Fresh off the griddle: standard cooking device revered for multiple uses

Nation's Restaurant News, Jan 20, 2003 by Gary Bensky

In our never-ending quest to expand the variety of menu offerings, the versatility of each piece of equipment in the battery can be critical. While we often seek solutions in newer cooking technologies, like high-speed ovens and combi-ovens, we sometimes need to take a fresh look at old, proven standbys. Along with the range, one of the most common pieces of equipment in kitchens nationwide is the griddle.

Not to be confused with a grill, which has grid rods above a heating element, the griddle has a metal plate of varying thickness from one-eighth of an inch to one inch on which food is seared. Hotels, clubs, health-care facilities, schools, churches and even upscale fine-dining restaurants use them to cook a wide variety of foods for every meal period. Tender cuts of meat, poultry, fish and seafood are all suited perfectly to griddle cooking. Trends toward reducing or eliminating the amount of fats and oils used in cooking also make the griddle a great choice.

Without the griddle we wouldn't have such classic American menu items as the Philly Cheese Steak, the Patty Melt, pancakes or grilled-cheese sandwiches. And although some items also could be produced in a saute pan, few cooks would choose one for substantial production of Rueben sandwiches, hamburgers, hot dogs, home fries, French toast or that famous American anomaly, the folded omelet.

The old counter-style lunch restaurants, like those once found in Woolworth's five-and-dime, provided diners with the entertaining view of a cook deftly managing a griddle full of everything from minute steaks to sandwiches and eggs over easy. Typically, one end could be used as a hot bain marie for prepared sauces, hot chili or other ingredients that help maintain the service speed required in that type of venue. Even in low-production kitchens with little space, like many church kitchens, we usually find that old familiar range with burners on one side and a griddle that doubles as cheese melter on the other.

Specialty Asian restaurants ranging from Mongolian barbecue to Japanese Teppan-style cooking to Korean barbecue use griddles as their primary production piece.

The Mongolian barbecue is basically a large round griddle, 36 inches or larger, manned by several cooks. The guest selects and assembles a dish's components from a wide variety of vegetables; protein elements such as meat, seafood and tofu; flavoring agents and sauces. The guest then brings the preassembled ingredients to the cook, who quickly cooks the thinly sliced items. In the Korean style a table-top conical hot plate known as a bulgogi is placed at each table, and guests cook the food themselves.

In Mexican, Tex-Mex and Southwestern cuisine, a traditional earthenware griddle, called a comal, is used to cook tortillas. Also available are units like Jade's rotating tortilla griddle models JTRG-34 and 48 for high-production requirements.

In Europe a highly evolved version of the griddle occupies some of the most venerated kitchens in the world. The unit looks like most griddles but performs differently because the heating element is circular rather than the standard design, which is composed of straight-line elements that run from side to side. The innovation creates an extremely hot center, where products may be intensely seared and then moved to the outer perimeter to continue cooking or be held briefly. The chef works the products in the same way as the French top stove, starting in the hot center and then moving them out for final cooking. The unit, which originated in Spain, is known as a plancha.

My all-time favorite griddle is the Miraclean from Keating Co. of Chicago. Available in virtually any size, the unit has a nonporous, high-gloss finish that is easy to clean and is unquestionably the one to choose for regular production or display cooking.

There are as many manufacturers of quality griddles as there are uses for them. Among some of the griddle's other interesting incarnations is one manufactured by MagicKitchen. Accessories for the MagicKitchen include an interchangeable lift-off griddle that enables operators to change the surface from the usual grid rods on the chargrill to a thick plate griddle that comes in 24-inch sections. In addition, Wells Co. also offers a ventless hood griddle station for kiosks and executive pantries when it is impossible to vent the cooking equipment. Whatever the requirements may be, the griddle will continue to be an indispensable appliance for a variety of menu items.