Setting up and Seasoning our new Blackstone Griddle
I actually started this work on Sunday, April 7th, 2019 and am just now updating the old blog.
Upon receiving our new griddle from Amazon, I was very excited, but knew it would be a spell before I would be able to actually start cooking on it. The first thing I had to locate was an old camp cooking table we’ve had for quite a few years that I just *knew* would fit the purpose, serving as a portable home for the new griddle.
We have had that camp cooking table since 2014. I have the 22″ griddle in our oven at present, seasoning it with vegetable oil. The hose on the right is an “add-on” we will use with 20 lb propane bottles rather than the little green ones from Coleman.
Blackstone has a very attractive 17″ model of this griddle that has a single “H” burner inside, but I wanted a hot and medium side on our griddle for most cooking – so went with the 22″ version.
Inside our *very* hot oven is a 22″ wide piece of cold rolled steel. I would apply a thin coat of vegetable oil on the front, sides, back and bottom – covering everything as evenly as I could – then heating it at 450 degrees Fahrenheit until the oil no longer produced smoke. Then shut down the oven, let the metal cool naturally, and when I could handle it, repeat the process. It took all day, but I did that four times, then moved to do the rest using the burners outside.
Above, I am simply continuing the seasoning process – note that the formerly gray cold-rolled steel griddle is a very nice black already. (This is actually the next day). That beautiful black will not last completely – but this is a great start and it will only get better with time and continued use…. But there is one more step I use when seasoning or re-seasoning cast iron and it is appropriate for the flat-steel griddle.
You just *have* to fry a pound of bacon on a newly seasoned surface. A griddle is quite different from a cast iron skillet – but it deserves some love too. 😉