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As with any new toy I’m completely obsessed with this thing! Last night we used up some slow cooked lamb shoulder from our Sunday roast. Made a Korean-ish sauce with gochijang, sesame oil and vinegar, then did some stir fried veggies and pak choi served with soft tortillas. I just love how easy it is to bring together food for the four of us really quickly. I’ve been preheating the whole cooktop then when I start cooking I turn one or both of the outer burners off to give me a space to keep things warm. Do the high heat cooking over the still lit burners and slide things off to the side as they get done.

I’ve done this a couple of times (though not for ages, thanks for the nudge). The one I remember was a dhal makhani with black lentils - the smoke flavour was really good, I think it used ghee as the oil, just a small amount in a metal bowl with the red hot charcoal piece dropped in. its a great technique and not nearly as messy as it sounds.

This serious eats recipe is one of my fave curries. It calls for fire roasted tomatoes so definitely worth trying if you have a can spare. https://www.seriouseats.com/pressure-cooker-butter-chicken

Very good point - this would definitely work too. Doing it with the grill on is hot work and my eyes were not thanking me after!

It’s really quick to clean up. Just squirt on a bit of water while it’s still warm. Use a metal spatula to scrape any bits left on to the back and into the grease trap. A bit more water and wipe down with paper towel until it’s clean. You can use a bit of washing up liquid if needed but generally plain water will do. A good seasoning coat helps massively with clean up - it makes it like wiping out a non stick pan.

No problem at all: It’s pretty straightforward, just takes a bit of time (about an hour in total) 1. ⁠Wash the griddle with warm soapy water, dry it thoroughly 2. ⁠Heat on high until any leftover packing grease has burnt off and the colour changes in the spots over the burners, they tend to go brownish 3. ⁠Keep the burners on high. Use an old tea towel to really lightly rub in about 2 tbsp of flax seed oil (needs to be food grade with no additives). You want the thinnest coat possible, almost like there’s nothing there. Work quickly so you don’t get any thicker parts, just spread it out across the whole surface and then lightly polish it so there are no streaks. It’ll start smoking right away. 4. ⁠Let that burn in, after a few minutes it’ll stop smoking and the colour of the top will start to darken slightly. 5. ⁠Repeat steps 3 and 4 as many times as you like. Work the oil into the corners and on the inside and outside of the upward facing edges of the grill. Once it’s all black and smooth looking you can let it cool down and it’s done. The main thing is keeping the coats as thin as humanly possible, you really don’t want to see any streaks or pools of oil. I’ve seen a load of videos on YouTube where they put tons on and you can just tell it’s going to be a mess. Much better to do 8-10 really thin coats than 3-4 thick ones as thicker seasoning won’t bond well to the grill and will just chip and flake off. Once it’s done regular cooking should keep on top of it but you can always top up with a few coats of flax seed if needed. I’d avoid doing anything acidic on it for quite a while until it’s really set in well (so no tomatoes, vinegar, wine, etc). If you need to, washing up liquid is fine to use to clean it but in reality just plain water and a good scrape should do the trick if you clean it while it’s still hot after cooking.

Beef fried rice with mushrooms tonight. this thing is amazing! So quick and easy doing a big meal like this, super tasty and clean up was a doddle.

Don’t know anything about the oven I’m afraid but Tom Kerridge is great. I’ve got several of his books and everything I’ve ever done from them turns out well - Ottolenghi and Vivien Howard are the only other two that come to mind for almost guaranteed success for me. We got my mum and dad a lunch at the hand and flowers for a present last year and t hey absolutely loved it. Can’t believe I’ve not managed to get there myself.

Just a slightly different way of cooking - grab a ball of ground beef, place it on the griddle and smash it really thin with the flat of a spatula. Try and get as thin as possible, even a few little lacy holes appearing in the patty. It gives a great crust and is probably my favourite type of burger. I much prefer a stack of a couple of those over a single thicker number. In the picture above, the two on the left had just been turned so you can see the crust, the others are just about to flip.

Always a double! I consider a double a single.

Wow! This thing is great fun! So glad I picked one up. smash burgers with onions and mushrooms for our first cook:

I’m sure I’ll make a mess of it soon! I think I got the technique off here years ago, it’s been brilliant on my darto pans so fingers crossed the blackstone likes it as much.

Got the beast setup and seasoned. I did ten coats of flax seed oil as I have with my carbon steel pans. Took my time with it, tiny thin layer each time, barely visible but it’s built up to a lovely smooth surface. Smash burgers here we come! Before: during: and after:

Over this side of the pond they have gone up in price a lot. Last few years I haven’t seen the 36” version for less than £700, they’re usually around £740-750. At the weekend I saw someone post on Reddit that Costco had them at a decent price in store. I was going any way so told my friend I’d pick him one up. Long story short, I came away with two 😁 At £360 I just couldn’t pass the deal up, less than half the price I could normally get one for. Not been able to unpack it yet but looking forward to giving it a go. We had a similar sized plancha at a holiday rental in France last summer and loved it.

We need to see this!