Dad can sear a steak on the grill in his sleep. Perhaps he’s even added a smoker to his repertoire.
Now just in time for Father’s Day, comes the hottest new trend, the outdoor flattop griddle.
You know how delicate foods such as fish or vegetables always seem to fall through the grates? Not so with the flattop griddle, which cooks fast, enhances flavor and is easy to clean. And its large surface means you can cook the entire meal.
Grill master and PBS host Steven Raichlen, who literally wrote the book on grilling and all things barbecue – 32 of them, in fact – has added a 33rd: “Project Griddle: The Versatile Art of Grilling on a Flattop” (Workman, $30) with nearly 80 hunger-inducing recipes for breakfast, lunch, dinner, even dessert.
“A lot of people think it’s for simple things,” the salesman at BBQ Galore in Brea, (who preferred I not use his name) told me. “You’ve gotta think outside the box. When I go camping, I do cinnamon rolls on mine. I do cakes, soups, chilis. You put the dome on and it’s an oven.”
Besides the endless assortment of griddles, from portable flattops to built-in units – the store also sells a wide array of accessories: domes, water and oil bottles, burger presses and more.
“Smash burgers are really popular right now. You can even use it to make fried rice,” the salesman said.
I asked Raichlen for some helpful hints for using the griddle.
“Set up multiple heat zones: one hot, one medium, one low or off,” he suggested. “Control the cooking and avoid burning by moving the food back and forth.”
It’s also important to keep the griddle well-seasoned both before and during cooking.
“Use plenty of oil or butter when cooking,” he said. “I use one of those squirt bottles of extra-virgin olive oil. It gives you both flavor and lubrication. And when griddling thick foods like chicken thighs or pork chops, place a griddle dome or inverted metal bowl over them. This traps the heat, so you cook from both the bottom up and the top down.”
I’ve tried to cook crabcakes on a conventional grill with little success, so the griddle version caught my eye.
The griddle “solves two potential problems posed by the traditional way of cooking crabcakes in Maryland: deep frying and broiling,” he writes. “The former adds unwanted fat. With the latter, it’s often hard to cook the crabcake through without burning the exterior. And having gone to all the time and expense of making your crabcakes from scratch, for heaven’s sake, don’t use a sugary bottled tartar sauce.” Raichlen’s made-from-scratch recipe follows.
Fullerton’s Judy Bart Kancigor is the author of “Cooking Jewish” and “The Perfect Passover Cookbook.” Her website is cookingjewish.com.
CHARM CITY CRABCAKES
From “Project Griddle” by Steven Raichlen
Ingredients:
• 1 pound jumbo lump crab meat
• 1 large egg (preferably organic)
• 1/3 cup mayonnaise (preferably Best Foods)
• 2 teaspoons Old Bay seasoning, or to taste
• 1 teaspoon dry mustard
• 1/4 cup cracker crumbs
• 2 to 3 tablespoons cold unsalted butter in a chunk for griddle
• Extra-virgin olive oil (optional)
Method:
1. Gently pick through crab, removing any pieces of shell.
2. In large mixing bowl, beat egg with fork or whisk until smooth. Stir in mayonnaise, Old Bay seasoning and dry mustard. Add crab and sprinkle cracker crumbs on top. Fold as gently as possible with rubber spatula or your hands just to mix.
3. Line plate with plastic wrap. Dampen hands and divide crab mixture into 4 equal portions. Form each into patty about 3/4 inch thick; place on lined plate. You can cook crabcakes right away, but they’ll hold together better if chilled, covered with plastic wrap, 30 minutes.
4. Heat griddle to medium-high. Impale butter chunk on a fork and use it to grease griddle.
5. Gently arrange crabcakes on buttered griddle. Cook until sizzling and brown on both sides and cooked through, 2 to 4 minutes per side or as needed, using offset spatula to turn once. If crabcakes are really thick, cover with griddle dome to speed up cooking. If crabcakes start to stick, add more butter or squirt griddle with a little olive oil. Serve at once with made-from-scratch tartar sauce on top.
Made-From-Scratch Tartar Sauce
Yield: 1 cup
Ingredients:
• 3/4 cup mayonnaise (preferably Best Foods
• 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
• 1 tablespoon dried capers, drained
• 1 tablespoon minced cornichons or dill pickle
• 1 tablespoon minced fresh chives or green onion (green part)
• 1 tablespoon chopped fresh tarragon or basil
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly and finely grated lemon zest
• 2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
• Freshly ground black pepper
Method:
Place ingredients in a bowl and whisk to mix, adding lemon juice to taste. Any leftovers will keep, covered, in the refrigerator at least three days