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[JorgeFabregas]

"but then when I took a few minutes off and came back and played the finished product it sounded like something a studio guitarist would be asked to play during a sequence on a TV show where a red race car wins a race"


I liked this. Also, since this thread is quite handily off-topic already, I will mention that my wife and I recently received a toaster oven as a gift for our wedding. She had added it to our registry on recommendation from her mother that its limited energy usage would be beneficial for our limited utility budget. However, after it was being shipped from Amazon/Target, I looked up the reviews and found that people were universally unhappy with it...and someone even said that the glass on the door had shattered, apparently unable to withstand the heat. So when we got it, we took it back to Target and got a EuroPro convection model. Never having a toaster oven before, I was skeptical. It does make nice Boca chicken patties (crisp outside, moist inside), and the airflow seems to make very evenly-cooked cookies. However, we pay for our electricity and not our cooking gas (so much for savings) and I am still trying to justify owning it...we use it very little. Oh yeah, one more thing it does well is burrito grilling and one thing it does not so well is, well, toasting. Any thoughts/additional uses?

[Carlos del Vaca]

Well, a toaster oven handles bagels much better than a typical vertical-slice toaster.  And it's the best for reheating leftover pizza.

[starlight]

Well, a toaster oven handles bagels much better than a typical vertical-slice toaster.  And it's the best for reheating leftover pizza.

I agree about reheating leftover pizza.

I couldn't live without my toaster oven.. also good for pastries, this special potato thing I get from la madeline (it never is hot or crispy enough for me right off), garlic toasties and other things I'm sure.. I have to toast everything.

[sjlimmer]

And it's the best for reheating leftover pizza.

Why would you do such a thing?  Cold pizza is near the pinnacle of culinary perfection.  
Actually, I only say this because pizza reheated in the microwave never satisfies.  Maybe I should try this trick after all...

[pmcd9]

And it's the best for reheating leftover pizza.

Why would you do such a thing?  Cold pizza is near the pinnacle of culinary perfection.  
Actually, I only say this because pizza reheated in the microwave never satisfies.  Maybe I should try this trick after all...

NOOOOOOOOOOOOO.......

~Paul

[side_show]

Eww.  Cold pizza?  No thank you, the cheese must be melty.

Last night I made my tasty from scratch baked chichen fingers in the toaster oven - they were tasty, esp. with my home made honey dill dip.

Also, Jorge, with a gas stove (and how nice for you!  I miss my gas stove so!) you need to remember that if you cook something in your oven, the oven will then warm up the whole house, then if it's warm out, you'll need to run the air conditioner/fan a lot more, hence still using more energy.  Plus I must stress that if you need to bake two things at different temperatures for the same meal, the Toaster Oven is your solution.

For me, in my childhood, the hobo grotto was the equal of the fabled secret garden.  There's a hobo grotto inside all of us, and it's a fantastical, magical place - which smells of booze and pee.

[AlohaDawg]

 I imagine he's dead.  I didn't catch his name.

~Paul

Maybe not. It's hard to believe how resilient human beings are. It takes a lot to kill a person.

I'm not sure I would have bought him a 40 though. It's sad when people are in this kind of condition so close to a shelter.

As for the Toaster Oven conversation:

Those of us with families can not use a Toaster Oven to contribute to a meal, unless that meal is breakfast and we are contributing toast. I would suggest a medium sized convection oven (good going Jorge) to complement a fullsized gas or electric oven. You won't heat up the house as much, you can put it in a room that you don't use (we used to keep one in a mudroom off the kitchen) and it's big enough to actually contribute to a meal for a family.

Of course, also you can use your grill instead of your oven for a good number of cooking activities as well. No matter where you are...winter is a great time for grilling, and the only nearly respectable time to use a gas grill in my opinion...because your friends probably won't see you and it's much easier to light and heats up quick.

[pmcd9]

I wish I had a toaster oven now.  I've never had one, but my Grandmother used to use one to make toast for us many many years ago.  You can achieve nearly the same effect in an actual oven, but not quite.  If I had a toaster oven it truely would be a nostalgic flavor.

~Paul

[Lister]

The toaster oven is truly a thing of magesty and convenience.  Between it and my Griddler, I have an astonishing array of cooking tools at my command.

I toast every sandwich in my toaster oven.  It's got a rack low enough so that I can actually get some color in the sesame seeds on top of the bun before the cheese is meltybubblytoasty on the other side.  Yum.  I also find that the toaster oven produces a superior toasted bagel.

Incidentally, the Griddler is the ultimate pizza re-heater.  Place the griddle pan on the bottom and set the pizza directly on it, then remove the top plate and prop it over the pizza like a broiler.  Complete culinary ownage.

I have no hobo and/or grotto stories.  I did, however, edit to fix the URL.

[pmcd9]

pizza re-heater

NOOOOOOOOOOOOO...

~Paul

[sjlimmer]

I'm sensing that you have strong feelings on the subject of cold pizza there, Paul.

[AugustWest]

I'm with Paul.  Cold pizza rocks.  It's a completely different culinary experience from the delight that is hot pizza.

[AlohaDawg]

I agree. I spent many a morning in college drinking the rest of open beers around the living room and eating cold pizza out of the box.

However, for those of you with slot toasters needing to heat something like a sandwich or pizza, they now make these reusable toaster bags you can put the food in and put it in the vertical slot of a toaster. It keeps stuff from melting and gooing up your toaster or catching on fire.

[pmcd9]

 I imagine he's dead.  I didn't catch his name.

~Paul

Maybe not. It's hard to believe how resilient human beings are. It takes a lot to kill a person.

I'm not sure I would have bought him a 40 though. It's sad when people are in this kind of condition so close to a shelter.

As for the Toaster Oven conversation:

Those of us with families can not use a Toaster Oven to contribute to a meal, unless that meal is breakfast and we are contributing toast. I would suggest a medium sized convection oven (good going Jorge) to complement a fullsized gas or electric oven. You won't heat up the house as much, you can put it in a room that you don't use (we used to keep one in a mudroom off the kitchen) and it's big enough to actually contribute to a meal for a family.

Of course, also you can use your grill instead of your oven for a good number of cooking activities as well. No matter where you are...winter is a great time for grilling, and the only nearly respectable time to use a gas grill in my opinion...because your friends probably won't see you and it's much easier to light and heats up quick.

This post belongs in both of the new split threads.

~Paul

[andalucia]

The toaster oven is truly a thing of magesty and convenience.  Between it and my Griddler, I have an astonishing array of cooking tools at my command.

I toast every sandwich in my toaster oven.  It's got a rack low enough so that I can actually get some color in the sesame seeds on top of the bun before the cheese is meltybubblytoasty on the other side.  Yum.  I also find that the toaster oven produces a superior toasted bagel.

Incidentally, the Griddler is the ultimate pizza re-heater.  Place the griddle pan on the bottom and set the pizza directly on it, then remove the top plate and prop it over the pizza like a broiler.  Complete culinary ownage.

I have no hobo and/or grotto stories.  I did, however, edit to fix the URL.

At the job that I recently quit, I had to use the industrial-size version of your Griddler, and it was a death machine.  I was always burning my hands on it.  And to what end?  When someone ordered a pre-made sandwich, we had to use this device to put crispy lines in it before heating it up in the microwave.  

I have some hard feelings towards your "Griddler".  But toaster ovens do indeed rule.