With summer just around the corner, we are ready to start being outdoors more and traveling and with that comes more and more outdoor cooking and grilling. It is one of our favorite things about traveling to destinations such as beaches or lakes to set the tone for that perfect sunset with friends and family.
But before we go packing our lawn chairs, our tents and our coolers, we first need to take a moment to plan ahead. No we aren’t talking about buying groceries or even doing meal prepping, instead we need to think about how we will be making our perfect memories through meals.
A bit earlier this year I found myself thinking into just how I wanted to spend these memories this year throughout my many travels. I have previously done so with a single burner stove and even a small grill, each of which posed a problem for my travel style when adventuring with others. I needed something which could make the experience easier and more effective and provide many more options at my campsite.
But beyond my campsite I wanted something that could add value to my life. I wanted something ideal for entertaining and something which could easily translate into tailgating as camping season turned into sports season, another one of my favorite types of adventures.
While exploring the options, the Blackstone Griddle came to my attention. I tried it and I loved it!
But before I could try it, there were few simple steps I needed take to prepare it to be used.
These are the same steps you will also find essential for preparing before your travels and setting the tone for your ultimate adventures.
It is called, Seasoning Your Griddle, and it is essential to keeping your food from sticking, your griddle from rusting and your food being enriched with yummy goodness. But how do you do it and is it difficult?
When preparing your griddle for the first time make sure you have removed any brand tags. I know this seems like a pretty obvious first step but sometimes in the anticipation of something new we get a little ahead of ourselves and its ok to pump the breaks and double check. Always better to be safe rather than sorry.
After this step I made sure that since my griddle was fresh out of the box I gave it a good wipe down. I like to use Dawn Dish Soap, warm water and a soft wash cloth. I will say if using a wash cloth make sure it is not one that will leave fuzzy debris. After a good wipe down I then took another cloth and warm water only to rise the griddle surfaces and base.
Now comes the fun part!!
Before we move on, a personal suggestion is to make sure you are not using the griddle during this process indoors unless extremely well ventilated.
We are now going to get the seasoning process started! For this you will need a few items including cooking tongs, paper towels and cooking oil. While you are assembling these items I suggest turning on the griddle to allow it to start heating up. When I did this I cranked the dial to the highest heat setting and in abut 15 minutes the griddle top started looking very dark.
This is exactly what you are looking for before moving onto the next step.
It is now time to add your first layer of oil. You can use any cooking oil or your choice, I chose vegetable oil because I had it on hand, though I usually cook with olive oil and have found it does seem to add a better flavor over continued usage in my opinion.
When adding oil to the griddle you will want spread it across the entire surface in a light pass.
Follow by using several crumpled paper towels to spread the oil across all surfaces of the griddle plate including sides, top surface and back. Make sure to use tongs when using paper towels because the surface will be very hot and the oil will immediately begin to absorb into the towels and become very hot to the touch. (I learned this the hard way by doing it by hand...eeek)
When you have rubbed oil onto all surfaces make sure you check the surfaces from various angles of sight to assure it has been fully coated. I found that when working inside sometimes even with the best light you cannot see the voids in oil without looking from both higher and lower angles.
Now you will sit and watch the oil burn. Burn baby, BURN!!
As the oils are left on the surface you will notice a lot of smoke forming (why you need to be outdoors or in ventilation) and also the griddle top will darken almost to a black color. It will continue to do this for 15 to 20 minutes at which point the smoke will begin to taper off and eventually stop.
When the smoke clears, time to go again! You want to repeat this step at least 3 times on your first seasoning out of the box to lock in the flavor, protect your surface and create the perfect nonstick surface.
Finish up by a final thin coat wipe down of cooking oil with paper towels to lock in your hard work!! I completed this and allowed my griddle to sit out for several hours before stowing it away in its carrier for travel!
Sure it will take a while, but this is why we are doing it long before your trip and while it might be a bit intense to monopolize this much of your time prepping the surface, think of how much time you are saving yourself from having to scrape away debris from your food sticking when the surface isn’t prepared correctly.
Now you are ready to pack the car, buy the groceries and get the cooler to head out. I recommend upon completion of griddle session always finishing off the griddle by boiling the surface and scraping it clean then concluding by adding a thin layer cooking oil to re-season your griddle before storage.
Always carry paper towels and a bit of cooking oil for your griddle and make sure you pick up a good scraper and your adventure in travel cooking is a success!!
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