Cool Off the Kitchen by Cooking on the Porch
A few weeks ago a good friend of mine bought a flat top griddle. He invited my wife and I over for supper and cooked some cheese steaks. I got really jealous over his new grill, so I had to buy one for myself last week.
These grills have been around for a while, but they’ve become really popular in the last couple of years. They’re basically an outdoor version of a restaurant flat top you see in diners. The surface is slightly tilted toward a drain hole where oil, grease and drippings go. This allows the cook to prepare stirfrys and other grilled foods with a minimum amount of oil. These grills are perfect for making breakfast and hamburgers, but
These grills are perfect for making breakfast and hamburgers, but they can do so much more.
The three most popular brands right now are Camp Chef, Pit Boss and Blackstone. I really wanted to get a Camp Chef. To me, they seem to be the best quality, but they’re also the most expensive. My friend has a Pit Boss that he purchased at a Buccee’s for a really good price. I ended up purchasing a Blackstone. For me, it came down to the price. I was able to get the basic 36-inch model for just under $300 with a discount. You will probably find this model for closer to $350.
All of these grills run on propane. You have to “season” the surface like a cast iron skillet before you use it, otherwise everything you try cooking will stick to the surface. To season the flat top, you apply a thin layer of vegetable oil to the surface and turn the heat on all burners to high. The oil will smoke and burn to the surface. When it stops smoking, keeping the heat on high, apply another thin layer of oil and allow it to burn to the surface some more. Repeat the process three or four times. This creates a polymer on the surface of the steel flat top, similar to teflon.
Almost everyone warns against using bacon or other cured animal fat to season the steel. The nitrates in cured animal fat will interfere with the polymerization process. So don’t use them. Use a vegetable oil instead.
Once you get the flat top seasoned, you can cook your first meal. If you have ever worked as a short order cook, you will know how to use this grill right away. For everyone else, it takes some time to learn the technique.
Most people use a pair of thin, long spatulas to turn and flip food on the grill. Most people also use a pair of squirt bottles – one for oil and one for water. If the food gets dry while cooking, you can squirt a little water on the grill to produce steam and moisture. If the food starts sticking to the grill, you can squirt a little extra oil.
I’ve been cooking on it almost every day since I got it. This has helped to keep our house cool since we’re not cooking in the kitchen as much, which might be the grill’s biggest benefit. It’s literally a big flat pan on which you can cook an entire meal. If you need to cook something in a pot, just put the pot on the hot flat top and start cooking. It’ll boil a pot of water just about as fast as a gas range.
Cooking on a flat top happens really fast, so you need to make sure all the prep work is done beforehand. Chop all the meat and vegetables ahead of time. Make sure you have everything within reach once you fire up the grill.
My grill came with four burners. You don’t have to use all of them at once. I like to leave one of them turned off. The top will stay warm from the other burners, and you can use that part of the grill to keep food warm while you cook something else.
The best meal I’ve cooked on it so far has to be blackened catfish with grits. The flat top works beautifully for blackening fish or any other protein. I’ve never done a lot of blackening because it makes a ton of smoke that fills up the kitchen. But the flat top sits on the porch, so smoke isn’t a big deal.
To blacken fish, shrimp, steak, chicken or anything else, you must first get some blackening seasoning. Blackening season is real similar to most cajun or creole seasonings. It has salt, pepper, garlic powder, onion powder, paprika, cayenne pepper, and dried herbs such as thyme and oregano. Next, coat the fish or meat with a thin layer of melted butter. Then, liberally apply the blackening season to both sides. Turn the heat on the flat top to high. When blackening, unlike almost every other grilling method, you do not want any oil on the griddle top. When the griddle is smoking hot, lay the pieces of meat or fish on the grill.
In my case, we blackened catfish fillets. I grilled them for just under three minutes on one side before flipping. Then grilled for another two minutes on the other side.
You might be asking yourself, “What about the grits?”
Like I said earlier, you can cook anything in a pot on top of the griddle.
A better question would be, “Where did you find grits to cook?”
Truth be told, I could not find cooking grits anywhere in La Grange. The new HEB store, with all of its luxurious trappings, does not sell regular grits. Instead, they sell that abomination known as instant grits. I’m pretty sure everyone who says they don’t like grits got ruined by eating that stuff for the first time.
So what’s a Fayette County man to do when he’s got a hankerin’ for grits? The answer is Lamb’s coarse-ground corn meal. Lamb’s is a great Texas company based just down the road in Inez.
Fancy Southerners who only eat white grits will probably scoff at this because Lamb’s is made from yellow corn. After you cook it, the texture reminds me more of polenta (Italian grits, as Southerners like to say) – creamy yet firm. Here’s how you do it.
Here’s how you do it.
Ingredients:
2 cups of chicken broth
½ cup of Lamb’s coarseground cornmeal
1 cup of sharp Cheddar cheese, shredded
Salt and pepper
Bring the broth to a boil in a pot. Slowly stir in the cornmeal, a little at a time. You want each grain to contact the liquide and you slowly pour and stir. Otherwise, you will end up with clumps. Stir with a whisk if it gets clumpy. Turn the heat down to a slow simmer, as slow as you can go. Put a lid on the pot. Stir occasionally to prevent the cornmeal from sticking to the bottom of the pan. Cook for approximately 20-30 minutes until the grits are soft. Fold in the cheese and let the pot sit in a warm spot for another 5-10 minutes before serving.
Enjoy!