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Description: GT Xpress101: Cook delicious meals in minutes.

Reviews (11):

GTsoggy101 - it seemed like a good idea, but...
Reviewer: H. Metz "a musician" 07-05-2005
Very first of all: I've got nothing against TV infomercials, and I don't mind trying out things, and I don't expect them to work 100% as advertised or fine. For instance, I have bought the Magic Bullet, the king of infomercials, and like it a lot - it has a good niche and does well what it's supposed to do, even if the commercial overstated everything a bit.

So - when I saw the commercial for this item, I thought, why not? Basically, a waffle iron for breakfast and other food items - sounds like a good idea!

So I bought it. Now, after having received it, and after three days of trying out various meals and recipes, I can say: Not everything looking like a good idea is really one. There are several issues with the concept of a waffle iron for breakfast and other items.

Issue 1: The most important one. A waffle iron works well because it has a specific waffle mix filled in, which expands and gets browned. This is not the case with omelets, or most of the other items supposed to be cooked in this. Eg, if you put in muffin mix, and berries, you simply do not arrive at the same wonderful brown dough and pristine berries they show in the recipe book. It is impossible to get that without high temperatures, baking, and most importantly: letting humidity in the berries and the mix escape. Or when you make an omelet, and add fresh tomatoes, it will simply not come out as nicely browned plus fresh tomatoes. What it will come out most of the time is as a soggy mess: the tomatoes will lose liquidity, but it will simply soak into the egg mix, as it has nowehere to go (as opposed to when being pan-fried). The reason for this is very simple: When you panfry, or when you bake in an oven, the humidity can get away. So things can get crispy. Here, very little humidity can escape (otherwise the other claimed advantage, double-sided browning, doesn't work, sorry), so things just get soggy, soggy, soggy. Did I mention food get's soggy in this? SOGGY SOGGY SOGGY. Super-soggy, at times.

Issue 2: You may say, well, maybe we should do them a little longer? Well, the answer is, this is the second problem. While, just like a classic waffle iron, the contraption does not have any kind of adjustments (lower or higher heat), that wouldn't be much of an issue. Only, it simply does not cook very fast. I would say: it actually cooks very very very sloooowly. I am not sure how much watt this iron gives out, but it can't be more than 25 Watts or so. Your average light bulb heats better. So you simply have to cook very very long. Anything, not only the super-soggy things. And food still is soggy, soggy, soggy!

Issue 3: For me, a smaller issue, but still... while I understand that this is for small, fast portions, it is INCREDIBLY small. It's not like you can do a 3 egg omelet in this. It takes 3 full goes to do a 3 egg omelet (with minimal additions of onions and cheese)! And because it takes a such a looooong time to cook, you will end up with COLD soggy, soggy, and super-soggy items!

Issue 4: Also, this thing is NOT that easy to clean. As you may know, and may have expected, from waffle irons. Non-stick is a fine word, but the reality is, it WILL take you a long time to clean it. Among other things, oil easily drips out the back of it (even when using an oil mister, and after thorough seasoning and cleaning), and goes all over the hinges and wires. NOT nice.

The long and short of it: Pan-frying works better, even for small portions. Get a small pan! Maybe if you need to look at small portions for psychological or dietary reasons, or have a lot of work for soggy food - but even then, why torture yourself!?

So, I guess I will try out some more ideas to see if this thing has at least a niche usage making it worthwhile to keep, or otherwise I will now have to check out how I can return the item.

Think twice. Or three times! Before buying.

What you see isn't always what you get
Reviewer: D. Grim Dalton, Ohio USA 06-21-2005
The product is ok, the unit is smaller than I expected, the wells in the unit are approximatedly 4 3/4" long, and 2 1/2" wide. Not exactly perfect for making anything big like the great wraps they make on the infomercial. If you use a 8" tortilla as suggested, you need to cut in half to fit. I have made some of the recipes which come in the book, and they are ok, I guess it would be more helpful to me to know how hot the unit gets, in order to decide how to use the unit better. It is good for eggs, and it's one attribute is that it is easy to clean up verses a large frying pan. However you can't remove the nonstick plates for cleaning, and part of the design of the case is this small crack between the case, and lower heating elements. This area is notorious for getting batter in it or cheese, and is difficult to clean since you can't submerge the unit. Lots of papertowels, or toothpicks work best. The included special spatula is very very flimsy, and not as helpful as you are made to believe. I will use the unit as a bachelor who doesn't like lots of dirty dishes. Yet this is just another example of how a infomercial can make a so-so product look like it will change your life.

The unit has the typical weird smell when you use it the first time, I would suggest heating it up for about an hour before using it to lessen the effect. On a positive note, the machine is built fairly well, and has a small footprint on your counter, if it wasn't for the use of 1970's technology without interchangeable plates like a waffle matter/sandwich grill, this product isn't really anything new.

Great!
Reviewer: S. B. Doty Virginia 04-10-2005
I just got my GT Xpress 101. I love it. I made an omelet and it came out great. I'm on the 6-week body makeover and this will be a wonderful asset. I can make a lot of my meals for 1 since I am the only one in my household on this program. It's well worth the money.

Great for making breakfast!
Reviewer: S. Iverson 03-24-2005
My kids love eggs for breakfast so I bought this specifically to help with my morning meals. It is very easy to operate. Even though the unit is nonstick I always spray it with a nonstick cooking spray prior to use. We can make perfect poached eggs in 3 minutes and ham and cheese omlettes in about 8-10 minutes. The machine heats up extremely fast. I plug it in before I get out my ingredients and by the time I have my stuff ready to put in the machine it is hot. I also have made ham & cheese flour tortilla wraps. I usually make quesadillas on the stove but having wraps is a nice change. They turn out lightly golden brown and the cheese perfectly melted in about 8 minutes.

So far breakfast is all I've used mine for. Clean up has been easy so far and has only required wiping down with paper towels. The dried on cheese has wiped off easily. It does not come apart for cleaning so I'm not sure how it will clean up if something greasy or messy was prepared. I think I'll use nonstick cooking spray every time I use it.

I love it and would buy it again.

GTxpress101 is amazing!
Reviewer: Anonymous Toronto, Ontario 08-25-2006
The GTxpress101 is such a great product. I can make breakfasts, lunches, diners, deserts. I can make everything on the GTxpress101. Cathy Mitchell garaunteed that this machine is amazing and she was right. All you need is a damp sponge to clean it and you're done. You can make chicken, steak, cinnamon buns and garlic break in less time then it takes to preheat your oven!
And who doesn't have room for the GTxpress101? it takes up less room then a toaster.

I love it but...
Reviewer: Anonymous Culver City CA 09-20-2006
I love my new Xpress101. It cooks great but I have had one disaster which may not make it recoverable. I cooked a piece of salmon with a sticky Korean barbecue sauce on it and forgot to pull out the plug. By the time I got back to it (the salmon was delicious!), the Xpress had caked on crud that I can't get off and now have lost some of the nonstick surface. I wish the pan was removable and could be put in a dishwasher--how hard would that be to change?--and there were better cleaning instructions other than just soak it in water. Forget about it. It didn't work and now everything sticks, even with oil. Anybody have ideas about what works to clean stuck on food?

GT Xpress101
Reviewer: huck Fin 12-15-2006
do not buy it= its a peace of shit= sticks even with Pam and the unit is to small to cook with / ON TV the unit looks BIG/ very bad product

GT Xpress101 bad product

Not bad
Reviewer: Deb B Bernville PA 01-06-2007
When I bought mine, it was a buy the regular one and get the Deluxe 101 at the same price. I have not used the small one yet. Will probably give it to my mother-in-law for a gift. The Deluxe has 4 wells. I think the spatula is too small, it should be longer and more like the shape of the well. Generally everything I have made has turned out pretty well. Eggs were great, and still had dippy yolks. A little tricky getting them out of the pan. When using a recipe calling for pie filling, go easy on the filling. It oozed out of the crepes and made a sticky mess to clean up. The stuffed fish filets were tasty. I think this will be a great low carb meal maker, as the low carb recipes look pretty good. I use cooking spray each time and clean up has been easy with a paper towel (except with the gooey pie filling).

perfect for dieters
Reviewer: kathy k. ga 07-14-2007
My husband is on a special diet for the remander of his life and cannot have sodium, potassium, or sugar. This express 101 is perfect for making his meals. I can adjust the recipes for him and cook the right preportion for him as well. a whole meal at once. My mother gave me mine and I don't have to heat a large oven to cook for us anymore.

bus driver

Good Buy
Reviewer: Anonymous Iowa 09-16-2007
My husband loves the black bean omelett available at I-Hop so I thought that the GTXpress might help so that he can have them other then on the weekends. Mine arrived nicely packed and I appreciate the free extra one - great if we have his sis and her husband over.

I did not find the omeletts soggy at all - but I did not add tomatoes. If that is a problem, why not add chopped tomatoes on the top, you can even microwave the tomatoes first. The Xpress is easy to use and clean up is a breeze. Just pour and walk away. Unlike a frying pan, which I feel I have to constantly monitor. Clean up is a breeze. It doesn't take up any space.

ALSO, my husband loves wraps which can be kind of pricy. He found some

Worth it to me!
Reviewer: Anonymous Keizer, Oregon 12-30-2007
I originally bought my GTXpress101 2 years ago when I was on shopping binge on QVC. Like most stuff at that time, I put it away when I got it and didn't think about it again. About a month ago my wife found the unit in our food pantry and decided we needed to try it out.
The first recipe we tried was Chicken Cordon Bleu. It turned out great! I was hooked. We both use the GTXpress101 to cook different things. The portion sizes are just right, which is nice for a change. I have made many recipes and am looking for more. If you have created any recipes that are not in any of the six cookbooks and are willing to share, that would be great.
I'll admit that cooking on high all the time is not really a good thing, but when you are in hurry in the morning, it's nice to have that breakfast burrito ready to go.
I have recommended this product to my friends and family.

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