Blackstone Firsts: Hits and Misses
I took advantage of our time camping in Marquette, MI to hone my Blackstone griddle skills. As you can see from the title, I had some hits and misses. The one good thing was the fact that my nephew was there to take photos, so we were able to get some action shots of me flexing my griddle skills (or trying at least).
Bacon was an absolute must while we were camping. We picked up four one pound packages from our local Costco before we left on the trip. I'm pretty sure each morning our nephew ate a full half pound of bacon himself. Leaving the other 1/2 pound for @mrsbozz and I to split.
It took me a day to realize that our nephew likes his bacon a lot more crispy than we do. The second two days I needed to pull half off before I let the rest of it get burned to a crisp.
Personally, I can't stand crispy bacon. You may as well be eating jerky (which I love). There is just something about crispy bacon that is a huge turn off for me flavor-wise.
Here is a sample of what the bacon would look like each morning. The left hand side is my nephews share. The right hand side is the less crispy bacon that @mrsbozz and I would eat.
Pancakes were an absolute must for this trip. It was the first time we tried them on the Blackstone and I have seen mixed reviews online from people who have had not the greatest luck making them.
From what I read, the key is to make sure you put enough butter down on the griddle before you drop your batter. If you have a good fat base on the griddle, then they won't stick.
I must done something right because the pancakes turned out absolutely fabulous. Having a big 22" griddle to work on made it quite easy to churn out a dozen pancakes or so in short order. It was absolutely fantastic. I would definitely do them again in a heartbeat.
I tried my hand again at "smash" burgers. At the recommendation of @intothewild, we chopped the onions this time and our nephew kept a little bit of the bacon aside each morning to put on his.
I have to be honest, I once again was not impressed with how they turned out. I would rather have burgers on a charcoal grill. They just didn't get crispy enough for me. I don't know if I did something wrong or if my griddle just doesn't get hot enough, but I was quite disappointed with them.
On the other hand, our nephew said it was in the top five best burgers he has ever had, so I guess you need to know your audience. He loved everything I cooked through the week.
Sometimes we are our own harshest critics.
There is zero question about it, the Blackstone kind of excels at breakfast. You can crank out a four course breakfast in no time flat with this thing. It's pretty impressive.
I know your probably getting sick of pictures of bacon right now, but it is one of the quickest and easiest things to cook one the griddle. If you bought one for nothing else besides making bacon, you probably wouldn't be disappointed.
We also tried our hand at some hibachi style chicken and steak. My brother in law has been cooking this meal for us for several years now and it always turns out excellent. I'm not so sure mine lived up to his standard, but I tried.
I got some chicken down for @mrsbozz and started going to work seasoning and cooking it. It was fairly easy to get it separated and you always feel like a professional when you are clanking your spatulas around chopping stuff up on the griddle surface.
I also threw down a ribeye steak that was about an inch and a half thick on the griddle. That was going to be for me and my nephew.
While that was searing off, the chicken was coming along quite nicely. This thing usually gets so hot that it doesn't take very long to get anything cooked on it. The chicken was done in a matter of minutes and I almost burned it while I was dealing with the steak.
I've gotta give props to my nephew for taking these great action shots of me working the griddle. Before long, it was time to flip the ribeye steak on the cook top.
You can see here, the steak didn't really get the crust I was hoping for. I think this might go back to my griddle not getting hot enough. Perhaps it was just to windy and that was impacting the flame and therefore the heat level of the griddle.
Once the chicken was cooked all the way through, I was able to focus my full attention on the steak.
Here you can see my nephew adding some seasoning to it!
I decided to cut it up on the cook top so I could be sure that it was done enough for myself and my nephew. You never know how kids are going to handle medium rare or rare steak.
Next, I threw some mixed veggies on. Zucchini, mushrooms, and onions. They cooked up in no time.
Finally, we threw down some fried rice that @mrsbozz had made ahead of time. They usually say that you should make the rice a day ahead of time and then you will be good to go. That was the case here with us. For some reason it ends up tasting better I guess.
In the end, this was a quite delicious meal. My nephew absolutely loved it and I think given a bit more tries I will get it down really well. I have zero doubt about that.
The Blackstone has been a really great tool to add to our camping trips. It takes up a lot of space, but it is definitely something I am going to keep around for the future. At the sale price I got it for, it has been a really wise investment.
Sports Talk Social - @bozz.sports
enjoy but do not get fat
Too late! Have you seen the photos of me!?
LOL, that's a lot of food!
Which day?
The blackstone seems to be doing great with your control of it, as for the bacon my wife like sit like your nephew, I myself closer to how you like it
I am picturing the fun your were having as a HIbachi cook
!PIMP
You must be killin' it out here!
@tattoodjay just slapped you with 5.000 PIMP, @bozz.
You earned 5.000 PIMP for the strong hand.
They're getting a workout and slapped 2/3 possible people today.
Read about some PIMP Shit or Look for the PIMP District
There was a ton of clanking around for sure with the spatulas. I don't like it super soft, but I don't like the taste it gets when it is burned.
I need one 😋
I think many people could benefit from one!
Sure
You are sure enjoying that grill. All of the food looks great!
Thanks! It has been a blast! I am doing my best!
It sure looks great for breakfast cooking! I agree burgers definitely do better on the charcoal grill, the steak probably would have too. It looks like a great tool to make the outdoors a little less rough!
Yeah, I agree on the steak as well. For this style though it is kind of the way they do it. I think part of the problem was that the steak was so thick.
excellent.
Bacon and burgers looks super testy! I want try it 🙃
They turned out pretty great. My nephew was raving about them and that is really all that matters!
absolutely! Family is first 🤗everything for them
That's a lot of different preparations :) They all look very tasty, I didn't know this grill at all but it looks damn handy :)
It is pretty nice to have around. I am actually a little surprised you don't have a 36" sitting out near your man shed next to the Traeger!
lol, I gave te traeger to my brother. Since last year I have a Grill Guru Kamado :)
Nice! My dad has a Kamado Joe. He loves it.
The fried rice and grilled dishes look absolutely amazing. I can almost taste the flavors just by looking at the pictures. And yes, adding seasoning would definitely take it to the next level. It's always a great idea to enhance the flavors and make the experience even more enjoyable.
Thanks for stopping by!
Hermano ese tocino se ve provocativo, podrías regalarme un poco para probarlo.
The fried rice looks delicious, I tasted it with my eyes. You are a good cook. I like the pancake too
Thank you! The pancakes were one of my favorites!
I love these kinds of grills but haven't seen one in a while. They aren't really a thing in Asia because you know, woks. I remember working in a greasy spoon in college and used to just love the creative hot sandwiches I could make on one of these just chopping up whatever and shoving it in a sub roll, then covering it in cheese and sticking it in the oven for a while. Of course I would serve said sandwich with ranch dipping sauce and a side of ridged Ruffles, just to make it extra healthy.
That sounds like the perfect sandwich to me! There are a lot of East coast places that have made a killing doing something similar. We haven't tried cheese steaks in this yet, but I plan to in the future.
The one I was thinking of that I used to make myself that chicken, onion and peppers on the grill, melted the cheese and then shredded lettuce and tomato (cold) on top. It was divine. I'm sure there are a ton of places that do this but not over here in Vietnam, strangely.
Yes, I used to get those a lot too. Probably one of my favorites. Sometimes they would put teriyaki sauce on it too.
Ok bud, pro tip: Put your onions on first, and chop them even smaller. You want them to be yellow-ish before you smash the beef on top of them. Use oil and let em just cook, then *really smash the burger, you want it super thin. And of course, make sure you are seasoning properly. They should turn out better next time.
Alright thanks!