BLACKSTONE36" Cooking Station 4 Burner Propane Fuelled Restaurant Grade Professional 36 Inch Outdoor Flat Top Gas Griddle with Built in Cutting Board, Garbage Holder and Side Shelf (1825), Black

Eggs, Burgers, Bacon, Potatoes, Pancakes, Fried Rice, Fried Cabbage, Hot Dogs, Onions, Peppers... Just a few of the things that come out amazing on a blackstone griddle.Can you obtain the same results in a cast iron skillet? For the most part...yes. But most people don't want to use a cast iron skillet correctly indoors due to the amount of smoke that can be produced when cooking at high heat and many others don't have the necessary ventilation due to recirculating hood vents / over range microwaves (as is my case...).Start by seasoning the griddle well. I'd suggest three seasonings, scrape with a scraper, one light seasoning, and then go to town cooking on it. First thing you should cook after the initial seasoning? I think it should be Bacon or Smashburgers as the high-fat foods will aid the initial seasoning process. Highly suggest lard for the initial seasoning process, although most high-heat oils will work well (don't use olive oil, for example...).Pros:- Solidly built, high quality, no doubt it will last many, many years if properly taken care of.- Even if abused, the steel griddle surface can be brought back to life through scrubbing and reseasoning.- A properly seasoned griddle is incredibly nonstick. Even without additional oil I have made eggs and burgers without issue.- Easy cleanup and you can make an impressively large amount of food on this thing.Neutral / Comments:- GET A PROPER TOOL KIT. You'll want at least two turners and a handled scraper. The blackstone premium ones work really well. An oil bottle and water bottle are also vital to have for cooking and cleaning (I use a gatorade squeeze / sports bottle for water). Egg Rings, Burger Presses, and basting covers are great tools to have as well but not strictly necessary.- At maximum heat, this grill will eat through propane relatively quickly. The most economical way to purchase propane is getting a tank refilled, as you'll get the full 20lbs rather than the 15lbs that you get when swapping your tank at an exchange point and it's usually cheaper to get a 20lb fill than a 15lb exchange. Just need to make sure the tank you're filling is less than 12 years old to comply with DOT regulations (or 10 years per U-Haul's policy). You can avoid this altogether if you have a natural gas line run for your grill and get the Blackstone natural gas conversion kit, which would be my recommended strategy if possible in your situation as it will pay for itself relatively quickly (depending on how often you use it).- Need a hard cover to prevent rust formation with a soft cover. Not the easiest thing to find right now due to the supply chain issues, but not a major fault of the manufacturer or this product itself.Cons:- Paper towel holder is useless. Any slight gust of wind will unroll them entirely. Makes a nice place to hang my tongs, though.- Instructions were not updated to cover the handle assembly on the left side of the grill properly. It does not have nuts welded to the frame as the instructions seem to indicate, but rather requires the use of the nuts in the packaging. Easily figured out and an easily forgiven mistake by Blackstone in my opinion.Review is in relation to the 36", 4 Burner Model with cutting board and paper towel holder.

I was never really all that interested in a griddle. I'm a grill and smoker guy and anytime I have meat to cook, those were my go-to's. I went to a friend's house over the holiday weekend and he made smash burgers, some pork, hot dogs and sausage for dinner. I watched as he cooked and fell in love. There is so much you can cook on this!! I was stuffing my face with the food he'd cooked when I ordered my griddle. I was a little irritated I didn't wait for Prime Days since it was discounted 30% shortly after it was delivered. But...I blame myself for being impatient and maybe a little impulsive. I digress.....Anyway, the griddle was delivered on time and the weather was a little unfavorable so I waited a day or two to assemble the griddle. I've owned several grills and I usually put them together myself. Assembly was actually very easy and I needed virtually no help. The hardest part, that I needed some help with was putting the actual griddle on top. That thing was heavy. I was a little surprised it just sits on top and isn't permanently attached, but as heavy as it is, it probably isn't necessary. Putting it together was just a few steps like installing a couple wheels, attaching the 2 shelves, the propane tank mount, a handle and the control knobs. The whole process took under an hour. If you can use a screwdriver and a wrench, you can put this together. It really is that simple.Next was getting the propane hooked up and seasoning the griddle cooking surface. Thankfully my friend gave me some pointers and believe me this is an important step. I watched a YouTube video to make sure I was seasoning the griddle top correctly. I recommend getting the Blackstone Seasoning and Conditioning stuff. Fire up the griddle on high and let it get hot. Take a dollop of the "griddle goop" (what I call it). Let it melt. You will likely have to chase it a little as it will immediately head to the grease trap. Using a paper towel and some long tongs, evenly spread a thin layer on the griddle surface; this includes the cooking surface and the outside of the rails around the perimeter. Don't worry if the paper towel kind of disintegrates as you spread the oil, it can be cleaned later. This creates a non-stick surface but also protects against rust. Let the griddle burn off the oil. When the griddle stops smoking, the oil has burned off. Lather, rinse, repeat. I seasoned my griddle 4 times.Cooking on this is a bit of a learning process. Grilling is pretty simple. Throw some meat on the flame and make sure it doesn't get burned on a flare up. Flip. Done. Griddle cooking is a little more involved, but I have to admit it's fun.I cooked a steak, a salmon filet and some shrimp as my inaugural meal. Everything was very flavorful and cooked to perfection (not a reflection of me, just the griddle heat was well distributed).A few tips if you're considering this: get a lid as one is not provided with the griddle. At the very least, purchase a cloth cover if you're storing this outside. I'm doing both; just waiting on the lid to be delivered. With the cloth cover, take a piece of the cardboard that comes with the griddle for transport. Wrap it in tin foil so it doesn't get soaked in oil from the griddle top and create a tent so water will flow off the top without pooling.YouTube is your friend. If you're like me and never cooked on something like this, you can learn a lot from the videos on YouTube. There a lot of maintenance and care videos as well as recipes and how to cook certain foods on your griddle. I've only cooked what is pictured and smash burgers a day or two after that. Tip: don't make the smash burgers too big.Seasoning your griddle before you start cooking is absolutely essential! READ THAT AGAIN. :-)Cleaning the griddle after cooking is a bit more involved than cleaning a grill. Use a scraper or spatula to push left over food to the grease trap. Let the griddle cool a bit. Once cleared, squirt a little oil on the surface and use a clean rag to coat the griddle surface. That's basically it, but scraping can require a little elbow grease depending on what you cooked.