I don't mean the griddles you put on top of a gas grill or above charcoal or a fire but a electric or gas flat top that is a stand alone unit.
I've been researching these for awhile now. I love some of the things you can do with them. Smash burgers, breakfast, fried rice etc.

You have the Blackstone or Camp Chef ones like this that are propane.


These run in the $300 range and are available at Walmart or Home Depot. But I need one to be portable for my bbq catering events and I just don't think these would stand up to the abuse of transportation. I have several griddles that you put on a gas grill or burner but the heat is terribly distributed on the griddle and hard to cook evenly plus the amount of people I generally cook for I need something around a 36" griddle to make it worthwhile.
The commercial portable ones are spendy over a grand but I know it will suit my needs. I'm also a member of Operation BBQ Rescue which is a disaster response team that feeds victims of natural disasters as well as emergency crews. Now that I will be fully retired soon I plan to deploy to disaster areas and volunteer my services with my arsenal of smokers and cooking gear and this would be a great addition.

So what are you all using and what are you cooking on them?

Pancake breakfast? *tummy growl*

quote:

Originally posted by Oz_Shadow:
Pancake breakfast? *tummy growl*

French toast guy myself. X2 on the tummy growl!

I use an inexpensive electric griddle (Presto Big Griddle) that I've had for years.

Most requested breakfast would be egg pancakes (very close to a crepe). We toss fresh fruit and a little whipped cream on them and roll em up like a crepe. Butter and syrup on them are good too.


2 1/2 Cups milk
2 Cups flour
4 Eggs
2 Tablespoons melted butter
2 Tablespoons sugar


I get a smoother batter if I warm the milk up in the microwave for 60 seconds or so before I add the flour.

Use a ladle to spread out a thin crepe like circle on a grill that's about 300-325 degrees. Makes approximately 4 servings.

Been looking at these too. This Blackstone 4-burner is currently sitting in my Wish List on Amazon for $247 to my door. Just waiting for Mrs. 'Hook to accidentally hit the Buy Now button.

I've used my Breville Smart Grill, Model #BGR820XL, for several years. It's somewhat like a "George Foreman", but design, materials, and construction is much better. Much more flexible too. The grill can be opened up to provide two 13" x 10" cooking surfaces. Each surface can be a ribbed or a flat plate. Heat distribution is excellent, because the heating elements are embedded in the removable aluminum plates, which have high thermal conductivity. Closed, and stood up, it occupies no more counter space than a four-slice toaster (and it serves as my toaster). I love this appliance!

https://www.williams-sonoma.co...6%20Panini%20Presses

I have a cheap sunbeam or some other brand electric griddle. Aside from it slow at changing temps (it gets plenty hot). It's a great tool to do some things on like pancakes, a lot of bacon, eggs, fried rice etc.

Griddles are the business for pancakes, grilled cheeses, etc.

quote:

Originally posted by Tailhook 84:
Been looking at these too. This Blackstone 4-burner is currently sitting in my Wish List on Amazon for $247 to my door. Just waiting for Mrs. 'Hook to accidentally hit the Buy Now button.

I was at a farmer's market a couple of months ago where a local restaurant had a tent set up making breakfast. They had a Blackstone 4 burner flat top bolted onto a tiny utility trailer. It worked great and they seemed happy with it.

I thought it looked good enough to take a picture and save it in Evernote so I could remember what it was if I decided I needed one.

I'm sure the Camp Chef ones are good, too - I have a Camp Chef 3-burner tabletop propane stove and it is very stout.

I've got a Camp Chef double that covers both burners of my Camp Chef. I think it would stand up to most anything short of total armageddon. Heavy gauge steel. Heavy enough that if breakfast is really early it's a bit heavy. We just use it for breakfasts and burgers mostly.

I have that exact Camp Chef flat top griddle. We really like fried rice on ours.

Hoping for some ideas besides pancakes and grilled cheese (both of which are yummy) for things better on a flat top.

House we bought in summer has one a part of Wolf cooktop, looking forward to using it!

1 pound of bacon...

quote:

Originally posted by Georgeair:
Hoping for some ideas besides pancakes and grilled cheese (both of which are yummy) for things better on a flat top.

House we bought in summer has one a part of Wolf cooktop, looking forward to using it!

Go to a Benihana's near you and watch what they do. They grill everything on their flat top grills and the food is excellent......fried rice, steaks, veggies, fish, etc. etc. Mainly they use sesame oil (canola now), garlic butter, salt pepper, and some soy sauce on most things.

Best Pancakes Ever:

2 cups Bisquick
1 tsp baking soda

1 3/4 cup good quality thick buttermilk

1 egg

combine the bisquick and baking soda. combine the buttermilk and the beaten egg. pour the egg, buttermilk mixture into the dry mix and wisk briskly for a few seconds.

After it is mixed, start the griddle. By the time the griddle is up to temp, the pankcake batter will be all bubbly and ready to go.

Use a disher to dole out the batter.

Yeah, any Teppanyaki restaurant (Shogun, etc) is an example of what can be done. These places are often confused with and mislabeled as Hibachi places, but they aren't. Look at YouTube, there are lots of Teppanyaki related videos.

I just use mine for basics, pancakes, hash browns, sandwiches, fried rice, breakfast tacos, etc. I don't think they particularly excel at anything or any style beyond having room to work for larger things, but I still like them.