Cooking with griddle on a propane grill?

[troyboy162]

I use a Weber 1520 go-anywhere propane grill. The grill cooks evenly but I'm not a fan for the price, cheap piezo, bad regulator and the not so rare flame outs with very little wind. Enough venting about the grill since the damage is done. I figured I'd put that out there for search sake anyhow.

I have googled using a griddle on top of the grill grate and have seen that it works, but I'm concerned since its not a very common thing and would seem to be good for car camping. All the examples I found are from high powered backyard grills. Are any of you doing this on the trail?

-I have found that some people remove the heat spreader from the grill to allow more direct heat to the griddle. I understand thats ideal, but the grill is quite frankly disgusting to touch lol. Anyone ever leave the heat spreader on and then put the cover on the grill for more heat? I cant find any griddles that fit even close to edge to edge so heat would not be contained under the griddle very well without a cover anyhow.

-Would aluminum griddle be better suited since the direct heat is not as good as the typical griddle over burner scenario?

I might break down and go single burner with a frying pan like my friends, but thought I would look into a griddle first to keep things simple. Camping breakfast can be amazing as my friends have shown me. I want in on that!

 

[Silver dude]

I tried with a aluminum griddle on my portable grill I couldn't get eggs to fry when my 2 burner stove wouldn't start one morning. Grill heat seems sort of indirect with the diffuser over the flame its just to far from the flame indirect heat. Take the diffuser out it works pretty well.

However, at home on my grill I use a cast iron griddle and it definitely has the punch. I imagine its because the cast iron absorbs and maintains the indirect heat much better then aluminum. Close the lid to lock in the heat around the plate. Usually I fry onions or mushrooms, or sear a steak like I would on a stove top.

 

[Chris Boyd]

I cook with a griddle on a dual burner propane grill. It's a thinner aluminum griddle that I picked up at camping world. I've also used it on a fire grate at a campsite.

 

[troyboy162]

Chris are you talking about a dual burner propane stove? Something like this below. If not then you have my attention and I would love to hear about it.

Silver, thanks for the first hand results. I was afraid That would be the issue. Looks like I'll be buying a single burner soon. I have read about grilling on the fancy combination grill/stoves, but it always sounds like a huge compromise on the grilling side where the majority of my cooking would be.

 

[dfroman]

I have the campchef expedition x2 (like the yukon below) each burner is 30,000 btu's plenty of fire to boil water or to fry smaller turkeys
I also have the grill box that works great too. the stove comes with a cast iron flat top griddle that has a ribs on the other side.





http://www.campchef.com/stoves/14-cooking-systems/yukon-double-burner-stove.html
http://www.campchef.com/stoves/14-cooking-systems/professional-grill-box-30.html

 

[Chris Boyd]

Chris are you talking about a dual burner propane stove? Something like this below. If not then you have my attention and I would love to hear about it.

Silver, thanks for the first hand results. I was afraid That would be the issue. Looks like I'll be buying a single burner soon. I have read about grilling on the fancy combination grill/stoves, but it always sounds like a huge compromise on the grilling side where the majority of my cooking would be.

No, I have just a griddle that I lay down on my dual burner stove. One side is smooth for pancakes and the other has ridges for grilling or cooking bacon and letting the greased drain.

 

[Garrett@Oscaro]

I cook with a griddle on a propane grille. I found a NIB Kitchen Aid Teflon-coated griddle on ebay for $25, and toss it on top. Is it perfect? No. But it's thick, and has worked great the past 5 years!

 

[craig333]

All the time. I make no modifications to the grill. Griddle is a fairly thin non stick model.

 

[troyboy162]

hmmm so you guys have had them work well. Anything special to it? What grills are you using if that makes a difference? A couple posts above is a sweet grilling set up with the power to melt steel if you need to do some sand cast parts on the trail haha. Its out of my budget though and needs more umpf then my 1lbs propane bottles. Seems like a grills output would govern how well this would work.

Chris the dual burner stove and griddle/grill top is a proven winner. I would not rule out that set up for a future purchase since its so versatile and has >50 years of successful camping meals, but I've got a propane BBQ grill that I use already. My mission is eggs and hash browns for breakfast for hopefully just the price of a griddle.

I found this deep dish bad boy and will try to update the post with results when I'm home in a couple months. Just web wheeling and day dreaming for now.

http://www.amazon.com/Nordic-Ware-B...d=1380287888&sr=1-3&keywords=aluminum+griddle

 

[Firesong]

I use the Coleman double stove with side burner and BBQ burner. They sold a grill to go over top of it and the combo works great. I use the bulk propane adapter rather than the small green propane canisters.

 

[RangeBrover]

I run a partner dual burner and got the griddle so I could "grill" stuff on top of the gas burners. I would have to say that it works relatively well but it's by no means a grill. I've since switched to a cast iron griddle that works substantially better than the old aluminum one. On both I could easily cook eggs, pancakes, and bacon, but the cast iron is just that much better for steaks, brauts, and other meats.

 

[quickfarms]

I have gotten so sick and tired of dealing with these little joke camp stoves I am thinking about mounting a commercial grill on one of my trailers and just set up a trailer for cooking

 

[spressomon]

Partner Steel warns not to use a full size griddle on their stoves that covers all burners. Being a rebel without a cause sometimes I threw caution to the wind...and although the griddle worked without issue I did notice the needle valves getting sticky faster...which is part of the reason they do not recommend using full coverage griddles on their stoves (the increased heat softens the o-ring apart of these needle valves).

quickfarms: No need for a trailer! My buddy hauled a 3-burner Camp Chef stove all the way from Cali to the Maze District...in his 80-Series. This with two other passengers; still don't know how he did it...hahaha! Not sure I want to go this route but when it was cooking time the big Camp Chef and its 30kbtu burners sure was nice!

 

[JIMBO]

:sombrero: I have a "Chef" Denali three burner stove/w a little grill in the middle and a Coleman 24" propane camp stove, that is just a grill-just like your barbeque stove at home-

Kewl

:costumed-smiley-007:wings: JIMBO

 

[RangeBrover]

Partner Steel warns not to use a full size griddle on their stoves that covers all burners. Being a rebel without a cause sometimes I threw caution to the wind...and although the griddle worked without issue I did notice the needle valves getting sticky faster...which is part of the reason they do not recommend using full coverage griddles on their stoves (the increased heat softens the o-ring apart of these needle valves).

quickfarms: No need for a trailer! My buddy hauled a 3-burner Camp Chef stove all the way from Cali to the Maze District...in his 80-Series. This with two other passengers; still don't know how he did it...hahaha! Not sure I want to go this route but when it was cooking time the big Camp Chef and its 30kbtu burners sure was nice!

Completely agree. I use partners griddle, and when I want cast iron I have a smaller one. I don't think you need that much venting room though cause partners griddle only leaves about 3/4" of space around the stove top.