Ellen Shapiro x

A salamander is the greatest thing. I so wish I had one. My parents' salamander makes the best hamburgers I've ever had. No grill has ever come close. We have an in-oven infrared broiler but it's small, has limited controls, and is mainly useful for browning food. Even without the safety cutout it would be pretty useless compared to a real salamander. ----- Ellen R. Shapiro www.byellen.com

My parents have had a Garland six-burner with overhead salamander for almost twenty years and have never had even a hint of a maintenance problem. Oven needs to be calibrated once in a while and that's all. One caveat, they have a real restaurant stove for which my father installed special insulating tiles. The fake professional style stoves sold for the home can be good but they are not real restaurant stoves no matter what anybody tells you. Every salesman will say "Oh, sure, that's true of all the other brands, but these Garland/DCS/Viking/Wolf babies, they're the only ones that are really professional." It is always a lie. Well, there is one brand that is a real professional stove rated for home use, but I can't remember it. Steven will know. ----- Ellen R. Shapiro www.byellen.com

Le Creuset (manufacturer of the Screwpull line) has outlet stores in various outlet centers. I know right now they're selling their millennium edition products at half price (same as their normal stuff, just in a clear frosted finish and with 2000 printed on the box). ----- Ellen R. Shapiro www.byellen.com