Smithy

I'm pretty liberal with my dry rubs, since I want the flavor they provide. I would apply the rub all over the surface of the roast.

You lost me on the cloves, but the rest looks wonderful! Thanks so much for pulling up this idea. May your guests be at least as happy as I for you've done for them!

It appears that the American version of this product doesn't include these instructions. (Either that, or I'd had too much wine before I started looking!) No matter, the results are delicious. I had an interesting time trying to separate half the loaf from its baking container, but managed to wrap it loosely in aluminum foil and give it a gentle warmup in a low oven. Delicious! My dinner guests and I had all commented on the wonderful aroma, even out of the box. Bright, fruity citrus flavors, warm buttery smells. It was even better after gentle warming. Happy? No, we were delighted!

Given that it's a Teflon-type nonstick coating, I don't see why it couldn't go into the dishwasher. Maybe I misunderstood which inserts should be hand-washed. I'll look again, but as you can see it's all put away right now. 🙂

@Maison Rustique, and anyone else who's interested or wants a laugh, here's my suboptimal storage solution for now. I made space for it in this already-full roller cart: Granted, some of the excess is because the Princessmobile is gone and so far hasn't been replaced yet, but I can also see that I need to start getting rid of excess baking and preserving supplies. (I don't need 2 chinoises any more!) But for the moment, the A4 box has a home off the counter, but easy to reach: Go ahead, folks -- laugh! But this does show how compact the unit is. And I know that Maison Rustique, like me, is busy rearranging her life and needs information.

It's a very small instruction booklet. No recipes, but it explains the controls and gives the usual legal cautions. (Incidentally, one of the notes is that the trays should be washed by hand.) If your "Anna's" box doesn't arrive with the instruction booklet, let me know and I'll PM it to you.

Here are the promised measurements and photos. As I noted above, the footprints of my Cuisinart Griller Gourmet and the A4 box are very similar. The Griddler is slightly larger because of its handle and its attached power cord. The power cord for the A4 box is removable and can be stowed inside the tray along with the other accessories. The dimensions of the A4 box, as it sits right now and counting handles and knobs, are 15" wide (no photo), 6" tall, and 10" deep. So you could stow it in a cubby that's, say, 16" by 11" by 8". If you get the accessories, which I'm still planning to get (the deep dish tray, muffin tray and octopus tray) when they come available, of course there will be a bit more space required. I have no idea how well all those things will nest. The photos and dimensions I'm giving here are the box with both of the included trays inside it. As for removing a hot tray: that may require a bit of fiddling. The fits is fairly tight, but there's a deliberate gap between the rim of the tray and the edge of the box. That gap is intended to allow the thin side of the little silicone "pot holders" at either edge. It took a little bit of wiggling to actually get the skinny holders worked into their slots so I could grab the pan. A spatula would probably be helpful for lifting the pan slightly to get the pot holder seated. I wouldn't want to try that with a fully loaded and sloppy tray. Now I understand the cautionary note in the manual, that recommends putting some larger pot atop the tray if there's a lot of liquid. Actually, it may be possible to make some sort of sling around the edges of the tray so you could lift it out by its handles. You know, those silicone turkey lifters, maybe? Here's what the interior, and the bottom of the tray, look like. Let me know if you have any more questions. FWIW I'm not sure I would get rid of the griddler to get this, but I've only started putting it through its paces. It's going to be wonderful for travel (although larger than the school lunchbox I'd originally expected) and it would be good in a small kitchen, especially if you're usually cooking for only one or two people.

Keep in mind that my Griddler came out of a thrift store and I'm not sure it actually gets as hot as it's supposed to. I got a pretty high temperature with the A4 when I grilled a sandwich, judging by the time it took for the bread to brown. On the other hand, I had to flip the bread (as one would with a skillet) to get both sides browned and the cheese melted. I may have time this weekend to measure temperatures and give you a better idea as to the answer.

I'll post photos later this morning to show you, but the little white "pot holders" in my photo above are designed to wedge in at the sides of the insert so you can get it out. The footprint is larger than I expected: very close to the footprint of my Cuisinart griddler, but without the handles.

The grain on those is beautiful! I'll bet the finish is quite smooth, too. Nice find!

I bought a bag of brioche-style hamburger buns yesterday and just now had a pressed sandwich made with one of those fresh buns. I can't report on the Cubano yet because I haven't cooked the pork, but I can now say that I really do prefer the more porous exterior of sliced bread to the finished outside of the brioche bun, even when that bun is fresh. ElsieD, it did squish but not hugely. But it squished and toughened, without the added benefit of the lovely butter (or mayo) dripping into the pores of the grilled bread, and without the extra crispness of said grilled and browned bread. For my tastes, the Maillard reaction is critical and this bread didn't get it. I'll use the rest of this bread -- hopefully on at least one Cubano in the next few days -- but I don't recommend burger buns for this kind of grilled sandwich.

My pan looks a lot like yours. Here's one of the recipes, with instructions: I'm glad I found the booklet. I had forgotten the spray. I think that the shortbread wouldn't hold its shape unless it's baked in the pan. Firmer cookies, like springerle, can be molded (like in my cute little angel mold) and then baked outside the mold. Incidentally, here's the cover of the booklet that came with my mold: I haven't made shortbread in ages! Thanks for the reminder.

As documented here, when I made the purchase; and here, when I opened the box and began playing with it, I bought myself an A4 Box. Last night I grilled a sandwich on it and was pleased. Today, for lunch, I heated a mess of chopped spinach until it began to wilt, added feta cheese and some oven-dried tomatoes, and tossed all until I thought it was done. I very much like the broad, flat, rather shallow pan for doing this sort of work. It allowed water to evaporate from the spinach quickly, and allowed me to stir the greens easily because the pan is so broad and shallow. When the food was done, it was easy to pick the pan up out of the cooker, using the little silicone pot holders they provide. It will be easy to wash the pan, too. Given the pan's size, it will be easier to wash than the skillet I might otherwise have used. As for the lunch itself, well... ...it looks better than it tastes. The tomatoes are too sour to compliment the spinach, and I didn't chop the spinach finely enough. Or maybe I overcooked it. I like spinach, both raw and cooked, but this seems to be a bit too much in the middle ground. So: score 1 for the A4! Proof of concept, and I got that spinach out of the refrigerator before it went off! But I won't try repeating this lunch.

Beyond this I think I'll need to post in the A4 Induction Box Cooker topic, but I'll post this little teaser. I was planning to have a ham and cheese grilled sandwich tonight. Normally I'd have done it in my $8 panini press. But the newly-arrived A4 Box was looking at me, so I had to try it instead. 1. I do think this gets hotter than my panini press. That might have to do with this A4 Box being new out of the box vs. my Cuisinart being used (for $8!) but I really don't know. 2. Similarly, this heated really quickly compared to the panini press. See above comment. 3. Obviously, the panini press wouldn't have required the sandwich to be flipped. This did. 4. Still, this did an admirable job on my sandwich. I'm happy. Oh, and incidentally: the inductive surface, which gets hot, is built into the base plate. Maybe an induction stove or induction plate doesn't get hot to the touch, but this does.

Mine arrived today too! It's a little more blue than this photo suggests, but not quite the light of a silvery blue moon that I was expecting. Would I have liked sage green better after all? Don't know. Don't really care. I am pleased at the packaging. Someone had fun with their marketing. This greeted me on the second box flap as I opened the box: The slogan is repeated on the package tray holding accessories, which I hadn't expected: Two trays are included: one with a grill, one flatter. The inductive surface is in the middle of the A4 box itself, at the right of this photo: It's going to be fun playing with this. Even if the color isn't as pretty as I'd expected. 🙂