Krampouz Plancha Double taste test: (almost) professional quality

Like the brand’s Billig, the double Saveur Plancha impresses with its weight, which exceeds 15 kg. It is therefore not a device that you put away after each use, and you can also leave it in a summer kitchen without fear since it is IPX4 certified and therefore must be resistant to rain. This robust design is due in particular to the materials that make up the Double Saveur Plancha. Krampouz has mainly used stainless steel, although there is a bit of plastic at the level of the feet and the levers.

Unlike the legs of the Lagrange Plancha Pro, those of the Saveur Plancha are not adjustable in height. The controls, two in this version equipped with as many independent cooking zones, allow you to choose a temperature between 50 and 300°C and are graduated every 50°C. We would have appreciated intermediate benchmarks, but it’s always much more precise than a simple power setting, as found on most consumer irons.

Each controller is accompanied by a heating indicator and Krampouz recommends preheating for 10 minutes. As in a stainless steel pan, you can use the water drop test to know if the plate is at temperature: if the water evaporates, it is not ready, if the water forms balls, it is. Food can then be added, but it may be better to pre-grease the plate for vegetables, fish and even very fine pieces of meat.

In the absence of a non-stick coating, food sticks to stainless steel and you have to let the Maillard reaction do its thing before you can peel it off, otherwise it will leave pieces on the plate. Pieces of meat that are too thin risk overcooking, but large pieces caramelized this way retain their juices. Nonstick coatings are much easier to handle, but you get drier cooking. Stainless steel also has the advantage of being much more resistant and then metal utensils can be used without fear.

In case there are residues, we can deglaze and scrape the plate with a spatula and discard it in the tank at the front. This is removable and extends over the entire width of the plate. It is fixed by means of notches provided in the anti-projection edges. At just a few centimeters high, they do not offer infallible protection and prevent the Saveur Plancha from being installed too close to a wall. Please note that Krampouz offers an optional cover not only to protect the plate between two uses, but also to prevent backward projections by fixing it on the edge. You can also buy a cart and a cover.

The double Saveur Plancha benefits from a total power of 3200 W distributed equally between two resistances that allow independent cooking zones. So you can choose a temperature of around 150°C to cook vegetables or fish on the left half of the plate, and heat to 200 or even 250°C for a nice piece of meat on the right. The Krampouz iron also allows you to adjust the temperature up to 300°C; We even measured up to 340°C on the surface of the plate by letting it heat up to the max. This is almost as much as what we noticed in Lagrange Plancha Pro.

In general, the temperature selected with the thermostat should be seen more as a minimum temperature. The Double Saveur Iron, like all irons, turns on its resistances intermittently to stabilize the temperature of the plate, but then variations are noticed. However, the high inertia of the stainless steel plate used by Krampouz allows them to be limited to just under 50°C by setting the thermostat to 230°C (the reference temperature for our tests).

This may seem high, but we noticed a difference of up to a hundred degrees on entry-level griddles that use very thin cast aluminum plates. Only the Riviera & Bar QPL665 really did better at this point with temperatures between 220 and 250°C. Heat distribution is also very good in the center of the Krampouz iron. Keep in mind, however, that the edges of the plate remain much cooler than the center, and especially that the Double Saveur Griddle requires a bit of time to heat up.

Launching at full power, we had to wait 7 min 39 sec for the board to reach the required 230°C. This is obviously the downside of having a thick plate, and we can also add that stainless steel is not an excellent thermal conductor. We also noticed a fairly long heat-up time with Plancha Pro, the only other stainless steel model in our comparison, while Senya Plancha Time, for example, only requires 2 minutes of pre-heating, and Tefal Colormania barely more. Remember in passing that Krampouz recommends 10 minutes of warm-up.

Regardless of what the manufacturers say, stainless steel is still more difficult, or at least technically, to clean than a non-stick coating where a swipe of a sponge is usually enough to clean. Caramelizing food colors the dish and leaves residue that can be difficult to remove. The easiest way is to act on the still hot (or lukewarm) dish by placing cold water or ice cubes on top. As for a sauce, the thermal shock helps to release the juices and residues. But make no mistake: finding a completely clean plate always takes a bit of effort, even with an abrasive brush.

The stainless steel allows the use of scouring pads, but also metal spatulas to scrape if necessary; small scratches do not affect the properties of the plate. You can also use white vinegar or baking soda to help remove burnt-on residue, but we’re sorry the Plancha Saveur double plate can’t be removed for soaking. Still, we would have had to find a big enough sink if that was the case, you say… It should also be noted that the anti-splash rims are not removable, unlike those on the Riviera & Bar QPL665, and the corners can be difficult clean if stubborn dirt is found.

Only the drip tray can be removed, but it is best to wait until you have cleaned the plate to remove it. This allows the water used for defrosting to be recovered, but it is not very practical. The handles tend to unscrew and let the bin rock, which can lead to minor accidents. This is all the more true as the edge is not very high on the side of the plate. Once disassembled, the tray can be washed by hand or in the dishwasher, but its length will complicate things a bit.