Griddle 101: Why You Keep Burning Food
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Hey friends, If you remember I surveyed over a thousand griddle owners a few months ago, and the same two problems kept coming up: temperature control and cooking order (how to get everything done at the same time and still hot). So I made a video covering both. Here's the quick version: TEMPERATURE CONTROL • Get an infrared thermometer. The knobs don't tell you much. "Medium" on a 2-burner isn't "medium" on a 4-burner, and Ohio in the fall isn't Texas in the summer. • Find your hot and cold spots. Lay white bread (or pancakes) across the whole griddle and see where it browns. Generally the middle runs hot and the edges and corners run cooler. • Remember E-G-S: -Eggs and omelets: 300–325° -General cooking: 375–400° (about 90% of what I cook) -Searing steaks and smash burgers: 450–500° -When in doubt, go 375–400. • Preheat on low and check it at 5 minutes. These things heat up fast. Once it hits your temp, get the food down right away. • Don't be afraid to turn a burner or two off to bring the temp down, like for eggs at the end of a breakfast cook. COOKING ORDER • Prep everything before you go outside. Running back in is how food burns and griddles overheat. • Cook what takes longest first. For breakfast: bacon and potatoes, then pancakes, then eggs last. • Hold food hot. Use the cooler corners, a small wire rack, a gas grill on low, or your oven at 180°. • Start simple. New to the griddle? Try bacon and pancakes on Saturday and smash burgers on Sunday for a month. You'll build confidence way faster than trying to cook six things at once. I go into a lot more detail in the full video above: Keep on griddling, friends! Johnny
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