If you were following my blog last week, you no doubt saw the results of my first weekend using my new Blackstone table top griddle. It's a two burner, 22" model that I got a killer deal on at Walmart. It is the perfect size for @mrsbozz and I when we go camping. I still need to get some kind of stand to put it on so I don't have to rely on the picnic table all the time. Some of the tables at certain campgrounds leave a lot to be desired.
The last night of our camping trip, we decided to have one of our staple meals. Usually we cook this in the house on the stove top with a couple of frying pans, but the Blackstone makes it so easy to just throw it all together. If you couldn't tell from the opening photo, the meal is sausage, peppers, and onions. It's quite delicious. Add a little bit of pasta sauce (not too much), some cheese, and a slice of garlic bread, and you are golden.
While @mrsbozz was working on getting the food chopped up and prepared, I was busy getting the griddle setup and connected to the propane source on our travel trailer. That cord I bought from Amazon for just about $20 is possibly one of the best accessories I have purchased for the Blackstone.
It sure beats lugging around an extra 20 pound propane tank.
The prep is so simple and the cooking is even simpler. You just slice things up and then throw it on the griddle. After I put down a little bit of oil of course. We bought these oil spray bottles that work really well with the Blackstone. They only distribute about 1/4 of a teaspoon of oil per pull of the handle, so you don't have to worry about using too much.
I even had @mrsbozz throw in some of the left over bratwurst that I had from my BBQ lunch earlier that day. We also used peppers (of various colors), mushrooms, onions, and some precooked chicken sausage that we bought in the store.
If I had to guess, it probably took longer to slice everything up than it did to cook it. Even with the burners only on about half way. I didn't want things to get fried to a crisp, so I decided to take it a little easy on the heat.
Ah, I forgot, @mrsbozz threw some zucchini in there too. You can see it in the photo above. It must have been what we had left over from the crunch wraps we had the first night of our visit.
Before too long the veggies started to soften up and the fat in the sausages started to render out a little bit. As I said, I didn't want to over do it with the heat, so I just cooked everything until it was a bit soft. Looking back, it might have been nice to get a bit of a crust on the pieces of sausage, but they still tasted great, so I don't feel too bad about that.
I guess the real key to cooking something like this is just to keep everything moving around on the griddle. Which honestly can get a bit noisy at times. There was a point over the weekend that @mrsbozz was sitting next to me while I was cooking and she said "Those things sure aren't quite are they?".
It was pretty funny because I had just read an article about a guy who bought silicone utensils because he had some kind of sensory disorder that drove him crazy to hear the spatulas banging on the cook top while he was cooking with his Blackstone.
I try to be sensitive to other campers around me, but as long as it isn't quiet hours, I say it's pretty much fair game to bang around my utensils as much as I want.
If you have ever been to a Japanese steakhouse, you know how loud the equipment can get.
Again, if you read my posts last week, you might remember I had an issue with remembering to season the items I was cooking on the griddle. That wasn't the case for this meal. As you can see, I remembered to add some garlic powder and other seasonings to the veggies and sausage.
In the photo above, you can also see the aforementioned spatulas that tend to make so much noise.
Cleanup on the griddle was super simple. You can see I still haven't "earned" the corners yet as far as seasoning goes. It will take time to get there. All I can do at this point is keep cooking on it.
Overall, I am really happy with how the Blackstone performed on its maiden voyage. I am looking forward to trying some new things on it this coming weekend when we take another camping trip.
If I get really brave, I might even try doing pancakes one morning!
I've seen a fair share of well seasoned griddles still have pancakes stick to them, so I am a bit nervous about that. The good thing is, metal like this is pretty forgiving, so all you have to do is scrape it down and re-season it.
Problem solved!
I know that @intothewild was saying he had to give up his Blackstone when he moved down to Mexico and how much he misses it. He also mentioned that he has a friend or relative who is visiting soon and they picked up the same model I have for him.
I look forward to seeing what he cooks up with his Griddle. He certainly has more experience than me with the Blackstone, so you better believe I will be following along.
You should too!
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