What's cooking on your FlatRock or Griddle today? 🥞🥓🍔

May be a dumb question but is anyone here cooking hot dogs on their Flatrock and liking the finished product? Not talking about whatever add-ons you may do but the hot dog itself? I've tried 3 times now and just am not at all satisfied. Did all Beef dogs today to see what happens and it is still not something I enjoy. I love a charred hot dog on the gas grill but I sold it to make room for the Flatrock. Today I used a hamburger press to help hold the dog down tighter to the surface and while I got some black marks it really was not what I was hoping for. Warmed up hot dogs is not what I am looking for and maybe I am expecting too much with hot dogs on the Flatrock. Anyone?
 
In Virginia in the mountains and while high winds are not unusual here they are talking about some possible severe wind gusts today which of course can mean power outages. For those not on a whole house generator have you ever lost power while hooked up to your Flatrock and cooking? I've got a couple lbs of Bacon I need to cook here shortly and I'd hate to lose power during this. Oh well. If it happens then it happens.

I do not have a Flatrock (I have a Chargriller FlatIron), but it is my understanding that the only thing that the power cord does is supply power to the sensors like the propane tank weight sensor. I believe the griddle will work just fine without power. However, you might want to disconnect the power cord after igniting the grill and see what happens. I think it will keep going just fine.

Now the Traeger pellet grills are another matter entirely. They do require power for the controller, auger motor and fan. Some folks have will use a backup power supply such as a Jackery Power Station to power their pellet grill if the power goes out or if they are off-grid. That should not be necessary for the Flatrock. You should even be able to ignite the griddle without AC power by using a match on an extension.
 
May be a dumb question but is anyone here cooking hot dogs on their Flatrock and liking the finished product? Not talking about whatever add-ons you may do but the hot dog itself? I've tried 3 times now and just am not at all satisfied. Did all Beef dogs today to see what happens and it is still not something I enjoy. I love a charred hot dog on the gas grill but I sold it to make room for the Flatrock. Today I used a hamburger press to help hold the dog down tighter to the surface and while I got some black marks it really was not what I was hoping for. Warmed up hot dogs is not what I am looking for and maybe I am expecting too much with hot dogs on the Flatrock. Anyone?


I always boil my hot dogs before cooking them. Boiling them in beer is even better than using water. While they can be eaten after boiling, I prefer grilling them to char the skin. The problem with a flat top griddle is that it is hard to get the hotdogs to stay in position long enough to char properly.

One way to resolve this problem is to place the hotdogs in a grill pan and place the pan directly on the surface of the griddle. Something like this will work.


If you are cooking for a crowd, the grill pan might not be big enough. Then something like this reversible griddle might be more appropriate.


Some reversible griddles come with diagonal ridges. Those might work well for grilling steaks, but the ones with vertical ridges work best for hotdogs and brats.
 
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I did 3 dogs a couple days ago and the larger burger press it held them in place well. I just felt the black charring seemed tasteless and boring. Nothing like being charred over fire. But not giving up yet. Your suggestions are a good idea if I need to do larger amounts than just for the wife and I.
 
Ray and others.

I thought I saw a discussion on here regarding cooking steaks since I've been here but I cannot find it. I cooked my one and only steak on here several weeks back after I bought it. Was a 1 1/2 inch Ribeye. Bought a 1 inch today from a local butcher. Please throw out the advice on how to get that char but still maintain a nice medium rare steak. The 1 1/2 was way too raw. Hoping the thinner steak will work well. Was wondering if the far left is up to say 500 degrees and the far right at the lowest temp. Char on 500 then move to the right burner? Using clarified butter unless Beef tallow or an oil is best.
 
Ray and others.

I thought I saw a discussion on here regarding cooking steaks since I've been here but I cannot find it. I cooked my one and only steak on here several weeks back after I bought it. Was a 1 1/2 inch Ribeye. Bought a 1 inch today from a local butcher. Please throw out the advice on how to get that char but still maintain a nice medium rare steak. The 1 1/2 was way too raw. Hoping the thinner steak will work well. Was wondering if the far left is up to say 500 degrees and the far right at the lowest temp. Char on 500 then move to the right burner? Using clarified butter unless Beef tallow or an oil is best.
First you need to decide the done temperature for your steak. You need to remove it a few degrees before target temperature because it’ll continue cooking for a little bit. So a medium steak remove at 136 for a 140 temperature. Medium well remove around 145 for around a 150.

Are you cooking it only on the griddle or smoker then reverse sear? You mentioned 1” thick so probably no reverse sear. If on the griddle only, let it get really hot first ( test when dropping water sizzles away fast. First let steak get to room temperature, then dry it really good, rub some kosher salt and pepper on it. Then put some olive oil or butter on the hottest area you can tell, let it sit a minute then sear it for about 2 minutes then flip to the area beside you just seared on, oil or butter a little before flipping it. Then 2 more minutes. Then it should be close to medium rare or more so watch the temperature. Let it rest a good 10 minutes. I have a Blackstone and this is how I do thin steaks. I do same on reverse sear on thick steaks too.

Let us know how it goes, post a picture or two.
 
First you need to decide the done temperature for your steak. You need to remove it a few degrees before target temperature because it’ll continue cooking for a little bit. So a medium steak remove at 136 for a 140 temperature. Medium well remove around 145 for around a 150.

Are you cooking it only on the griddle or smoker then reverse sear? You mentioned 1” thick so probably no reverse sear. If on the griddle only, let it get really hot first ( test when dropping water sizzles away fast. First let steak get to room temperature, then dry it really good, rub some kosher salt and pepper on it. Then put some olive oil or butter on the hottest area you can tell, let it sit a minute then sear it for about 2 minutes then flip to the area beside you just seared on, oil or butter a little before flipping it. Then 2 more minutes. Then it should be close to medium rare or more so watch the temperature. Let it rest a good 10 minutes. I have a Blackstone and this is how I do thin steaks. I do same on reverse sear on thick steaks too.

Let us know how it goes, post a picture or two.
Yeah just using the Flatrock. Don't want to ruin another Rib Eye as this shop sells good cuts of meat so they are not cheap.
 
For me, cooking steaks is a two step process. You can either sear it first on the griddle and then finish if off to your desired temp on a pellet grill or in your home oven. That is a normal sear. Or you can do a reverse sear. Cook it to rare or medium rare in the pellet grill, home oven, or Sous Vide and then sear it on the griddle to finish it off. You should always let the meat rest a few minutes after cooking, no matter how anxious you are to sink your teeth into mouth-watering goodness.

Sous Vide has become quite common in steak restaurants using the reverse sear method. That allows them to cook steaks ahead of time and then finish them up on the grill so they can get them to your table quickly.

If your steaks are thin, you can grill them, but thick steaks benefit from the two-step process.
 
For me, cooking steaks is a two step process. You can either sear it first on the griddle and then finish if off to your desired temp on a pellet grill or in your home oven. That is a normal sear. Or you can do a reverse sear. Cook it to rare or medium rare in the pellet grill, home oven, or Sous Vide and then sear it on the griddle to finish it off. You should always let the meat rest a few minutes after cooking, no matter how anxious you are to sink your teeth into mouth-watering goodness.

Sous Vide has become quite common in steak restaurants using the reverse sear method. That allows them to cook steaks ahead of time and then finish them up on the grill so they can get them to your table quickly.

If your steaks are thin, you can grill them, but thick steaks benefit from the two-step process.
This steak is 1-inch thick so I think I can make it work on the griddle alone. But I think it may be time for me to finally try this Sous Vide method so many talk about. I'll do this steak as planned then get serious about learning the Sous Vide method out of curiosity.
 
This steak is 1-inch thick so I think I can make it work on the griddle alone. But I think it may be time for me to finally try this Sous Vide method so many talk about. I'll do this steak as planned then get serious about learning the Sous Vide method out of curiosity.

Although I do use Sous Vide for cooking occasionally, I have found it most useful for reheating food I have cooked on the pellet grill and griddle and then vacuum sealed and frozen. For example, I cook several chicken breasts at one time and freeze most of them. I can pull a frozen piece of chicken out of the freezer after lunch, set the Sous Vide temperature and come back a few hours later to meat that was as good as it came off the grill weeks before. I use mine so often that it stays on the kitchen counter ready for the next use.


The circulators are reasonably priced. On the advice of a member here, I purchased the InkBird ISV-200, but it is no longer listed on Amazon. You can use the circulators in a stock pot, but I has an old insulated cooler that holds 12 cans. You can purchase plastic containers with a lid that are specifically designed for Sous Vide, but I repurposed the old cooler.
 
This steak is 1-inch thick so I think I can make it work on the griddle alone. But I think it may be time for me to finally try this Sous Vide method so many talk about. I'll do this steak as planned then get serious about learning the Sous Vide method out of curiosity.
I love my SV but I don’t think it’ll be worth it on a 1” thick steak. Works awesome on A 1 1/2 or thicker is best.
 
Crisbee Cream? Anyone use it on the Flatrock? I have it and use it in the house for my cast iron pans but have not tried it on the griddle. No matter what I do I add a thin layer of oil, normally Avocado, and I keep getting the splotchy look after the 10 minute mark or when the smoke stops. I threw some Crisco on today after a Shrimp cook and still splotchy. Not that I expected Crisco to fix this. Crisbee says it can be used on Carbon Steel but has anyone tried it on your griddle?
 
It is unlikely that you will ever get your griddle surface to have a perfectly even black coating. I initially seasoned mine with 7 coats, some with peanut oil and some with a seasoning designed for griddles that combines oil and wax. It looked pretty good after doing that, but as soon as I started using the griddle, my pristine appearance was marred. As long as food does not stick to the surface, you are good.

If you do ruin the surface, you can always get out a sander and sand it down to raw steel and start the seasoning process from scratch, but minor unevenness in the appearance does not warrant this type of effort.
 
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