Griddles
 

Anyone have one of these outdoor (or indoor, I don't care how you use it) griddles like the Blackstone? Basically, it's a propane fired steel griddle in various sizes - I have a 36". If you've ever been to a hibachi restaurant where they cook in front of you, basically one of those.

This is a place for sharing. What do you have, what do you like to cook on it?

I broke mine in this weekend with some fried rice, KC strip, and mixed veggies. It wasn't perfect, but it was damn good.

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I'm thinking about doing some smashburgers this weekend, or maybe a big breakfast - bacon, french toast, hash browns.

that's an awesome idea / add to the backyard. I would love to get something like that.

It was a lot of fun. Hot, but fun. I need a roof over my patio.

I got the same exact one on Prime Day and finally fired it up on Sunday. I love it and won't go back to my hardly used grill anytime soon. I made hibachi chicken and ribeye steak as well.

When I get rich, I'm putting a hibachi / table in my kitchen, complete with the little hole in the corner to put my waste into.
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That Prime Day deal was what I got. My mom bought it for me for my 40th birthday.

Yeah, if I ever build a house, I'll have a big ass griddle like that with a bomb-ass vent hood.

Here was the results of my first cook:

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Mixed veg - farmers market squash, carrots sliced 1/8” on the mandoline, sliced mushrooms, and onions. Medium grain rice cooked in the rice cooker with butter. KC strip.

I heated first burner to low, two center burners to medium high, and fourth burner off. Next time, I might go med-high on the two left, then low, then off to get better heat zones.

I set up with a damp rag, safflower oil, sesame oil, sake, and garlic butter, with all my ingredients prepped.

I started with the oil and onions. Once they were sautéed, moved them into two piles to the low side. Dumped in the rice and mixed in one pile of onions and green onions, seasoned with furikake rice seasoning. Tossed that for a few minutes, added a hunk of garlic butter and let that melt in before moving that to the low side of the griddle where the bottom could get crispy.

Next, I dumped all the veg into the middle and added the second pile of onions. About this time, I put the steak in the center back of the griddle to start searing. I tossed the veg with garlic butter, doused with sake, and tossed for a minute or so, then moved everything to the off side.

Finished up the steak on both sides and sliced, more garlic butter.

Then I moved everything in its turn to the center and tossed everything with soy sauce. I moved everything to the tray as I got it done.

Next time, I'm going to add some house seasoning to the mix (salt, pepper, garlic powder). Everything was a little under seasoned, even though I used the full-salt soy sauce.

you have GOT to get some shaved ribeyes and do up a philly!

That's on my list!

Nice - that thing is sweet!

Get some scrapple on there, fry it up, then throw it over there in the corner where a racoon will eat it

How hot does it get? Can you use that to sear instead of cast iron?

It was a great deal I thought. I am going to make diner\smash hamburgers tonight I think and cook those on med-high to high with some grilled onions. It should only take a few minutes :)

They said max is 560 F I believe

That's nice.

But can you make MCGRIDDLES on there? Hrmmm? Mr. fancy pants.

Top temp I got over the weekend was 503F during preheat. Their website says top temp is 560F, I think. Definitely can sear.

If it hadn't been gifted, I'd have bought one. Thankfully she told my wife, who convinced me to wait.

Girdles spin off thread in 3...2...

I looked for a pic of a fat guy in a girdle to post as a joke. But that got too weird and I abandoned the search...

LOL

http://m.memegen.com/1gx5t4.jpg

I would love to cook a breakfast for 20 on that some tailgate morning.

so are you going to invite us over for a cookout or what?

Sure. Who's up for a road trip to Alabama?

Your not gonna fly us down? Cheap bastard

The flatop has wheels.

I'm packing my bags. How's the weather in Alabama this time of the year?

Talk to me in November. July + Alabama = Dead ****ing Buehler445.

Hot as balls.

August + Alabama is worse.

Accordingly, we need to talk in November.

Got one a month or so ago.

I !@#$ing LOVE that thing. Use it probably once a week but yeah, smashburgers are absolutely nails on it.

Your heat won't really run into the mid 500s until you start to get it seasoned better. I have no answer as to why. I also got some galvanized gutter flashing and built 'wind blocks' from it that block the gap between the table top and the base. I just bent the bottoms over and drilled holes in them, then put the pegs from the table through them. Be careful though - if you do that and don't have enough circulation, you can get north of 600 and maybe damage the top (I melted my electric starter). Just monitor with an infrared closely and you'll figure out how your rig behaves soon enough.

I've done fajitas, smashburgers, stir fry, breakfast (burritos and just general bacon/eggs) and philly cheese steaks on them. I figure it'll be a great finishing unit for a sous vide sirloin but haven't actually used it for that yet.

I took it to a buddy's ranch and we cooked for 30 people on it for the week. I sold 4 of those things while we were up there; my buddy, his dad, my father in law and my dad all bought one within 2 weeks of seeing them in action.

I pretty much stole mine; sale price, coupon and floor model so I got the whole smash full assembled for $160.00 but hell, even their list price of $250 is a steal. Anybody that enjoys cooking really needs one of those blackstones - they're just awesome.

Get a covermates ultima cover for them - expensive but they last forever. I'd also hit Etsy and find a stainless hard top for the actual table (unless you just take it inside between uses). The actual blackstone top has been sold out forever.

Yes. And when you scrape the crud off (because it cooks on), make sure the scraper doesn't slip because then you'll also sear the shit out of your knuckles. Took 3 weeks for the tops of mine to finally heal.

It won't get there without a little work, IMO. Unless you're in a very still location and even then it took time for the seasoning to really give it that boost. I definitely wouldn't expect it cooler temperatures. Some people will add a 10 PSI regulator to it but frankly anything over 2 would turn the damn thing into a jet engine and almost certainly wreck your top.

PS - Just buy this.

https://www.amazon.com/Mercer-Culina.../dp/B01N4EKI7N

https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon....KL._SX450_.jpg

Don't pay attention to the price and yes you can probably find one almost as good for less. You can probably find that one for less if you shop around. But you will NOT find a better one at any price. For smash burgers there is simply nothing better - it's robust, the handle doesn't retain heat and it has the surface area to keep burger from squishing out the sides. It's perfect and if you use it to start your smash and a bacon press on top of it with your other hand to finish it, you can rock through those things. I've found you can do about a dozen of them at a time with the right spacing and no regard for your own well-being.

EDIT: here - restaurant supply store has a better price on it.

https://www.webstaurantstore.com/mer...SABEgLkxPD_BwE

I was planning to build some kind of heat shield for the front. That sucker puts a lot of heat out from under the steel.

I've got a cover, and I'm gonna make a solid cover for the steel itself. They say they have their hard cover back in stock in 3-4 weeks.

I'd be careful about building a shield in the front - if it's not coming out and up, then its just staying in there and I think it will eventually damage your controls.

I intentionally left the front open as I want somewhere for the heat in the front to escape to.

I use a stainless steel trowel for my smashburgers. Works awesome.

It would still escape out the sides and back.

I'm basically blind - could you tell me what the max setting is regarding the surface temp? I'm thinking xmas present for the parents for sure!

They say it'll get to 560F. I had it over 500F on the weekend.

Oh that's good! Get some nice sears!

Thank you for your rapid reply and kind/courteous outline of its temperature capabilities. I appreciate it and it doesn't go unnoticed! My parents will love this in a few months!

But where it would 'pool' before rolling out would be the front.

I just did the back and sides, but by all means - give it a shot. It shouldn't be a problem unless you're running it hard for a long period of time.

Dang, you got all the cool toys, looks nice!



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Next time try the Bukake sauce, a Japanese specialty! ROFL

Is this the third ****ing thread you've posted a picture of this ****ing griddle in???

YOU CHILL OUT RIGHT NOW - he should! it's gorgeous!

I'll agree with Red, that's a nice rig. That being said, I miss my metal spatula, it broke but it was about a 40 year old hand me down. Gonna half to pick another one up but I preferd the thinner blade.

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Yes, but I wanted more input from folks who may griddle.

This looks awesome. What’s the weight of this griddle? I’m wanting one now. Curious if it would be easy to transport.

It's 100 lbs. plus. Amazon says 120. They make smaller models meant for travel, but they also made this to fold up and travel, too.

Champagne wishes and caviar dreams

Thanks. Does Amazon run deals on these? Your model looks to be $325 right now.

Jealous?

They're normally $250-$299. I got mine on a Prime Day deal for $199. Price appears to be up right now because even Blackstone is out of stock on several models.

Looks like I’m going to wait then.

You might check your local Walmarts. They sell them, too.

God damn it, I need one of these like a hole in the head, but this needs to happen.

How hard are they to clean? Does the grease and shit just come off the front or that hole in the back wall?

If you get it while it's hot (like while your protein rests), it's really easy to clean. Just some hot water, a scraper for anything stuck on, and re-season.

That hole in the back leads to a grease trap. We just pull that out and rinse it, then pop it in the dishwasher. The trap is pretty big, so it's good for like shrimp tails and whatnot, too.

Cool man. Thanks!

The version you're likely to find at Wal-Mart right now is slightly different. They have a grease trap on the right side and a channel in the front. So the larger pieces on that setup are a little more difficult to deal with but I prefer having that front channel to get grease into while I'm cooking.

He has the updated model that's been out for a month or so. For me personally that model would be a bit of a pain in the ass because the back of mine us up against the rail on my deck so the 'old' version was the way to go. I'd have to slide it out everytime I wanted to get to that grease trap. So depending on where you intend to set yours up, you may want to try to find the style with the right side grease catch and front channel.

I've heard the reason for the redesign was the grease trap - that it doesn't work very well in the old model. I actually wanted the new model because I wanted the full vertical stop in the front.

Yup - that's the only change.

The present trap has a quirk that needed correcting - the little 'nub' after the drain hole is too far back and not angled correctly so the grease will hit it and run backwards toward the front right leg. It makes a damn mess.

There are a dozen different fixes for it and they all work well. The simplest is probably just putting some JB Weld on it to make the nub larger and angled forward towards the trap. The laziest (and thus the one I chose) was just gutting the top off a beer can and putting it over the channel so it falls straight into the beer can.

My dad has the newest version and he kinda hates that vertical stop in the front but I can see plusses and minuses either way. Personally I think I'd prefer being able to take a direct line of attack towards anything on the front of the griddle rather than having to angle down or come from the sides, but having the larger rear opening to shovel the slag into would be nice as well.

Like I said - ultimately I just decided I'd prefer not have to deal with moving my grill out to get to the back anytime I needed to empty the trap.

One thing I really wish they'd have offered on them is a side-burner. I'm still contemplating taking the side burner off my present gas grill and rigging up the regulator to the Blackstone and bolting it on where the side table presently sits. Those side burners come in handy every now and then...

What did you do to put the paper towel rod in? I tear through papertowels trying to keep the utensils in decent working order and everything goes so fast you can't really run inside and grab more. Having a whole roll on a rod would be nice.

Griddles
 

The rod came with it. We just installed it like the directions said.

I'm going to add a speed rail this weekend (not my pic). Will be a great addition for all the squeeze bottles and sauces.

Thinking about adding a magnetic knife strip somewhere for knives and utensils.

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I’m going to need you to stop posting pictures of your griddle. You’re going to hurt my checking account.

That rail's a great idea. I presume Blackstone makes it?

No, it's a mod I've seen. The one in the pic is a 32", which the guy said is a little small, but it's what he found.

I bought this: http://a.co/bLQFaB9. It's a 36" so should fit perfectly. I may have to drill through legs to install, but we'll figure it out.

That one's not mine. :D

That Blackstone was $325 on Amazon this morning and it’s now $299.

The $299 is fairly normal price. You can sometimes find it for $247.

Walmart always has it at $247 with free shipping. At least they did a couple of weeks ago.

oh I like that rail...That would be perfect to have.

They still have it for $247 but out of stock.

No, but I got me a fine wife and I got me ol fiddle.

Wife wants cheese steaks this weekend, so I guess I'm doing cheese steaks. Thin sliced ribeye, onions, peppers, and cheese. I may do one with steak, mushrooms, and cheese, with an au jus.

I used to have one. Really liked it. Bit the dust after so many years though.

All I’ve done at work today is look up stuff for griddles. This is your fault.

Have you ever eaten at hibachi style places? They always put badass sauce on their hibachi. It’s more than just regular soy sauce. I’m trying to figure it out.

It's called jap sauce

I have, and that was the first thing we did on it. The one we go to just uses soy and teriyaki, I think. I used soy and sake, but I think next time I'm going to throw in some teriyaki or oyster sauce.

Of everything I made, the veggies and the rice were good. The steak was pretty mediocre, but they were cheap steaks.

And the store-bought yum yum sauce is perfect.

Don't forget fish sauce

Genius Kitchen uses this as a sauce:

1/2 cup reduced sodium soy sauce
2 tablespoons cider vinegar
2 teaspoons chopped garlic
1 teaspoon cornstarch