Customer Reviews

Back to Basics TEM500PDWH Paula Deen Egg-and-Muffin Toaster

5 star:		(41)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(6)
1 star:		(10)

 

 

I am extremely pleased with this toaster. The big selling points for me were:
1. The toaster poaches an egg (which is something I would not take the time to do normally, especially during the week).
2. It has the option to just toast or just cook an egg if you prefer.
3. It prepares food so that it's ready at the same time so it's all hot.
4. It's a big time saver.
True enough, you could make a breakfast sandwich with a skillet and regular toaster, but you could not poach an egg or boil and egg in that amount of time, and you would have to be actively involved in preparing the breakfast. I can start my breakfast with the push of a button and walk away until it is done. The meats I have used are Canadian bacon and Morning Star Sausage Patties and they come out perfectly.

OK - my husband resisted this but now has bought a second one for our RV - the cooking is easy - but getting it just right for your own taste takes a little practice - WELL worth it. We'll set it up - take shower and return to perfectly cooked egg & muffin. He adds sausage to his. Well worth the space - in RV it's our only toaster - relatively small footprint with added advantage of cooking eggs too. No pans to clean - sweet! Highly recommended

The toaster works...that alone would make this a great buy. Our old toaster (Cuisinart) had one cooking setting - well done. Even if you cook many rounds of toast with the Back to Basics toaster-egg cooker, they come out the way you set it. The egg cooker is wonderful. We now have great "egg muffins" every morning. They are so easy to make. I am so pleased with with item. I ordered it from the Food Network, costs more, but they had white in stock.

My mother got this as a gift. We were skeptical to say the least, as this had been reportedly bought off some TV shopping channel. Tried it the first time this morning, and it worked beautifully. The muffins were toasted well, and the egg came out perfectly---and no sticking to the cooking pan. It took about 4 minutes start to finish, which is probably a bit faster than doing a breakfast sandwich on the stovetop. I don't know if it's worth $40 unless you plan to eat a lot of these. Also, probably not time-saving enough for a family of more than two people. But all-in-all, a very satisfactory device.

I thought that this toaster was a bit of a gimmick ... makes toast, cooks eggs, heats meat all at the same time. You know, something you'd see on infomercials and roll your eyes (it slices, it dices, yadda ... yadda ... yadda). But since it costs no more than any other toaster (actually it cost less than most toasters that I was looking at), isn't huge, is fairly attractive, and it has received so many positive reviews (especially the black version), I thought, why not?

The first thing I noticed when I opened the box was that the manual they included was for their black version and not the white one. What's the difference (other than having the name Paula Deen scrawled on the front)? Not much. Obviously the color of the toaster itself, but also the color of the control lights (blue for this version vs red) and the toast timer settings aren't numbered (they use dots instead). Who cares if the lights are red, blue or whatever (or whether the timer has dots instead of numbers)? I certainly could not care less, but it's a pet peeve of mine when the description in the manual doesn't match the actual product. This tells me that Back to Basics is simply cutting corners and doesn't want to be bothered with publishing a new manual.

The instructions states that you need to push the toast button before cooking toast. Sounds logical (you push the egg button for just eggs, or push the toast and eggs button to cook both). In reality, when cooking toast all you need to do is push the toaster lever down just like any other toaster (it automatically defaults to the toast only setting if a button isn't selected ... as it should). It's another pet peeve of mine when an instruction manual is wrong or incomplete. It is an indication that Back to Basics really isn't concerned with detail. I become leery of this product very quickly.

The next thing I noticed is that the poaching tray (miniature "frying pan") is extremely flimsy. Matter-of-fact, just washing it once bent the handle, so one must treat this important part like fine china or crystal, or the handle will suffer quick metal fatigue and break off after a few uses. In other words, don't touch the handle (except for lifting it out of the cooker). The next thing I noticed was that the steel compartment (where one pours the water to cook the eggs) fogged up or blistered / discolored on the very first use. So this nice, shiny compartment now has what resembles ugly hard water deposits covering the entire bottom and parts of the sides (this is permanent and won't clean up). These two not so minor problems told me that this product was really made on the cheap and would likely see the inside of my trash can within six months or so (but time will tell).

Back to Basics provides a plastic measuring cup (just about everything is plastic) that is almost impossible to read the poached egg markings. I have to hold it up to a light source to even begin to read it. And whenever you push any of the toaster's control buttons, the toaster slides across the counter (you'll need to grab the toaster, then push the buttons). Funny, all that would be needed is rubber feet and this wouldn't happen. In other words, everything about this toaster on my very first use screamed, "it's a piece of junk".

So how does this piece of junk cook? Here I received a pleasant surprise. It actually does a pretty good job. Toast cooks about average to better than average (I've owned some pretty lousy toasters). On my unit, each side of the bread is toasted fairly evenly, but one side (the inside element side) always toasts darker (which may be a plus when toasting English muffins). Depending upon the setting, the difference between the sides can be quite pronounced (on lighter settings there is not much difference, but YMMV). It's also not what I'd call a fast toaster, but at least it doesn't dry out the bread (obviously, the darker one cooks the toast, the dryer it will become). Normally, toasting leaves the bread soft on the inside ... the way toast should be ... at least when you use the toast setting ONLY (using the egg cooker in conjunction is another story -- sitting inside the toaster waiting for the egg to finish will indeed dry out most bread products -- not so with "heavier" breads like English muffins). The top portion of normal "loaf" bread doesn't toast, but we're only talking about a 1/4 to 1/2 inch or so (depending upon the height of the bread). The toaster lever allows one to raise the toast after cooking, but since it raises it only about a half inch at most, that "feature" doesn't work nearly as well as it should (yes, you'll be "fishing" for many types of breads and muffins). It has a crumb tray that slides out effortlessly (doesn't snag) for easy cleaning.

I've only poached eggs (don't like hard boiled eggs all that much) and for one person, this "gimmick" actually works quite well. The diameter of the poaching tray is the perfect size for a bagel or English muffin. For a family, I think this single egg cooking process would be far more trouble than it's worth, but for me, it's ideal.

What do I rate it? Well, between 1 and 10, it probably doesn't deserve any more than a marginal 6 (or barely a 3-star rating), and I think I'm being generous here. It toasts bread fairly well if you like a lighter shade of toast (I do), but the inside elements cook too hot (or the outside elements cook less hot ... take your pick). The poached egg settings cook the center fully (I detected no difference between filling the measuring cup with water to the "soft" line or "medium" line), but basically it does what it's advertised to do (makes a pretty good poached egg). However, in order to get a more moist egg center (but not runny), I don't break the yoke and use less water than is suggested (your trial and error testing may be different). I'm also sure that it will heat cooked meat in the upper tray just fine, but I haven't tried it yet (the steam that it emits is quite hot and will burn you if you're not careful -- so keep your hands and arms out of the way and don't place the machine under your kitchen cabinets or it may hurt the finish). However, parts of this product are so fragile and cheaply made that this toaster will probably become toast before the year is out.

I think it's a shame that Back to Basics didn't really go back to basics, and instead they decided NOT to use quality materials in two critical areas (as noted above). I'm convinced it "could be" be a nifty device to have around the kitchen. Heck, I really like its unique ability and would have gladly paid an extra 30 to 40 percent for a unit that was solidly built. But it is what it is, so buy at your own risk (luckily, one won't be out a lot of money when this thing bites the dust).

We've been enjoying a Back To Basic Egg and Muffin Toaster and Egg Poacher for several years now, and have been so well pleased that we couldn't wait to try the latest - the Paula Deen Egg & Muffin Toaster. Score another high five for Back to Basics!

This sleek white as snow appliance now has a permanent place on our kitchen counter. It takes up minimum space (15" by 7" by 8") but does maximum work. It's so easy to operate that the kids enjoy using it and so efficient that adults are impressed.

The toaster slots are wide enough to accommodate croissants, muffins, bagels, or toast. Thus, we can have a wide variety of lunch or breakfast treats. Eggs can be poached and your sandwich ready to serve in 4 minutes!

There's a warming tray for heating pre-cooked meats and a steamer for hard boiled eggs. Just a touch of a finger allows us to choose between making toast only or eggs only, and the quick to clean crumb tray is easily accessible.

Plus, Paula shares some of her favorite recipes, such as Paula's Shrimp Stuffed Eggs:
4 medium-sized shrimp, cooked
4 large eggs, hard-boiled and peeled
2 tablespoons mayonnaise
2 tablespoons sour cream
2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
½ teaspoon finely chopped fresh dill
salt and pepper
Place 4 eggs in your Egg & Muffin Toaster's Egg Tray, add 6 tablespoons of water to the Steaming Tray, put cover in place and press the "Egg" button. While those are steam boiling, peel and devein shrimp; finely chop and set aside. Cool and peel eggs once they're ready. Halve eggs lengthwise. Remove yolks and place in a small bowl. Mash yolks with a fork and stir in chopped shrimp, mayonnaise, sour cream, mustard, lemon juice, and dill. Add salt and pepper to taste. Fill egg whites evenly with yolk mixture. Garnish with additional shrimp and dill, if desired. Store covered in refrigerator.

Enjoy - we surely are!

- Gail Cooke

I get up before my wife does, and I usually fix breakfast for her. This is great because now I can pack my own lunch while Paula (thats what we call the toaster)fixes my wife's breakfast virtually unattended. I like the fact that you can adjust the how well done the eggs are by varying the amount of water you use. Not sure how that works, but it does. One thing to note: If you use the meat tray, it cause some water to condense on top of the egg in the poacher. No big deal though.

I love egg sandwiches, but either don't like the frozen varieties, or can't get to the places where they sell them in time. The TEM500PDWH lets me quickly and reliably make them. I love it!

this was the best toaster ever for my family quick easy egg mc muffins until 3 months later egg cooker quit working a short while after that the toaster quit working great idea not so great product.

Just received this from Amazon yesterday. Made Egg/Sausage/Muffin Sandwiches for breakfast this morning. It worked like a dream! Sure beats doing it all on the range top! Egg was perfectly cooked, sausage was steaming hot, muffin was crisp and ready to slather with butter. Yum! Yes, it is one of those appliances that doesn't do much, but what it does, it does very well! Glad I bought it.