Camp Chef GridIron 36 Griddle Review, Part 1, Initial Impressions
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- Опубліковано 14 жов 2024
- I recently decided that it was about time to upgrade my griddle, and had been looking around at the options. I have a Blackstone 36” griddle that is about 4 years old, and a 22” that is about 3 years old. The 36” stays in my outdoor kitchen at home, and the 22” stays on the back porch at the cabin. I use them both extensively. My 22” has a hood, but my 36” only has a cover, which cannot be used as a dome. So I was looking at maybe a Halo, maybe a Traeger, but when this came out, looked so sharp, and had some innovative features, I decided to try the GridIron 36.
#campchef #gridiron36 #griddlecooking #backyardcooking #backyard #griddle
Had ours for about two months - so early in the eval process. We can say for sure that we are enamored with it. Everything we've cooked on it came out perfect. This might be attributed to the family cooks as well. Easily the best value among flat tops. But, it's not perfect. Grill master son strongly prefers grease channel in rear of all flat tops because pulling/cleaning top exposes arms to heat and worse, popping and splattering grease. Top can have severe temperature changes from one area to another - so you have to get smart about hot and relative cold areas. We noted that protein pulls heat out of the top and we must wait for temps to recover. Still, much happier with this than the competition.
Glad you like it. I have mixed feeling about the location of the grease drain. For cleaning, I absolutely prefer it in the back. There is nothing quite like squirting water on the griddle and pulling too fast toward you…and jumping out of the way as fast as you can. I’ve had this for 5 months now, and I love the heat control compared to the competition, but you must be careful with cleaning and pulling hot water or grease towards you. And yes, heat management can be an issue if you are more familiar with the Blackstone. I really like that you actually have a cooler griddle while on low, but that also means it can cool too quickly when you put down the groceries. Part 2 of this series demonstrates that. It was smashburgers, but they didn’t have a crust. I had the heat too low. I tried it again later (different video) with the griddle set to stun, and it worked out fine. Thanks for watching!
This is great! Thanks so much for this review, I've been watching some reviews and demos of it, definitely have this one on my wishlist!
Glad it was helpful! I’m sure enjoying mine. Stay tuned for more fun cooks.
Yes. Others have not done an initial season and it was somewhat sticky. I recommend doing whatever seasoning method you use and it will be outstanding.
Thanks! I used avocado oil and did 3 coatings of seasoning, then cooked a pound and a half of bacon. After that, i
Just cooked, cleaned, and oiled. I’m loving it so far. Thanks for watching!
Just assembled mine and did a hibachi on it last night. Absolutely love it. All the design makes for an easy cook. Grease trap is in the perfect spot, the griddle leveling is game changing. My only wish was it was easier to confirm the burners lit. I'm paranoid about gas so I'd like to know they lit before I move on to the next one. Other than that, it's amazing.
Great to hear! Happy you are enjoying it. Thanks for watching!
Thanks for the feedback.
I'm not sure what your experience is with other griddles. But I'm curious, what's the temp. like on the low setting. I'm coming from a camp chef ftg600 (non-lid), and I find that even on low, it gets extremely hot (370-390°F).
I appreciate any feedback.
Cheers.
@@marcocendejas5144 I have a BS 36” and a 22”, and I have had a 17” that I gave away. In my experience “Low” on all my other griddles is quite a bit higher (well over 300) than Low on the GridIron, where you’ll see high 200s on low, and sometimes low 300s depending on how long it heats up and where you live. We are in the Phoenix area and still burn under 300 most of the time. I really like that low really does mean low with this unit. For reference the max BTU output on this unit is 48000, compared with 60000 on the BS 36, and I believe the old FTG 36 is also 60000. So they naturally will burn hotter, even on low.
Nice. Interested to see more on this product
I’ll have 2-3 more videos out in the coming days, showing how it cooks some griddle staples, from smashburgers, to breakfast, stir fries, and maybe some fried rice. Thanks for watching! And hey, if you have a specific question, feel free to ask. It may be something I can address on a future video, or in a reply.
Id very much like to see a bread test in one of your next parts of your review. I know you said someone already did one but you have a model that you bought and sometimes companies build "review" models better.
Thanks for the tip! I’ll put that on my list of things to do.
Those griddle top levelers are a big selling point for me.
Yep! Me too. Thoroughly enjoying the unit so far. Thanks for stopping by, and for dropping a comment! Much appreciated.
PRETTY COOL GRIDDLE. I LIKE THE GREASE SYSTEM. ITS KIND OF LIKE A COMMERICAL GRIDDLE. NEW SUB HERE
Thanks for watching! And the sub! Cheers.
Thanks for the sub! And welcome!
Would you recommend this or the Blackstone 36 griddle?
Exactly the same question I have
I have the BS 36 with the flat metal cover. I certainly don’t hate it at all. There are also other models of Blackstone that are very worthy specimens. For example, before this came out, I was giving some serious thought to the BS Culinary 28xl with three burners and two side burners (for pots, frying, etc). It is a nice looking, stainless unit. But then this came out. And even though it isn’t stainless, its functional features far outweighed the nice looking stainless steel. For example, I move my griddle around a bit, so that leveling system is a real winner. I like the grease drainage and trap system. I like not having my grease collection viewable, whether by a UA-cam audience or my backyard guests. While I would have preferred larger wheels on this unit, it actually moves around quite easily with the wheels it has, and much easier than the BS 36 that I have. I like that I can close the lid to melt cheese (not supposed to do that with most BS models), and I like the way you can leave your spatulas in the grease trough. Also, I like that on this unit, LOW really does mean LOW. On my BS, you have a hot and hotter. This one seems to give more temp range for the cook. That said, you can buy the same BS I have, right now, at WalMart for $297, which is $202 less than this unit. So if money isn’t an issue, I’d go with the GridIron 36. If things are a little tight but you’ve got a family reunion coming and you gotta do the cooking and need a griddle asap, maybe the Blackstone is the choice to make. It really is a personal decision, but if it comes down to a couple hundred bucks you don’t have right now, but can wait a few weeks until you have it, by all means, yeah, wait and get the GridIron. Hope this all helps without being confusing. And, thanks for watching. If you have follow up questions, let me know, and I’ll answer them the best I can.
Hey thanks for the comment, and thanks for watching. I left some thoughts on whether I recommend this or the BS 36. Short answer, I recommend the GridIron. That said, I’ve written a long-ish answer to the question to which you replied. Please take a look (you’ll see it in this thread) for more on why I prefer and recommend this one over the BS 36, but also a note about when the BS36 might make more sense for some people. Again thanks for watching, and see you next time!
Hey there, I noticed when assembling my unit, there was nothing to place underneath the burners. Is that normal? There are two wide open spaces underneath the burners that could be touched from underneath the griddle. Is that normal? First time owner of a griddle here.
I don’t think any of mine have a plate below the burner. I’m going to have to go look in the morning.
So hey, I looked under my Blackstone griddle and it is also open.
@@RamblersDiner Thank you! Good to know
You said someone else did a bread test. Who was that? Your review is the only one I have been able to find.
Hey thanks for watching! I’m looking for it but having some trouble finding it. I know it was this griddle because it is the only one with the trough in front for grease management. The guy who did it laid the front row over the trough. Anyway, I’ll keep looking, and I’ll post a link here when I find it.
@@RamblersDiner Thanks. Looking forward to part 2 of your review.
@@George-gd6op should come out tomorrow, Wednesday at the latest. I’ll say this: after using the Blackstone for so long for most of my griddle cooks, pulling the grease forward is a tad awkward. It shouldn’t be…I cooked on a griddle during college (admittedly 40 years ago…). BTW, there will probably be 3 or 4 parts to the review. We just finished filming part 2. See you tomorrow (most likely).
Google the Men's Journal review to see the bread test. It's an article, not a video.
Ok. Thanks
Can you show us how you seasoned it?
I didn’t take a video of that, but I did season like I would season any other griddle. Quick wash and dry, then I used avocado oil, heat on high, two thin coats (since it is pre-seasoned), then a pound and a half of bacon. Their FAQs say you can cook without additional seasoning, so I didn’t go to the extremes I do with my Blackstones. If you need more detail on how to season your griddle, check out @theflattopking. I will have a couple more review videos out, showing how it cooks. One should come out this afternoon, Phoenix time. I’m planning to show how it cooks several griddle staples…smashburgers, breakfast, stir fry, fried rice maybe. Thanks for watching!
do you know of a conversion kit for natural gas that works for this griddle?
This is a complicated answer: Yes, and NO. They sell a hose to hook it up to natural gas, BUT the orifices of each gas valve also have to be drilled out. If you just attach the hose and call it done, that would be a serious hazard. I would not do it. Now, they also sell some replacement valves for natural gas, BUT, the website wasn’t clear on which units the valves were compatible with. If you are handy and feel comfortable drilling out the orifices, it can be done. I have a Halo Versa pizza oven. They come prepped for propane, and you can get a kit to switch the orifices and the hose for natural gas. That was an easy process, and I was able to do it myself. I’d personally feel a bit less comfortable drilling them out. That said, there is a UA-cam video they provide with instructions on how to do it. Just go to campchef.com, find the GridIron36 page, scroll down to accessories and click on the propane hose. The page that pops up will have the natural gas hose, so click on that, and then you should be able to find the instructions on that page. If you do end up going this route, please do let me know how it went, how easy it was, etc, so that if the question pops up again, I can be more helpful. Thanks for watching!
Thank you for your response!! Because I live in Canada and summer is coming to an end I decided to just use the propane for now until next summer. I am 100% positive I will do the conversion and when done I will let you know. 😊
can this be converted to NG?
Thanks for watching! It appears that it can be converted. However, it looks complicated if you aren’t competent with certain tools. Please see attached link on the Camp Chef website. Make sure to scroll down to the link below the connection kit to find the process to convert to NG. Please note that I am a user/customer of Camp Chef, not an employee, and this is not to be construed as advice. I am only providing information via a link to their website.
www.campchef.com/natural-gas-connection-kit/CC-NGKIT.html.
@@RamblersDiner thank you for the response! Great video and very informative.
The holes on top of the burners should be facing down.
I was wondering about that. Camp Chef's assembly video says to put them down but in their own promotional videos you can see they are up.
@@George-gd6op Looking forward to part two, eagerly awaiting release here in Australia. Will be release on the 20th June.
I put them face up because that’s how they are shown in the photos/videos on Camp Chef web site. Also, they do seem to fit more properly with the holes up. Thanks for watching. I didn’t watch the assembly video because the assembly instructions were pretty straightforward…except for this issue. But it is working fine with them up. Thanks for watching!
I just used the assembly instructions, didn’t watch the assembly video. But the instructions are not clear on the directions, so I put them up, like the promo videos.
I contacted Camp Chef about the holes. This is their respose:
Thank you for reaching out. Oficially the holes are supposed to be facing down, but it doesn't actually make any difference. Our engineers did mention that some of the pictures will show them flipped and it doesn't change anything. If you installed them facing up that is totally fine.
So how is that little tiny door going to keep animals out if the sides, back, and bottom is wide open? SMH
True, at the very least, a back panel behind the bucket is really necessary.