Sunday, February 8, 2009

The Griddle

This griddle is one heavy piece of equipment-16 pounds of cast iron!
I love it.
1/2 lb of bacon
12 pancakes
20 minutes.
Awesome.
My pancake breakfast cooking time has been cut by more than half! If I had done the bacon in a separate pan or in the oven I could have cooked all the pancakes at once and been done in 10 minutes. Bacon takes longer than that though, so it worked out FABULOUSLY!
And keeping in mind the lessons I learned from the cook at the ranch I worked at in Arizona, cleanup was a breeze.
There are a few minor issues with even cooking but that will work itself out as I use the griddle more and figure out what flame MamaJama likes best.
Yep, she has a name, such a huge presence deserves one.
My big MamaJama.
I love her.



10 comments:

ginstonic said...

Godd morning sunshine! Glad you love your griddle. Don't you just love nice tools to work with.

Brook said...

Having the right tools for the job IS half the job!

The CEO said...

So what's the trick you learned in Arizona? You have me wondering now.

Brook said...

While your griddle is still screaming hot use your metal spatula to scrape it and push all the grease to the grease catcher. Use a towel to soak up the grease and if there are still bits on your griddle-and if it is still hot(it should be)-pour a little water on it just like you would when deglazing a pan and again use your metal spatula to scrape. If you are using the grill side then just use one of those metal brushes you would use on your outdoor grill, don't go crazy with it of course and use the deglazing technique. Takes longer to type the how to than to actually do it and really it is not that big of a secret I guess. It sure does beat trying to lug that piece of iron to the sink and dry it off later and if done right you leave the grill a little more seasoned for next time. And dry, let's not forget that part!

tangobaby said...

Did you have enough bacon? 1/2 lb. doesn't sound like enough...

and yeah, cast iron rocks.

Nej said...

A gentlemen once taught me to put salt (sea or kosher) on the griddle, and use a paper towel to move it around. The salt scoured the bits off, without taking the seasoning off.

I love cast iron. We use it constantly. :-)

Brook said...

2 lbs of bacon couldn't be enough so I decided moderation would be the order of the day. It was a quite lovely thick sliced hickory smoked half pound-which equaled just 4 slices-of piggy deliciousness and I at leasr savored every nibble!

Huff Daddy said...

Same way I clean my cast iron pans. Flash it off and then return to off but still hot stove to dry. I may or may not wipe some shortening in at that time. If the pan isn't appreciable dirty, I just wipe it out, no flash of water. I do the salt trick that Nej mentions also if I have anything burned on, especially on my grill pan between the ridges.

Brook said...

Yep, I use the salt trick on the skillets but if I can avoid moving MamaJama I will!

ginstonic said...

A quick seasoning fix for cast iron is to boil some vinegar in the pan. A little smelly, but does the trick. Proceed as if you had fully seasoned it in the oven.