest of the batch.

Clean the waffle iron with a dry brush, and finish cleaning with a slightly
dampened cloth followed by a dry cloth. Do not wash it in soap or
detergent.

Follow this procedure each time you make waffles.

HTH
Wayne

Wayne Boatwright wrote:
> You can tell when the waffle is done by watching the cooking progress and
> observing when the steam stops coming out. Do not lift the lid before
> this.

He may also find that the orange light that went out to tell him the iron
was ready to cook with will tell him that the waffle is ready the same way.

> I find its glued shut.

You don't say whether you greased the iron. Yes, you shudda.

Working from a mix, in any case, your expectations should be low. The true
waffle has whipped egg whites folded into it.

Neil

On Tue, 8 Feb 2005, WardNA wrote:

>> I find its glued shut.
>
> You don't say whether you greased the iron. Yes, you shudda.
>
> Working from a mix, in any case, your expectations should be low. The true
> waffle has whipped egg whites folded into it.

....anyone ever made waffles with yeast before?


Lena

"Lena B Katz" > wrote in message
...
>
>
> On Tue, 8 Feb 2005, WardNA wrote:
>
> >> I find its glued shut.
> >
> > You don't say whether you greased the iron. Yes, you shudda.
> >
> > Working from a mix, in any case, your expectations should be low. The
true
> > waffle has whipped egg whites folded into it.
>
> ...anyone ever made waffles with yeast before?

Yes. It is my favorite version.
http://christmas.allrecipes.com/az/Y...tmasWaffle.asp

> wrote in message
...
> I just bought an old waffle maker at a second hand store. It heats up
> well and is in good shape. But making the waffles is another story.


If it is an old iron, the plates will improve with use like a cast iron
skillet. After giving it a good washing to remove any old waffle remnants,
I would coat it liberally with some solid shortening (i.e., Crisco), and let
it heat for about 45 minutes. Wipe off the excess oil, but don't wash it.
If the plates are removable, I would take them off, grease them, and put
them in a 350F oven for about an hour. You shouldn't wash the plates after
making waffles. A film of oil must remain on the plates during storage,
especially if it is an old uncoated iron.

Once the iron is seasoned, you need to oil it before you use it. I keep
some vegetable oil in a plain spray bottle. I spray the iron before I use
it. You don't need to spray it between waffles, only before each use. If
you don't have a spray bottle, then brush on a light coating. I would avoid
the vegetable oil sprays like Pam because they tend to turn sticky over time
and it is very difficult to clean them off once they go sticky.

The waffle is done when you see the steam that escapes from between the
plates diminish sharply. After a while, you will be able to judge this
better.

I agree that the best waffles have the egg white whipped and folded into the
batter. Even when the recipe doesn't specify this, I do it anyway. Here is
an example of a decent recipe, but there are many variation, some using
yeast as a leavening agent.

http://www.bellaonline.com/articles/art7896.asp
http://www.geocities.com/webcipes2/break/b111.html

<snip>

Now you know why you found it in a second hand store.

Buy new, safe appliances, with instructions. Warranty's can come in
handy too.

Pierre

"Pierre" > wrote in message
oups.com...
>
> <snip>
>
> Now you know why you found it in a second hand store.
>
> Buy new, safe appliances, with instructions. Warranty's can come in
> handy too.

New appliances aren't necessarily any better than older ones. In the case
of a waffle iron where there are no moving parts, this would be particularly
true. Most likely once the iron is seasoned it will be just fine. Things
show up in thrift stores for a variety of reasons. I just helped my mother
organize her basement. She had four irons, three were new in their original
boxes. She also had two perfectly good waffle irons, two automatic drip
coffee pots, and a lot of duplicate cookware that had accumulated over the
decades. While she still cooks for herself, she doesn't bother with things
like waffles. We sent lots of perfectly good, some unused, stuff to
Goodwill. I bet that most of us have a couple of small kitchen appliances
sitting on a shelf -- things we used a couple of times and then put away.
Bread makers, ice-cream makers, popcorn poppers, waffle irons, curly fry
cutters, and so one are often bought on impulse or received as gifts. Once
the novelty wears off, they are never used again.

As for warrantees - who bothers saving the receipt for a $39 appliance so
you can mail it, at your cost, to a repair center if it breaks within 90
days or a year?

Vox Humana wrote:
<snip>.
>
> New appliances aren't necessarily any better than older ones.<snip>>
As for warrantees - who bothers saving the receipt for a $39 appliance
so
> you can mail it, at your cost, to a repair center if it breaks within
90
> days or a year?


Fact of the matter is that he got a piece of junk that doesn't work,
came with no instructions, and now has no recourse. If he and you
don't save receipts on new products, I hope you either better become a
more educated consumer(which you seem to be), or just get used to
throwing your money away.

Pierre

On Tue 08 Feb 2005 01:05:48p, Pierre wrote in rec.food.cooking:

>
> Vox Humana wrote:
> <snip>.
>>
>> New appliances aren't necessarily any better than older ones.<snip>>
> As for warrantees - who bothers saving the receipt for a $39 appliance
> so
>> you can mail it, at your cost, to a repair center if it breaks within
>> 90 days or a year?
>
>
> Fact of the matter is that he got a piece of junk that doesn't work,
> came with no instructions, and now has no recourse. If he and you
> don't save receipts on new products, I hope you either better become a
> more educated consumer(which you seem to be), or just get used to
> throwing your money away.
>
> Pierre

My mother's waffle iron from 1938 makes better waffles than those made
today. A few years ago I found a duplicate of it in a thrift shop. Bought
it, and it performs just as well.

Seems to me that you're full of yourself.

Wayne

"Pierre" > wrote in message
oups.com...
>
> Vox Humana wrote:
> <snip>.
> >
> > New appliances aren't necessarily any better than older ones.<snip>>
> As for warrantees - who bothers saving the receipt for a $39 appliance
> so
> > you can mail it, at your cost, to a repair center if it breaks within
> 90
> > days or a year?
>
>
> Fact of the matter is that he got a piece of junk that doesn't work,
> came with no instructions, and now has no recourse. If he and you
> don't save receipts on new products, I hope you either better become a
> more educated consumer(which you seem to be), or just get used to
> throwing your money away.
>
OK hun. Some of us can cook without an instruction manual or know enough to
ask questions on Usenet or do a Google search. I know for a fact that if
gave the most expensive waffle iron complete with instruction manual and
receipt to my sister, she wouldn't make a decent waffle. On the other hand,
I think being a good consumer might be spending $3 on a used waffle iron and
learning to use it while keeping it out of a landfill rather than spending
fifteen or twenty times that amount on an appliance that you MIGHT use three
times a year. Buying new appliances and keeping the receipt doesn't make
you an educated consumer. We really don't know if the waffle iron is a
piece of junk or if it just needs a little seasoning. Let's face it, it
isn't rocket science. A waffle iron made today isn't materially different
than one made in 1947. If it heats and the thermostat works, then it is
fine. The OP did the right thing by recognizing the problem and asking for
advice. That's being an educated consumer in my opinion.

> wrote in message
...
>I just bought an old waffle maker at a second hand store. It heats up
> well and is in good shape. But making the waffles is another story.
> I took some packaged pancake batter and mixed as it said on the box
> for waffles. (same as pancakes but more oil). I plugged in the waffle
> maker and let it heat until the orange light went off. I assume that
> means that it is hot. I set it to the medium setting (it has a knob
> that turns and says DARK - MED - LIGHT. I used the MED setting.
<snip>

Under normal circumstances the sequence is as follows:

1. Preheat the iron until the light goes out.
2. do something to the cooking surface (More later)
3. Add the batter and close the lid - the light should then come back on.
4. When the light goes out again the waffles should be done.
5. Gently open the iron and if the batter has overflowed cut that portion
away first.

Since there are a wide variety of cooking surfaces used in waffle irons of
old and not so old I would suggest a shot of Pam or some such. Once
properly seasoned you should be OK.

IIRC the first waffle was always a bust!

Dimitri

wrote:

> When I was a kid, my mother made waffles, in fact her waffle maker
> looked identical to this one. She did not have such a mess.
>
> I just looked on the web and can not find anyrhing except recipes to
> make the batter, and stories about making waffles, and of course the
> dreaded links to other search engines that somehow figure I was really
> looking for "waffle porn". (Typical uselessness of the web these
> days).
>
> Can anyone tell me how to make waffles and be able to get them out of
> the maker in one piece. And, how does one know when they are done?

First of all, I would skip the mix. Paying a lot extra for a mix that
contains only the cheap ingredients that are kitchen staples in IMO, a
waste, especially when you have to add the more expensive ingredients,
eggs, milk and oil or melted butter. Waffle recipes are basically the
same as pancake recipes, the major difference being that to get nice
fluffy waffles you need to separate the eggs, beat the whites and then
fold them into the batter.

The light on the waffle iron is most likely just an indication that the
elements are on so the temperature is low, and it should go off when the
iron is up to the proper heat. Waffles are usually fully cooked when they
stop steaming.

It is quite typical for the first waffle in a batch too stick, especially
with the old irons without non stick surfaces. The best thing to to is to
season it by wiping it with oil and heating it up. Be careful not to scour
off that baked on oil surface. Make the first one a small one by
spreading the batter around in a thin layer. You also have to be fairly
quick, removing the first waffle and adding the next batch of batter
before the iron cools off too much.


> PS. I am a bachelor and have been judged as being the worlds worst
> cook by the "Worst Home and Gardens" magazine.

I am sorry, but I think that the mother of a friend of mine has that honor
locked up :-)

There is a short article on CookingVillage.com that gives some
hints for using a waffle iron:

http://www.cookingvillage.com/cv/kw/...%3D541,FF.html

Same long URL converted to TinyUrl:

http://tinyurl.com/4df67

__
Rusty
Sacramento, California