My son-in-law bought one of the Cuisinart 22" flat tops when it was on sale cheap at Woot! a while back, and within a week, also bought a used Vision kamado, revamping his entire outdoor cooking experience to essentially be like the two grills he sees me use the most (my SNS Kamado and my Camp Chef flat top).
I got the chance to cook yesterday on the Cuisinart, and while it was a little different cooking on an "infinity edge" cooking surface, as long as I used my spatulas wisely, it all worked out, and no food was lost. I enjoyed having the 360 degree grease trough.
My cook was not intense. We are celebrating my daughter's 30th birthday with Mexican food, and I started by browning some beef and carmelizing some onions in a 12" Lodge skillet on TOP of the Cuisinart griddle, to which we then added cheese and such, and moved over to the kamado for smoked queso. I then proceeded to brown 6 pounds of 88% lean ground beef from Costco on the griddle surface directly, for taco meat. After tossing and chopping for 10 minutes or so, I was able to use two spatulas to lift and drain meat, then dump into a crock pot on the side table, to which I added water and taco seasoning. All grease was easily swept into the trough with a spatula. The top was well seasoned and virtually non-stick.
To date, he has had no issue with rust or anything like that, and I was truly impressed with the performance and non stick nature of the seasoned cooktop. A 22" round surface felt larger in use than I expected it to - I bet the 30" version could handle a ton. He keeps it outside in the weather, but it has the included round cover on it, and a soft cover he bought for it from Cuisinart.
All in all, I guess we will see how this holds up compared to my Camp Chef over the next few years, but I was impressed. And the 22" round griddle works well for their rather small 10x10 patio.
I got the chance to cook yesterday on the Cuisinart, and while it was a little different cooking on an "infinity edge" cooking surface, as long as I used my spatulas wisely, it all worked out, and no food was lost. I enjoyed having the 360 degree grease trough.
My cook was not intense. We are celebrating my daughter's 30th birthday with Mexican food, and I started by browning some beef and carmelizing some onions in a 12" Lodge skillet on TOP of the Cuisinart griddle, to which we then added cheese and such, and moved over to the kamado for smoked queso. I then proceeded to brown 6 pounds of 88% lean ground beef from Costco on the griddle surface directly, for taco meat. After tossing and chopping for 10 minutes or so, I was able to use two spatulas to lift and drain meat, then dump into a crock pot on the side table, to which I added water and taco seasoning. All grease was easily swept into the trough with a spatula. The top was well seasoned and virtually non-stick.
To date, he has had no issue with rust or anything like that, and I was truly impressed with the performance and non stick nature of the seasoned cooktop. A 22" round surface felt larger in use than I expected it to - I bet the 30" version could handle a ton. He keeps it outside in the weather, but it has the included round cover on it, and a soft cover he bought for it from Cuisinart.
All in all, I guess we will see how this holds up compared to my Camp Chef over the next few years, but I was impressed. And the 22" round griddle works well for their rather small 10x10 patio.
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