Waffle makers
 

I just tried (and failed) to make some waffles using my waffle maker. How do I use this thing properly? I greased both surfaces with some butter, but I failed. How do I know when the waffles are ready?

Grease them with butter (or use a non-stick cooking spray). Pour in the batter and close the thing. Check every few minutes. When the outside of the waffle is golden brown and crispy, it's done.

Tasty waffles for all.

Get a waffle maker with a non-stick coating. Then, you can have all the fluffy goodness you need without any of the mess you don't want.

Perhas you could describe in what ways your waffles failed. Too burnt? Came out soft and runny? Half-stuck in the mold?

I used to make kickass waffles when I worked at Perkin's. They can be troublesome but a little patience resolves most errors. One of the most important things is to make sure the iron's grooves are free of burnt-on debris. If there's too much in there, your waffles will stick.

I highly recommend against an already pre-coated non-stick surface because that stuff is cancerous. Use olive oil.

If you heat the non-stick coating to the point of burning/peeling it can release toxic fumes.

I have a Cuisenart non-stick and love it. You do have to add a little cooking spray to help release the waffle as time wears on. Olive oil on a waffle?

I know a bunch of the companies that manufacture cookware claim that all of the chemical which is used to bind the teflon to the metal is baked off during the manufacturing process. Even still, it's not good to ever leave anything in the kitchen unattended long enough for it to get to the temperatures required for this to happen.

Anyway, for waffles, I'd recommend giving a quick spritz of Pam to both sides of the iron. I know the irons they have at "Continental Breakfasts" in hotels/motels are generally set to have a three minute timer, so you might want to try starting with that and adjusting the time that way.

It'll take you a few tries to get the hang of making waffles, you should definately take a piece of paper and tape it on to one of the surfaces which stays cool and write down which time seems to work the best for you. Because I can tell you now, you won't remember in two weeks how long made the perfect waffle for you today.

Some waffle makes turns off the lights to indicate that the waffle is done.

Here's what went wrong, copy/pasted from the cooking failures thread.

Yeah, you don't want to fill the whole bottom section. Your waffle's gotta have expansion room. You shouldn't fill it more than 1/3 to 1/2 full. The actual amount differs between brands.

The other thing is to NEVER open it to "check" on the progress. The industrial waffle maker was set to 3 minutes and that worked pretty well. If yours gets really hot, you might wanna cut it to 2:40 or so.
RR's idea about notating the times is good.

Really, the best thing you can do is experiment a few times. I doubt there's anything wrong with the waffle maker. You just need to know what you're doing.

this thread reminds of how I haven't had belgian waffles in the longest time. it makes me sad. ;_;

I think crash and a couple others have kind of covered what I would have thought of already though. just pay attention and have patience with it until you get it right.

well, speaking of teflon pans atleast, you're not supposed to heat the element they're on over medium heat because that causes the teflon to crack and peel and you end up with teflon flakes in your food. if you take care of any teflon cookware you own, you shouldn't have a problem with these "chemicals".

I'm assuming waffle makers have teflon on them as well, atleast the one I have does, so you just have to pay attention to its condition before cooking with it. it's like anything else, you just have to take care of it and you won't end up with these problems.

just to throw something else out there, if you buy any cookware that says "no stick" on it, DON'T USE ANY NO-STICK SPRAY ON IT. once you spray it with something like that, you have to continue doing so for the duration of its use. I just recently got some new no-stick pans and they work beautifully without adding any sprays to them. infact, I find they work even better. <3

The one in my servery is probably one of those heavy duty expensive ones. But every waffle I made in there came out pristine. It has a two minute timer that beeps when its done. From my relatively easy experience, I just spray the non stick then pour the batter until 2/3 full. I think the amount differs between waffle maker. It's basically experience. Good luck with your waffle making, although it's sad that your experience was not very pleasant.