Need advice on potential pre-owned EVO flat top grill purchase
I’ve come across a pre-owned EVO. I was leaning towards a Le Griddle, but this is a great deal and the round form is impressive p. Problem is I don’t know a lot about them and it appears in pictures that the cooking surface needs some TLC. I haven’t seen it in person, it’s five hours away. Any thoughts are appreciated.
Smokin-It 3D
Weber Kettle with an SNS
Masterbuilt kettle that I call the $30 wonder grill
Bullet by Bull Grills gasser
Anova WiFi sous vide machine
Thermoworks Thermapen and Chef Alarm
I’ve got a Pit Boss griddle I’m happy with. If I was in the market for a griddle myself, I sure wouldn’t want a round one, especially with no side walls. A rectangular griddle with side walls is how I’d go. I’d constantly be knocking food over the edge onto the ground with a round one. The side walls also help to stop the food when turning it over.
I can see that viewpoint, but there are advantages too. I can come from the edge level with surface. It does take skill, but once you've acquired it you have more freedom to work a double spatula technique. Drainage is better too. You can always use an angle iron though if you need it.
I agree! Usually we always steer members to the most expensive item out there…😂 But in this case I’d save your money and get something like this, there’s no way I’d ever buy a round griddle.
I'm with Panhead John - I really don't see the attraction of the round ones. Maybe I'm missing something, I dunno. But for me, with as much oil as I use and is generated in cooking on my griddle (hellllloooo... bacon, anyone????), there is no way I would want a round one with no side walls. I literally cooked probably 20 POUNDS of bacon on my griddle this last week and that's the whole point. Being able to do MASSIVE amounts of food when wanted, to spread things out all over the place, use different heat zones, hold food in one place while cooking in another, etc., - but with no side walls and no grease trap or grease management system, this thing would lose 80% of its utility for me. I'd literally have to have it out on the lawn so I didn't have to clean up around it from all the spills and drops.
Maybe someone can enlighten me as to the reason for this?
Can you imagine trying to do a stir fry on a round griddle?! 😳 Even if a round griddle had side walls, the spatula ain’t gonna line up with a curved wall. And yeah, no grease management would be a pain also.
It has a grease trap and management system. There is a crown to the cooktop and the grease exits evenly at all 360 degrees of the edge. It's constantly reseasoning itself as you cook with no pooling grease. Then it travels around the stainless removable ring and is deposited in the removable grease trap. I won't say it's a perfect system, but it's better than the Blackstone I used in terms of grease collection. However, Blackstone may have improved their system by now.
They give off those Mongolian restaurant vibes and have a very unique look. But I agree with Panhead John the sides of a grill help me keep everything contained and I find them very useful. If the price is right though, I could see this being an enticing option.
edit to add:
realdocBBQ makes a couple of great points. I almost always have a hot and cold zone set up. Also I absolutely love the grease management system and how easy it is to clean with a smaller dedicated trap. Both of these would
be very difficult or vastly different on a round griddle.
also I just saw the price on the picture. I’d go with a slate or flat rock instead. Less than half the cost and more functional IMO
Yeah, the Weber Slate seems to be a great griddle. I’m gonna be totally honest here, if someone gave me a round griddle free of charge I wouldn’t use it, I’d go out and buy a decent standard rectangular griddle with a lid/hood.
Thanks for the responses. I’ve done a lot of grilling but not griddling and, as a novice, I’ve been looking at the round griddle as an advantage. I’ll have to rethink that. The EVO does have a grease management system. Grease falls into the round tray that surrounds the cooktop and then into a drip container that’s removable.
it appears to me that the top needs a good cleaning and a re-seasoning. Not sure if I’m interested in taking that on or not.
Meh. I don't think the cleaning aspect is a major issue. These things clean up pretty easily. But I don't like the grease management, I see it now - I don't like it dripping that far, it looks like splash-city, personally. But I get it now.
After several years of griddling and what I feel is pretty good experience with it, I wouldn't want that - and definitely not paying extra for it.
After reading the comments above all I can say is they lost me at $2400 for a used griddle. You can buy a bunch of really good outdoor cooking equipment for that price.
Howie222 I had a Cuisinart 360 round griddle. A 2 burner with a grease collector that was all the way around the griddle and then flowed into a removable container. It worked well for the grease aspect. I used 2 spatulas at once if I needed to, in order to control what I was flipping over. It worked fine. I believe we have had a product review listed in the reviews section. Cuisinart also provides one as 2nd prize choice in our monthly drawings. You can get a brand new one for a whole lot less than $2400! I recommend taking a look at it before deciding to buy a used EVO.
That's a weird condition for the cooktop. It's almost as if it was almost never used, or used one time. Once you season it properly, it will be jet black, non-stick, and indestructible.
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