Out of curiosity (ok, ok, of course I'm considering one)
I know a lot of people love them and use them multiple times a week but what are all the meals you cook on them aside from the obvious:
Breakfasts
All sorts of sandwiches Smash burgers
Stir fry
Fajitas
I know that covers a lot already but I'm hoping all of you enablers can help me see outside the box here. Note I'm looking for pure griddle recipes, no air fryers, etc. GO!
I don't have a griddle but wouldn't you use them for anything you'd normally sauté/pan fry inside? TO me, the advantage of an outdoor griddle would be that when it's hot, you can cook those kinds of things outside vs heating the house up. One reason I'm not interested is... I live in Seattle. It rarely gets that hot for much of the year.
The other thing I can see larger griddles especially being useful for is "X for 12 people", i.e. fajitas for 12 people. You just have way more surface area.
Honestly, even if I got 4-5 months of solid use from one, I'd buy one if I thought I'd use it. Thing is, in Seattle, 90F is HOT. It's been 100F precisely twice in my lifetime. So, for me, outdoor cooking to avoid heating the kitchen isn't really a concern and I'm single, so capacity isn't either. For someone with a longer fair weather time, where it's hotter in the summer and/or who has a family? It's kind of "Why not?"
I think another reason to cook on a griddle outside, versus a frying pan in the house, more than the heat issue, is to keep smoke and grease and mess out of the kitchen.
jfmorris I agree. I have a hood over my range and air conditioning, so heating up the kitchen is not a concern for me. Having to clean after grease particles floating about in my kitchen and coating surfaces is.
Boneless skinless chicken both thighs and breasts (my wife and daughters favorite), pork chops, pork tenderloin, steaks, and pretty much any vegetable you can think of. Last nights meal was marinated boneless skinless breasts(enough for a few meals) and burgers (not smash) with bacon and onions also on the griddle and homecut fries. Sunday night was hamburger steak and gravy. made the gravy in a lodge skillet right on top of the griddle and threw the hamburger steaks in after browning. Trying to think of more but I am sitting in a meeting and these people won't shut up so I can think!!!
Well if that isn't a convincing body of work I don't know what is. And honestly I know you can cook on it but it never crossed my mind to cook in pots and pans on it. So obvious once you see it in practice. Thanks!
My wife ,who says that I already have enough gear on the patio, actually asked me to look into a griddle because she wants to make more yakisoba and yakiudon. Was looking at one this weekend.
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Anything you can do in a skillet that is not saucy can be done on your griddle. Veggies, meats, desserts. Don't just think chicken or stir fry. In the summer some squash rounds served with country ham warmed on the griddle and a warm grilled romaine salad. From Emeril grilled flank steak sliced thin and grilled beans and onions with soy sauce and hoison sauce.
This is what got me to looking at Griddle cooking - my wife's surgeon showed her lots of veggies cooked on his Blackstone Pro 36", and she thinks a griddle will get me cooking more healthy stuff for her. I'm not gonna argue, well... MCS.
To me it's a fantastic peace of equipment.
I had mine for a year or so and it only saw me once or twice.
Ever since we've become more acquainted its a cooking tool I wouldn't want to be without.
If not cooking outdoors, I am cooking on the stovetop with my 14" carbon steel wok, 12" CI skillet, or in the oven with my two Lodge CI pizza pans, or two dutch ovens. I've also got a nifty Lodge carbon steel grill pan that rocks for veggies outdoors.
Like Paul allsid says in his book, anything you can cook on the outdoor griddle can be cooked on the stove top in pans, but the trick is, you might need 8 or 10 pans to get the meal done inside, and no one has that much stove space!
Thanks, jfmorris I appreciate you actually reading some of the content I created. It means a ton to me and I hope you and the fam are well or at least heading in that direction -P
allsid the intro is very well written, and all of the recipes look great! I like your writing style very much. I've got plans to try some of the recipes soon, but will probably have to adapt or adjust based on my wife's dietary needs at the moment. She is getting stronger, but has a long way to go.
Weber S-335 gas grill
Weber 26†kettle
Weber 22†kettle
Camp Chef XL Smoke Vault
Camp Chef 3 Burner cook top
Camp Chef Woodwind 36 Pellet grill with sidekick burner
PBC
Accessories:
SnS XL
SnS standard
Vortex
Weber Rotisserie for 22†Kettle
1st gen FireBoard
2nd gen FireBoard
Griddle for Camp Chef cooktop
Several Thermoworks items
Set of Grill Grates
Look how many restaurants and diners over the years have used flat tops to cook on!! I use the camp chef 3 burner stove and have a big griddle I can put on it that can make feeding a crowd really fast and easy!!
klflowers I have the 3 burner camp chef expedition model with the griddle that covers two burners. Grease management is fair....the first gen blackstone was way worse. I can cook 4 lbs of bacon and over a doz pancakes in no time at all. This one you really have to keep the burners down on low or she gets too hot.
Thanks. I have been eyeing that griddle for awhile now. I need to go ahead and pull the trigger. You have any of the other attachments? I have also been eyeing that pizza oven doohickey.
No, I've thought about the pizza oven but we don't cook that many pizza's anymore. I'm looking at trying to find a wok ring and wok that would fit. Other than that I use it most with my CI skillets and my fish fryer.
Ditto to what others have shared. I use my flat top all the time. It is one that I just would not do without. Sandwiches are great. Philly Cheese, grill cheese, you name it. If you go to Camp Chef and Blackstone's sites you will see alot of recipes out there that you would not normally see. Additionally, I use the griddle often to complement what I am cooking. If you need caramelized onions in a recipe for example there is no better place to cook them then on a griddle. There is not a week that goes buy where I do not use it for something and I cannot say that about all of my other cookers.
allsid I received my copy of your griddle book over the weekend. I am looking forward to learning from it. Thanks again for all your helpful comments and suggestions!
Edited to add: Thanks for the comments below Paul! Since we are now on a first name basis, my name is Tom. Griddle on my new friend!
Last edited by Alabama Smoke; June 24, 2020, 06:23 AM.
-P
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