A Panini Press, also known as Panini Maker and Grill Press, is a useful kitchen tool. It presses and grills the bread at one go using its top and bottom ridged heat plates. Its primary function is to make Panini, a toasted sandwich made with Italian bread and stuffed with a variety of cheese, meat, and veggies. Panini Presses can heat food to an appropriate internal temperature with preferred external characteristics such as melted cheese, crisp finish, and grill marks.
A Panini Press is undoubtedly a great invention, but does it necessarily mean you need to own one? Keep on reading the article to find out!
Do You Really Need A Panini Press?
These are the key factors you need to keep in mind when deciding to buy a panini press:
1. The Panini Cooking Surface Space: Since the machine tends to take up a considerable amount of space, you have to ensure you have sufficient space for keeping the machine. Before you set out to shop, it will be wise to measure your available kitchen counter space. Doing so will facilitate your search for the perfect fit.
2. It’s Heating Capacity: Heating power varies from one brand to another, depending on the usage. Some specifically designed units provide more heat than others, so you need to check the power beforehand and buy the one that best serves your purpose.
3. Style and Durability of the Plates: The plates inside the panini press come in different shapes and sizes and based on the models, you can either get a smooth or a grooved unit. Furthermore, make sure to note the composition of the plates. Cast iron plates are sturdier, non-stick, and can be cleaned quickly.
4. Invest Wisely: The price of panini presses ranges from 50$ and up, so be confident that you want to invest that amount of money in the machine.
Based on these considerations, some can feel a Panini Press is more valuable for commercial kitchens than residential ones. As there are huge demands for sandwiches, restaurants can serve hot, tasty sandwiches effortlessly to the customers with a multi-functional panini press.
However, for personal use, you might not necessarily need a panini press to make delicious Panini; there are other options available to accomplish the task. Keep on reading the article if you want to learn about alternative ways of making a perfect panini.
Our guide is the ultimate solution to making Panini and other dishes at home easily with or without a panini press!
Making Panini Using Panini Press
Making Panini Using the Foil Method:
In this method, you need to wrap the Panini with a foil and grill over moderate heat for about 3 minutes per side, pressing down with a spatula from time to time. Typically, Panini has a significant amount of fixings inside them, which can fall out anytime while grilling if not contained within a foil. Foil eases the grilling process and makes the Panini look nicely pressed.
Steps needed to follow for the foil process:
- Stuff your sandwich with handpicked ingredients.
- Enfold your sandwich in a foil.
- Grill the foil-wrapped sandwich while flipping and pressing both sides equally.
- The perfectly pressed Panini is ready to get in your belly.
Making Panini Using a Grill Pan:
Grill Pans are the appropriate tools to make Panini. They are cheap and easy to use. Moreover, they can make more dishes than just sandwiches, including crispy homemade home fries, chicken quesadillas, grilled chicken, seared scallops, pork chops, shawarma, shrimp gumbo, tacos, shrimp paella, mussels, tomato soup, frittatas, pizza, macaroni, and cheese.
Panini can be made using a grill pan or a skillet by following the steps mentioned below:
- Prepare the sandwich with preferred stuffing.
- After heating the grill pan over medium heat, place the sandwich in the pan and put another heavy pan on top.
- Secure two heavy cans on top and press down periodically on cans to compress the sandwich. The weight of the cans presses the sandwich down, creating more contact between the bread and the pan and resulting in a crispier crust.
- Cook for 3 to 4 minutes in medium heat
- Flip the sandwich and replace the pan and cans.
- Cook 3 or 4 minutes after the cheese melts
Reasons to buy a Panini Press:
- It saves time as you can do other things while the machine makes your sandwich.
- It automatically adjusts to required heat and pressure, so no risk of burning or overcooking.
- It does not require your constant attention and works fine on its own.
You May Like to Read: Panini Press Reviews
Reasons to not buy a Panini Press:
- Panini Press are heavy machines that cost a significant amount.
- It requires regular maintenance and cleaning up.
Conclusion
Panini Press might reduce the manual labor of flipping sandwiches and keeping track of time spent pressing each side. Still, we think cooking sandwiches on a grill pan for ten minutes does not take away a significant amount of time from your schedule. Moreover, you have more control over the sandwich’s taste and texture when you are making them manually, as you can adjust the heat and duration accordingly. We have articulately pointed out the dynamics of a panini press, citing its pros and cons in a simple way. We’ll leave the decision of whether or not to buy a panini press up to you!