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You’ve seen Blackstone griddles all over social media and now you’re considering getting one. They’re perfect for breakfasts, fried rice, burgers, hot dogs, and all types of meat. Before you go spending your money, below are 5 things to steer you in the right direction.
1) What Size Blackstone
The most popular models of the Blackstone griddle are the 28″ and the 36″ griddles, which translates to 524 square inches and 720 square inches of cooking area respectively. Which model you want to go with will depend on your budget, how many people you’re cooking for, how many things you’re cooking at once and your available space at home to store it. We recommend going as large as you can, because not only do you get more space to cook, you get more burners. With more burners you can have one area of the griddle super hot and another colder to cook different types of food at once.
2) Blackstone Griddle Seasoning
Seasoning your griddle is a fancy way of saying putting oil on the griddle. It’s important because it protects the griddle top from rust, helps your food not stick and adds flavor. Think about the restaurants you like to eat at that use a griddle or grill. They are constantly putting oil and food on it, to get that delicious flavor. Below is a video from Blackstone on seasoning (putting oil on it), save yourself money though, you don’t need their fancy oil, plain old vegetable oil or vegetable shortening will do.
3) Blackstone Accessories
Blackstone sells every accessory imaginable, from taco racks to the fancy oil from above and even pizza oven conversions for some griddles. Stick with buying the essentials (spatulas, scrapers/choppers and bottles) that you need to use your griddle at first and put your money into buying the best griddle you can. Blackstone makes a basic 5 piece kit (Amazon link) to get you started. You can always buys accessories later after you see how much and how you use your griddle.
4) Learn the Hot Zones
Like we mentioned in number 1, different parts of the griddle top will be at different temperatures. If your food is right over a burner, it’s going to be hotter than at the corner of the grill where there aren’t any burners. It’s like when you boil a pot of water over a small stove burner and bubbles start to come up just where the burner is. Learn where the different temperature zones are to know where you want your food.
5) There are Other Great Griddles
Blackstone makes great products and has a huge following, but they aren’t the only ones in the market. If you love the brand, then save yourself time and skip reading this one. If you’re open to other brands, see what else is out there and what options they have. An example is grill maker Pit Boss also makes a great griddle that has a cool design where you can lift off the griddle an make it portable.
We hope this list was helpful and makes your buying decision easier. If you want to expand your outdoor cooking abilities, check out our 2 best smokers for beginners. We hope you have fun and get out there cooking!