I really like watching films. Sometime throughout the previous 12 months, I spotted with pleasure that the “hangout movie” is a factor. Plot will not be paramount, however hanging out along with your onscreen buddies and having a great time is. Think of classics like The Big Lebowski or Jackie Brown. Dazed and Confused and … nearly anything by Richard Linklater, for that matter. You are made happier and even perhaps enriched by time spent with these characters.

In that vein, I simply spent a number of weeks cooking on what I got here to think about as a “hangout griddle.” Known merely because the Weber Griddle, it is 504 sq. inches for the three-burner version I examined—which supplies loads of area to prepare dinner for six to eight individuals—or 756 sq. inches for the four-burner mannequin. For the proper individual, they’ll really feel like an enormous canvas to color or play on. Last 12 months I reviewed a Cuisinart griddle that was solely a mediocre performer, although I nonetheless cherished cooking on it. My sister, an achieved pure prepare dinner, took one take a look at that Cuisinart and declared that she wished to cowl it in a pound of bacon. This summer season we inaugurated the Weber with two kilos. What carnivore would not need to hang around with us?

As a fast explainer, Weber’s griddle is like taking one of many firm’s three-burner fuel grills and eradicating the grates (and lid) and changing them with an enormous, flat cast-iron floor. Ignite the burners, warmth that floor, and prepare dinner. You surrender some traditional gas-grill talents, however you get rather a lot in trade, most notably that the flat cooking floor is like an infinite cast-iron pan made for cooking a ton of meals without delay.

Nowhere are its great capabilities higher on show than at breakfast, the place you might have your house fries, sausages, and eggs all cooking at completely different temperatures and are available out on the similar time. If you’ve got ever had desires of changing into a short-order breakfast prepare dinner, a griddle like that is your key to success.

This specific griddle made me curious, as a result of it is made by Weber, an organization well-known for the standard and worth of its charcoal and fuel grills. Weber is commonly wonderful at nailing the fundamentals, and I wished to see how one thing new from the big-name firm would do in an rising class.

For these three weeks at my people’ place in New Hampshire this 12 months, we sometimes had between 5 and eight large eaters and centered our cooking round it, actually appreciating how a lot it may churn out in a rush. Sticking with breakfasts, I developed a frequent behavior of turning it on for regardless of the most important course could be, then tossing some sliced onion cross sections on and letting them prepare dinner slowly whereas I prepped all the things else. Fried eggs are loads of enjoyable right here since there is not any pan wall in the best way; simply slide your spatula in horizontally and flip. Those little egg rings are significantly fulfilling to make use of, serving to you create Egg McMuffin-style eggs. Previously, I considered griddled tomato slices solely as one thing for a correct English breakfast, however I’ll be making these beauties, often with just a few bread crumbs sprinkled over them, as a lot as attainable from now till I die.