Choosing the perfect panini grill

I love perfectly cooked panini and hate “single-use kitchen gadgets,” said Amy Scattergood in the Los Angeles Times. So as I prepared to test five manual and five electric panini presses, creating a basic croque monsieur on each, I expected to fall in love with one of the former—in particular, a gorgeous version by Mario Batali. Alas, it and other prettily colored, manual cast-iron models from Calphalon, Le Creuset, and the Italian company Bialetti were disappointments. A major problem was getting pan and press to heat up to the right temperature simultaneously, which seemed like “a complicated science experiment.”

Electric presses, by comparison, were a joy. “You just plug them in, they light up when they’re ready to grill, and they cook panini to a terrific crispness.” The clear winner was the Breville ($100). It not only allows heat to be regulated, depending on what ingredients are in the sandwich, but can also be used to grill vegetables or cook hamburgers and bacon. The lipless pan is especially easy to clean.

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