Need griddle feedback

[hoovarmin]

If you look closely you can see that the surface of my griddle faintly resembles the appearance of a house that's been repainted without being sanded - there are shallow craters in the finish. Is this normal?

Second question, when cleaning your griddle, how do you assess when it is "clean" and ready to season? Do the rags come up with nothing on them?

[Panhead John]

I’m no help, but I’ll be following…. Uncle Bob jfmorris Steve B

[hoovarmin]

I know this is headed toward you trying to get me to order a Pit Boss, Johnny.

[Panhead John]

Well, it’s just that …I’ve ..I’ve..I’ve never seen a griddle with pits before….

[hoovarmin]

LOL Panhead John I'm so sorry to rob you of your innocence 😂

[Steve R.]

That used to drive me crazy when I first got my Blackstone. Yours has more "texture" than mine, but you're always going to have at least some of that.

As far as cleaning it, I scrape it gently with a spatula, then slowly pour a couple of cups of hot tap water on the still hot griddle, which should float the remaining grease and other crud away so you can put it through the grease collector. If I feel the need, I might do another round of hot water. Then your paper towel shouldn't have much of anything on it when you wipe it down.

[hoovarmin]

Good words, Steve. Thank you.

[MsTwiggy]

Has it always been like that? It could be a patina from cooking oil. Short of using a physical process to smooth it (sanding, scraping, scotch brite pad) I would try oven cleaner or Dawn Platinum power wash. I have taken to cleaning all of my CI and my griddle with soap after use so it doesn't get gunky. I then store with a thin coat of flax oil.

[Oak Smoke]

Does anyone use a griddle brick any more? They were popular in all the hamburger joints when I was young. I looked on line, there are several brands still available.

[Oak Smoke]

They were all very black I never would have guessed they were stainless. I’m talking the late 1960’s.

[Steve R.]

That's before my time. I'm thinking back to my teenage days at McDonald's and Wendy's in the 80s.

[pkadare]

I have the one from Blackstone for my, well Blackstone, and use it in the spring to give it a good clean and then season again. I can't imaging being able to use it to strip the seasoning off however, all it really does on mine (which looks exactly like yours) is to smooth it up.

[Jfrosty27]

I have never heard of a griddle brick. But. Used a cast iron, rectangular bacon/burger press just last night. It’s heavy and I just set it on the burgers to get griddle contact. Works great.

[WayneT]

I’ve used salt as an abrasive to scrub my CI griddles after carbon build up. Haven’t used it on SS.

[tamidw]

I’ve been reading many people cook up a bunch of onions on their flattop when they’re trying to get the surface in tiptop shape. I haven’t done it yet, but have been wanting to as mine has some of same surface stuff like yours.

[DavidNorcross]

There is nothing wrong here. I would lightly oil and then burn that oil off, wipe it down and use it. The rags will not always show clean, just the nature of the beast.

[hoovarmin]

Thanks, David.

[Uncle Bob]

Since PJ gave me a shout out I'll see if I can add anything useful to the discussion. On the one hand that looks ugly, but on the other.................does it still function as you'd like/expect? From what I can see in the pics you've got a fair bit of accumulation of polymerized oils, some has flaked off and is giving that uneven surface texture. It may still have the "non stick" properties we expect from seasoning so be functional. On the other hand it's possibly not an ideal cooking surface. Some would take the time to remove all that accumulated seasoning, get down to bare metal, and start over with a new seasoning coat that is more even. A variety of removal methods have already been mentioned, but I don't see a need to make it glass smooth once the seasoning is removed. I've seen folks talk about sand blasting when excessively rough as pictured, and then going through several sanding/grinding operations with increasing grit abrasives to get very smooth. Seems over the top to me.

On the grill brick thing, I agree mostly with Steve R. that it's more common for commercial grade stainless steel griddle tops............keep in mind those are often somewhere around 3/4" thick rather than the approximate 11/64" rolled steel of a home griddle. Used gently it's not entirely inappropriate for a home griddle, but also could be overkill in less skilled hands. As a side note, back in the day some of the auto body guys I knew would use grill brick to do the initial rough shaping of a bondoed body panel as the volcanic material is very coarse and porous so would do a quick cut and not get too clogged up in the process.

[hoovarmin]

It functions beautifully, it just doesn't look pretty

[jfmorris]

hoovarmin I have a little bit of that going on, but yours does seem more pronounced than the texture I have. I'll uncover my FTG900 later today and snap a couple of pics of the surface if that helps. About all I do to clean is use a scraper, water and rags (steaming git), and a couple of times, I've used a chain mail type scrubber to get it really clean. I've been using it since June 2020, and have never gone so far as to sand it down or anything like that, and totally re-season it. The chain mail probably stripped some of the rougher "seasoning" off though, and smoothed it up some.

[hoovarmin]

Thanks Jim

[Spinaker]

There is nothing wrong with this surface. Just keep the ball rolling. You are never going to get a perfect even seasoning across the griddle top, forever.

Sanding, chain mail and other things tend to damage the seasoning and allow it the be damaged further. The ideal situation is you do nothing and keep it going. Do';t over think it. Keep using enough oil and keep the cook going.

Don't worry about it and keep her going! Your cook top looks great to me!

My griddle is clean when the food is removed and I am no longer picking up specs of seasoning or other things.

[hoovarmin]

Thanks Spin.

[Dadof3Illinois]

Couldn't agree more!! Unless it's totally rusted up and has to be reconditioned I wouldn't do anything at all to this. Actually the more you cook on it the smoother it will become in my experience.

[hoovarmin]

Dadof3Illinois I can certainly do that

[jfmorris]

hoovarmin I just thought earlier as I was covering up the griddle from the cook over the weekend to snap some pictures I promised you back in the summer. Here are a few views of the cooktop on my FTG900. You can see some of that same "lemon peel" texture to the top going on in the close ups. It seems more pronounced towards the grease trough and the edges. Feels smooth to the touch, and to the scraper, so I'm not worrying about it too much.




Here is my worst problem. The paint on one of the side tables and on the bottom shelf is bubbling. I figure its from heat here on the side table, as it is right next to where the heat comes up. The bottom shelf doesn't have that excuse though, and I figure is from water blowing in under the cover and sitting on the paint, as the upper shelf looks fine.




Apparently I need to do some heavy duty cleaning on the ends, as the stainless steel on each end next to the side table is gunked up with burnt on stuff. I think about it each time I use it, then forget while its covered! The front looks fine, and the back looks fine.

I hope to eventually built this into an outdoor kitchen, along with my SNS Kamado, in which case the cart and side tables will be discarded. I'll just have a drop down in some self-poured concrete countertops for the FTG900 to sit down in, with the top just above the surrounding counter. I'll cut the bracket for the grease cup off the side table and mount it to the front edge of the counter in the appropriate spot on the left. Saw a guy on Youtube with that type setup for a FTG600.

[hoovarmin]

I hope you chronicle the build with photos for us. For some reason I don't have the paint issue. Otherwise, yours and mine look about the same right now. That is very reassuring. Thank you, jfmorris

[Andrrr]

I have the same thing happening on my black stone 36 but it’s near the lower shelf by the legs in a place I can’t see unless I look for it, ie nowhere near a heat source, but you know it’s going to continue to spread. That and some surface rust in the same areas but I’m not sure how to fix it. Part of me was and still isn’t happy about it seeing as it is covered when not in use and it lives in an attached garage during the snowy months, but it WAS only $300 so I need to temper my expectations.

[jfmorris]

Andrrr I am confident in my case that the lower shelf paint issues are due to rain, or even my sprinklers, getting the bottom shelf wet. Unlike the clear coat on your car, this much cheaper paint doesn't do well sitting wet a lot, apparently.

If I don't do a built in by next summer, I'll likely just hit the areas with a piece of sandpaper and a can of black grill paint. I used to "refresh" my old Genesis with that black paint every couple of years on the cart and firebox.

[jfmorris]

hoovarmin did you tell me you have a hard top for your griddle? Any rust issues under that, or do you also keep a soft cover over it?

Right now I do this. I put my two basting domes (aluminum cheapos from Amazon) on top, then put the Camp Chef cover on. The basting domes give it a slope that I think helps run-off out in the rain. If I leave it out there for months on end without pulling the cover, I've seen a little rust on the leading edge of the grease trough, where I figure some water soaks through the cover seam.



FYI if you are ever looking for alternates to the Camp Chef grease cup liners, I found these that I like on Amazon - a 20 pack for $19.99 - they are a perfect fit and exact size of the Camp Chef ones, but slightly cheaper on a per liner basis (pack of 20 for 19.99 versus a pack of 5 for 6.99). I got them when Camp Chef was out of stock last year:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08SVKGQQ7

[hoovarmin]

jfmorris I use the cover on top of the stainless lid. In our backyard it would rust to pieces in no time without the cover. We have a constant barrage of salty mist from the ocean that offers no quarter to metals. I'm definitely going to order those liners from Amazon, thanks for that.