Rourke's Random Musings

The partial success of my attempt to reproduce the Sunflower Inn’s raised Belgian waffles prompted to me upgrade my four year old waffler. The Villaware waffler I’ve been using was a gift from Jen that I’ve been using with reasonable success for just about four years now. Jen and I both started lusting after a new waffle iron after staying at a Best Western that allows guests to make their own waffles using a commercial waffler that rotated the waffles 180 degrees. Gravity pushes the batter against all surfaces of the waffle iron and you end up with a crisper, more even waffle. On top of the rotation, I’ve read reviews that seem to indicate that the Villaware irons just don’t get as hot as higher quality waffle irons. When making waffles, heat is everything.

After just a little poking around I was able to narrow the search down to two models, the $80 Waring Pro Waffle Maker and the $240 KitchenAid Pro Line Waffle Maker. Both wafflers elicit nearly unanimous praise in reviews on relevant websites. The Waring Pro has a Wize rating that’s a touch higher, but that seems to be because there are so many reviews for it — the few negative reviews are completely overwhelmed by hundreds of positive reviews. After asking folks in various stores and really poking through the reviews I decided that the extra $160 would definitely buy me the ability to make two waffles at a time (not a huge issue for me) and might buy me a little durability and a non-stick surface good enough so I wouldn’t need PAM. That didn’t seem worth $160, so I went with the Waring Pro. You can see the new addition to our kitchen in the above-right picture.

I couldn’t resist firing the waffle iron up the next morning, so I made a batch of AB’s waffles. The waffles were more even, thicker, and crisper than when made with the Villaware waffle iron. In fact, with the waffle iron turned all the way up to maximum the waffles were as crisp as a non-yeast waffle is going to get. As long as you don’t mind your waffles a little darker in color, I’d recommend making AB’s waffles with the waffler turned to full power.

Alton’s waffles are a little cakey to begin with, and making them thicker doesn’t help in that department. The larger waffles also require larger zip-lock bags to freeze and won’t heat up in the toaster — I’m going to need to use the toaster over to reheat these waffles. Still, I prefer these waffles prepared with the Waring waffler over the same waffles prepared using the Villaware waffler.

The real test will be when I try the yeast raised waffles again. I won’t give up if that recipe doesn’t work out; the new waffle iron came with three different recipes for raised Belgian waffles and I’m tempted to make a small batch of each the next time I’m in the mood for waffles. I’ll keep trying until I find a recipe that produces crisp, light, waffles. I can’t use my equipment as an excuse anymore. Stay tuned.