Does anyone use a griddle instead of a grill for backyard cooking, camping, RV'ing, etc? Or to supplement or complement?

I've always had grills, in fact right now I've got a Weber charcoal grill as well as a propane grill. I really don't like the flareups which can easily burn food.

I was watching some videos of Blackstone brand griddles, as well as Camp Chef and a few others. It's basically just a flat top like you'd find in any restaurant or cafe. Besides no flareups you can also use the griddle for just about anything, including a full breakfast with pancakes. They seem to be quite versatile.

The only thing is that they're a cold rolled steel cook top which must be kept seasoned similar to cast iron skillet cookware.

I just picked up a small 17 inch Blackstone to experiment with. It's a small table top model but many people are using a 36 version on its own rolling stand and cooking full meals outside.

There are tons of YouTube videos of these grills.

Another cheaper option may be to replace your grates with GrillGrates. They can be flipped over and used either at a grill or like a griddle. Only watched some YouTube videos on them, don't own them though. There are a few members that seem to be really happy with them.

This should give you best of both worlds with out huge cash outlay.

I have a Weber grill at home, but for the RV I have a Blackstone Tailgater. It's a camp stove with a grill box over the round burner on the left and a griddle over an H burner on the right. Take grill box off and you can put a stock pot over the round burner. The weak point of the grill box is the flame spreader. Mine is rusted out and I can't use the grill box because of it, so I've tried steaks, burgers, brats and dogs on the griddle side. I'm not a fan. They taste just like they were done in a pan on tbe stove. However, pancakes, eggs, bacon, onions, green peppers, thin slices of steak for Philly-cheese steak, etc. are great. It has a huge grease tray which is nice for bacon.

Interest in this thread.

Blackstone is advertising like crazy right now. Never heard of them before recently. Then I see one yesterday at Wally. Multiple heat zone for backyard cooking next to my gas grill would be ideal. How well do they fold up for car camping duty ?

quote:

Originally posted by Skins2881:
Another cheaper option may be to replace your grates with GrillGrates. They can be flipped over and used either at a grill or like a griddle. Only watched some YouTube videos on them, don't own them though. There are a few members that seem to be really happy with them.

This should give you best of both worlds with out huge cash outlay.

I recently added GrillGrates to my Weber Genesis. It is a quite a different cooking experience vs a grate over flames. It does do everything they say it will, although I've not found their claim of using less heat valid. I still need to put it up pretty high to cook steaks burgers and such. And yes you can flip them over and use as a flat top griddle, but they also sell a flat top pieces which would be a better option if you're going to griddle frequently. You could dedicate one side to flat top and the other to the GrillGrates. These are aluminum so no/little worries about rust.

quote:

Originally posted by ElToro:
Interest in this thread.

Blackstone is advertising like crazy right now. Never heard of them before recently. Then I see one yesterday at Wally. Multiple heat zone for backyard cooking next to my gas grill would be ideal. How well do they fold up for car camping duty ?

They show one on their website, as well as a tailgate one. I purchased the basic 17 inch one mainly because I got a smoking (pun) price of $60, just to try it out, but it's going to be next weekend before I can unbox it and get it going.

Camp Chef would be another option, and there are another few manufacturers.

BlackstoneGriddle

quote:

Originally posted by OKCGene:
Does anyone use a griddle instead of a grill for backyard cooking

Instead? nope... have both! Griddles are not expensive. I see a lot of people prefer their steaks on the grill.

I got a Blue Rhino 36 as an early Fathers Day gift. Learning!

Breakfast the other day. Sausage, bacon, hash browns and omelets.
The smash burgers we did were really good.
Didn't try it yet but they do biscuits on the griddle by flipping them.

We have two of the Blackstone griddles at our range club that we use for various events.
We've used grills in the past, but the griddles are a huge step up for cooking for events.

For home use, I use a Lodge griddle plate on my grill, when needed, but find myself using the standard grill racks more often.

I've recently got a setup that I'm very happy with and it's quite versatile for a lot of different uses.

It's the camp chef 2 burner explorer stove:

Stove

I then added this griddle:

griddle

I like it as its very versatile:

You can have one burner cooking down tomatoes, and the other with the hot water bath for canning.

You can have dual deep fryers going in cast iron dutch ovens, one for fish, one for fries.

You can have the griddle on one side and still have a burner on the other for boiling water, or cooking something else.

Its also quite compact for storage and seems very well built.

We bought one a couple a weeks ago at BB&B but haven't used it yet.

https://www.bedbathandbeyond.c...7504?Keyword=griddle

Some friends of ours have one of those griddles. They're very nice. But when we were over a couple weeks ago and he wanted to put wings on the fire, he used his regular grill.

I suspect each has its place.

The only food where I have an issue with flare ups is skin-on chicken thighs (natural gas grill). I usually use aluminum foil, but of course the skin sticks to it and makes it a bit of a pain when flipping. I might have to try a griddle top.

I used to have the 36" version of the Blackstone. It was way too big for what I needed so I sold it off.

I picked up the 22" table top version from HSN when they were running the $99 special. There is another 17" version available.

I purchased a stainless steel table from Sam's and I have the 22" Blackstone and my BGE max on it. The perfect combination for my family of three. I also have a MBGE as well when I need to cook a bit more when the extended family comes over.

IMO, the 17" is too small. The 22" is the perfect size plus they redesigned the grease trap on the 22". WAY better because now you can push it all towards the center rear of the griddle. No more drips like the 36".

The BGE and the griddle both have their places. Just the other week, I was cooking burgers, bacon and bacon wrapped hot dogs on the griddle while cooking hot links on the BGE max.

One other thing, the 22" isn't too big to take camping. I would take it, but I have the Blackstone camping (tailgater) version of this which comes with the griddle and a BBQ box all mounted with adjustable legs. Blackstone makes some great stuff!

Bacon.

I use a 2-burner commercial "hot plate". The orifices are switched to LP, the unit sits in a rollup-door cabinet on a shelf which pulls out, the cabinet is heavy and will not tip over, the tank is below, and extra cast iron skillets sit above on a stationary shelf. 30,000 BTUs per burner. APW Wyott without electronic ignition, close to 20 years old.

So when I want to make a mess, I roll up the door, light the burner, put on a cast iron skillet, and let it get smoking hot with some oil inside. Give it a wipe, grill my meat or fish, plate it, pour out the oil, give the pan a wipe, turn the pan upside down and burn the inside of it, then shut off the gas and lower the door.

That's the extent of my clean-up. And no grease or smoke inside the house.

I've taken it camping a couple times; rather heavy for the purpose, but it certainly anchors the kitchen away from home.

quote:

Originally posted by Woodman:

And no grease or smoke inside the house.

That's what I find especially attractive and desirable, cooking outside.

I'm a few years away from retirement and will Snowbird RV in the winter and to the Rocky Mountains in the summer. I don't want to grease or stink up the RV, or heat up the inside of the RV. Plus I'm a generous person and will cook a lot of pancakes for my temporary neighbors!

quote:

Originally posted by ubelongoutside:
I've recently got a setup that I'm very happy with and it's quite versatile for a lot of different uses.

It's the camp chef 2 burner explorer stove:

Stove

I then added this griddle:

griddle

I like it as its very versatile:

You can have one burner cooking down tomatoes, and the other with the hot water bath for canning.

You can have dual deep fryers going in cast iron dutch ovens, one for fish, one for fries.

You can have the griddle on one side and still have a burner on the other for boiling water, or cooking something else.

Its also quite compact for storage and seems very well built.

I did something very similar but I went with the 3 burner Camp Chef stove. I get the same 36" griddle cooking area if I want it or a 24" griddle with one burner open or a 12" griddle surface with two open burners. The versatility is awesome but what's even better is the way it breaks down for portability. Very easy to put in the rv for camping trips.

Me too, I have both a 3 burner campchief and two burner... the two burner grill can go on either and I have both a 42" and 36" griddle for either... the 42" campcheif griddle on the 3 burner will allow me to cook 2 lbs of bacon (3 lbs if sliced thick) at one time....I also have the campchief pizza oven but I modified it by putting a door on it so that it can be a longer running bake oven....

You end up with close to a pint of bacon grease when you cook a couple pounds of bacon.... the 42" griddle comes with a track for the grease that then runs down and collects in a can... you got to watch that can or it will over flow.