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Plat a gratin


cooperlola

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I should know this but cooking not being my thing....

Is this a grill pan?

I'm trying to find a cooker which comes with one (my installer says I need to go to the UK!) - my dick and harry says it's a plateau a poignee but I've yet to find one in the shops I've looked at on line so I'm kind of hoping....

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Mine doesnt either but I have rigged up something.

The problem with French ovens is that they don't grill well, even when they have a top element installed, and I was wondering if this was because the over door is usually kept closed whereas in Brit ovens the grill tends to be open?

Any thoughts?

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I am a bit confused by the talk of cookers with a plat à gratin. [8-)]

To my French mind, a plat à gratin is a somewhat deep dish which can withstand being put under the grill.

Something like these.

But maybe we're not talking about the same thing... [8-)]

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http://www.lecreuset.fr/Les-Gammes/Les-Ceramiques/Cuisson/Plat-a-gratin-familial-4136cm-810-pers/

That is the sort of thing that I would call a plat a gratin and can be caste iron, pottery even pyrex. I would never expect one 'with' my cooker.

 

[:)] I never grill, so never needed one. [Www]

 

But, if I was going to grill, I'd just get something like this from Carrefour, or where ever  

http://www.johnlewis.com/18046/Product.aspx AND put one of these on top http://www.johnlewis.com/180921/Product.aspx, which I have done, just to finish things off rather than cook.

AND if I was going to use it regularly, I'd order it from Lakeland, or whereever else.

http://www.lakeland.co.uk/search/grill-pan/q02.r16.1

 

 

 

 

 

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I'll explain.

I'm looking for a cooker with a grill pan.   I explained (or tried) this to my installer, calling it a plateau a poignee (right or wrong?).  He said that the only way I'd get one would be to go to England because he didn't think I'd find one here.  I had a good look round the internet and finally found one which came with a plat a gratin.  In vain hope, I just wondered if maybe I'd found what I wanted as I didn't really know what it meant as to me something au gratin has grated cheese on it.[:-))]  As I say, I'm no cook, far from it.  But I do grill a lot.

Woolyb, I currently have a Miele cooker and certainly it says in the instructions that the door should be shut when you grill.  It works fine.  The handle for the grill pan comes off so you can shut the door and slides back on so you don't burn yourself when the stuff's cooked.

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[quote user="woolybanana"]but it could also be that the French ovens do not get to a high enough temperature to grill properly[/quote]

That could well be true, my oven acquired when we  moved here is a fan oven, but I have to use it at non-fan temperatures to be any good - I would say that it certainly does not cook like my UK one did .... so maybe it is that the temperatures are lower, though I had thought it was because it is old (at least 10 years old I would guess) and so had lost some of its power.  Interesting.

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This is interesting about 'grilling properly'. I know when I first started cooking that I tried and was never happy with the results and yet many of the people I know in the UK always grill. I have never tried to grill since.

I'm wondering what grilling does that other cooking doesn't, for those of you that 'grill'

. EG I like very crispy bacon, and even in I fry, it shrivels up and when dabbed when out of the pan has a lot less fat on in that when it went into the pan. I've never had really crispy grilled bacon, there are always flaccid bits, which may suit some, but I couldn't eat under cooked fat.

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It's never occured to me to fry bacon.  What's more my bacon's always lovely and crisp.  I went to stay with a friend who made me a bacon sani for breakfast a few times and she fried hers and yes, it was flabby and a bit soggy.   Not nice compared to my grilled stuff - I just assumed it was because it sat in its own fat rather than it all draining off into the pan underneath.  Maybe you should try again, Idun.

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[quote user="Antonia"]I've got a separate "oven" for grilling on my cooker with a typical grill pan. It's described in the instructions as a "four grill barbecue avec plateau coulissant ". Don't know if that helps.[/quote]Yes it does help!  What make is it, Antonia?
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I've got a Faure gas cooker which has an electric grill in the ceiling of the oven. It came with three types of baking tin: two which could be called grill pans and a cookie sheet.

I'm pleased with it, except it only has one shelf and I've never got round to ordering another.

I use the grill mostly for toasted sandwiches, and browning off a gratin dish.  And have also grilled chicken livers.

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Thanks Christine, all good stuff!  I'll look for leche frites in my search now - may have a bit more luck.[:)]

The biggest problem with these (we had a griddle on a shelf arrangement in our original oven here which I swapped for the Miele that I got 2nd hand from the UK) was that you couldn't get it close enough to the grill element to get the food hot enough and grilling took ages - better with the door shut, though, as wooly says.

I'll get there.[:)]

Antonia : I suspect that they are way out of my price range.  Look lovely though.

 

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This is what I thought you were after

http://www.amazon.co.uk/grill-pans-Kitchen-Home/s?ie=UTF8&rh=n%3A11052681%2Ck%3AGrill%20pans&page=1

Which is what we could not find here and had to get on in the UK.

Before that we used what was like a heavy griddle pan, that could withstand the heat of grilling.
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The "leche frites" that came with my Bosch oven has holes in it so as to keep (oven) chips crispy - at least that is what I assume. You would not want to grill on it!

My Bosch is wonderful, fan, normal, grill, or "normal with kept-in steam" which stops cakes drying out. Also has "programs' so that if I want to cook a chicken I can (I only sometimes do this) use the chicken program which uses the weight to decide cooking time and seems to grill and oven cook at the same time, thereby giving a wonderful brown, moist, chicken but no splashes as it is cooked in a covered, glass, dish.

Oven is also "pyrolese" (spelling?) so uses a program to clean itself, which it does perfectly. I use the program overnight as it is cheaper electricity. I would never  buy an oven in future without this facility.

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Until I read this thread it hadn't really struck me that there isn't a grill pan in my French Bosch oven. It's not something I use, but hadn't really thought that the tray thingy didn't have a metal grill over it - I had noticed there wasn't a handle. We've only had it for 4 years, so could be worse!  [:D]

We have the same cooker in UK, but a double oven and seaparate hob. The grill pan has a handle where the French 'grill pan' has a slot for one. Presumably a handle can be ordered from the manufacturers for this model at least.

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