http://www.armedpolitesociety.com/index.php?topic=55575.0I have to thank Mtnbkr once again for introducing the idea of outdoor griddles. I ended up getting mine for Christmas.
The utility through the spring and summer (and soon, fall) has been amazing.
As we have a charcoal grill, as well, I still have the option to cook things like steak on the grill when I want, but most often our grill is now a smoker. (I can do a full rack of ribs- technically 2 half racks- or 6 chicken breasts or similar sized items on the grill-smoker)
The griddle, however, gets used all the time. I cook saturday morning pancakes in about 5 minutes. MUCH faster than on the griddle pans.
I end up cooking most meats for the week on Saturday/Sunday. Stir fry a bunch of chicken breasts, cook up a couple pounds of loose hamburger, grill some sausages, etc...
Makes the evening task of making food a matter of getting the ingredients together and toss in the already cooked meat. Gumbo was the recipient last week, where I had already cooked up the chicken and just had to toss it in. Dropped a lot of time off the cooking.
I'm particularly enjoying the ability to drop 3-5 pounds of hamburger and cooking it up loose (usually with some onions tossed in.) My wife uses it for Lebanese rice, I'll toss it into mac&cheese for the kids, we can turn it into tacos/burritos/nachos, tater tot casserole, etc...
This is in addition to the ease in cooking up onions and peppers (as I plan on doing tonight) and other stir-fry type vegetables.
Fried Rice is quick and easy on this thing. Bacon, eggs, sausage all cook up quickly and in large quantities.
One other issue- clean-up is faster (for me, at least) than any other means of cooking. I spray water on the hot griddle, scrape it down, and then wipe it with a towel/rag/paper towel. Usually followed by a quick wipe with a bit of oil. Usually 3-5 minutes after I've cooked, it's also cleaned and ready to be covered once it cools.
