You’ve planned a barbecue, but it’s raining. HO PEI YING finds out if this smokeless indoor grill can save the day.
You’ve planned a barbecue, but it’s raining. HO PEI YING finds out if this smokeless indoor grill can save the day.
WHAT IT IS
The Philips Avance Collection Indoor Grill HD6370/90 is an electric grill that comes with a detachable grill rack (it can hold three 15cm steaks) and a removable drip tray. There is no temperature control, only a knob to turn it on, off or to a Keep Warm setting. According to Philips, it heats up to 230 deg C via infrared technology, which is supposed to minimise smoke and splatter. It takes 5min to preheat the grill.
WHAT I GRILLED
MEATS It took 10min to get chunky steaks to a medium-rare doneness. The meat retained its juiciness, and the fats were still visible. Similarly, marinated chicken thighs and pork sausages came out tender and moist.
SEAFOOD Prawns and squid were perfectly grilled in 5min. They were succulent and tasty, and retained their briny flavour, so I only needed to add salt to taste.
VEGETABLES Sliced tomatoes and capsicums were well roasted in under 15min. They were moist and full of flavour – and sported perfect grill marks too. I also made corn on the cob, which cooked in 20min. The corn was sweet and juicy, with a lightly singed flavour.
WHAT I LIKED
• Smoke and splatter were minimal, except when cooking fattier pieces of beef and the corn, which was slathered with butter. My dining room smelt of barbecue after two hours of grilling, but I was glad that there were hardly any fumes.
• The food was evenly cooked and the meats were moist, retaining their original flavours or seasoning well. But I wished they tasted a bit more charred – just like in a real barbecue.
• The Keep Warm function was useful – I didn’t need to switch off the appliance when I needed a break, and didn’t have to wait for it to warm up again to resume grilling.
• The grill lines on my steaks and vegetables were visually appealing.
WHAT COULD BE BETTER
• During grilling, it got a bit too hot to sit next to the appliance. The bright red infrared light it emitted also became jarring after a while.
• The 1cm gaps on the grill rack could be narrower, to prevent smaller pieces of vegetables and meat from falling through when I flipped them over.
• It was a tad difficult to clean off the splatters and charred bits from the grill rack.
VERDICT
A worthy investment as it cooks a variety of food perfectly, minus the smoke. You can have barbecued foods any time, rain or shine.
