Your grill, the wonderful cooking medium that it is, has its limitations. Those same grill grates that crosshatch dark marks across steaks, chops, and whole vegetables also allow smaller foods to fall through the cracks and into the fires below.
You know this frustration that comes from food fumbled on the grill if you've ever turned rings of onion, caused a shrimp to slip, or bobbled a chicken strip. Some people simply sip their beer and shrug their shoulders, counting the loss as a sacrifice to the grilling gods. Others, well, they invent things like grill baskets, meatball trays, and overpriced Himalayan salt plates.
Most grillers disregard these gimmicks and gadgets as more stuff to clutter up their garage, but occasionally there's a piece of equipment that earns the coveted real estate. Check out the Sizzle-Q Grill Top Griddle.
This grill accessory runs about 60 bucks, sizes out at 17 ¾" x 13", and weighs just around 10 pounds. Beyond the specs, the Grill Top Griddle is a simple piece of construction. The flame of your grill—whether you have gas or charcoal—heats the stainless steel, creating a super-hot surface the likes of which you may have seen in greasy spoon diners.
The Test:
To assess the Sizzle-Q Grill Top Griddle, I decided to cook up a diner-inspired breakfast. Would eggs, bacon, and home fries grill up better on the griddle than they would in a skillet on my stove? Would the process take longer than an average trip to my local breakfast spot? And would I have a mess to clean?
The Verdict:
The griddle takes about 10 minutes to heat to medium high—that's excluding the time your grill/coals need to fire up. As soon as I tossed on my jalapeno breakfast potatoes (recipe to come), the spuds started to sizzle, picking up a crust of caramelization within a few minutes.
Bacon followed, and soon I was blending the potatoes with the bacon fat that emerged as the strips cooked. At this point, my neighbor's dogs had stopped barking at me and instead began licking their jowls, whining with intensity. As the potatoes finished browning, on went two eggs, which scrambled in just over a minute. What time the Sizzle-Q Grill Top Griddle had lost off the line, it regained in acceleration. Breakfast's total cook time: 10 minutes.
Eager to test the load of the griddle, I had made enough home fries and bacon to feed at least eight people (or myself, eight times more). If you want to make meals for the masses—especially breakfast for the masses—this accessory saves you from using up every pan you have and pushing your stovetop to full capacity. Plus, you have the opportunity to grill your breakfast.
One big drawback: The Sizzle-Q Grill Top Griddle is tough to clean. Yes, you can scrape it down after you grill, but that still pushes most the crud into the attached fat drainage tray. To clean that, you have to allow the griddle to cool, which took about two hours. Then you have to maneuver the device about your sink and as you scrub the crap out of the now-solidified griddle gunk. This factor makes the Sizzle-Q Grill Top Griddle a special occasion device—one you break out the morning after a night of partying with your buddies or for feeding the family brunch before a big event.
I’ll be cooking more food on the Sizzle-Q Grill Top Griddle in months to come. It’s just that the time, and the meal, has to be right.
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