STEELMADE Outdoor Griddle Flat Top User Guide
- June 15, 2024
- STEELMADE
Table of Contents
STEELMADE Outdoor Griddle Flat Top
Product Information
Specifications
- Product : Outdoor Flat Top
- Setup Instructions : Rev. 11/23
- Maximum Temperature : 600 degrees
Product Usage Instructions
Initial Setup
Follow the setup instructions to clean your Flat Top after receiving it.
Quick Start
- Apply the first coat of oil to the entire surface of the Flat Top.
- Heat the Flat Top to 300 degrees for 15 minutes.
- Let it cool completely.
- Apply another thin coat of oil to the entire surface.
The Seasoning Process
The seasoning process is essential for transforming the raw silver steel
into a gorgeous black finish with amazing non-stick properties. It involves
heating oil and fat to the point of polymerization, where they bake into the
steel.
To season your Flat Top
- Cook greasy food such as bacon across the entire surface, ensuring that the grease coats the entire surface.
- After a few meals, you’ll see the entire surface transform into a cast iron-like appearance with excellent non-stick properties.
Cooking on Your Flat Top
Your Flat Top may require some trial and error to find the best settings
for temperature and cooking times. Note that the mass of the Flat Top is
greater than common pans or skillets, so it cooks food faster.
Here are some tips for cooking on your Flat Top
- Use an infrared thermometer to find the perfect temperature.
- The Flat Top can handle a maximum temperature of 600 degrees, but most cooking occurs below 500 degrees.
- Avoid heating the Flat Top beyond the recommended temperature to prevent warping or damage.
- Most grills will require only 1/3 power to heat the Flat Top to 400 degrees or more.
Storage
When storing your Flat Top, ensure it is clean and dry. Apply a thin coat
of Flat Top Oil (or oil of your choice) to protect it from corrosion.
2-Minute Cleanup
Cleaning your Flat Top is quick and easy, requiring no special cleaners or excessive effort.
- As soon as you’re done cooking while the Flat Top is still hot and the burners are off, add some water across the surface. Avoid using cold water to prevent thermal shock to the metal.
- The hot water will steam clean away any stubborn bits of food stuck on the surface.
- Use a food scraper to clean the entire surface, directing grease into the drain holes. Avoid scraping too much grease at once to prevent flare-ups.
- Turn the heat on low to completely dry the Flat Top.
- Apply a thin coat of Flat Top Oil (or oil of your choice) to protect it from corrosion and prepare it for the next meal.
FAQ
-
Q: What is the seasoning process?
A: The seasoning process involves heating oil and fat to bake into the steel, creating a gorgeous black finish with non-stick properties. -
Q: How do I season my Flat Top?
A: Cook greasy food such as bacon across the entire surface, ensuring the grease coats the entire surface. After a few meals, the surface will transform into a cast iron-like appearance with excellent non-stick properties. -
Q: What temperature should I cook on?
A: Use an infrared thermometer to find the perfect temperature. The Flat Top can handle a maximum temperature of 600 degrees, but most cooking occurs below 500 degrees. -
Q: How do I clean the Flat Top?
A: While the Flat Top is still hot and the burners are off, add hot water across the surface. Use a food scraper to clean the entire surface, directing grease into the drain holes. Turn the heat on low to dry the Flat Top, and apply a thin coat of oil to protect it from corrosion.
OUTDOOR FLAT TOP SETUP INSTRUCTIONS
CONGRATULATIONS ON YOUR NEW FLAT TOP
- The Steelmade Flat Top is the perfect accessory to transform your grill into a flexible and fun flat top griddle. This unique product eliminates multiple pans and skillets and makes amazing food for breakfast, lunch, and dinner on one cooktop that only gets better with age.
- If you’re new to cooking on a Flat Top, you’re in for a treat! There is a learning curve to any new piece of cookware and the Flat Top is no different. Please be sure to read the instructions before use and be patient as you learn the ins and outs of your new cooktop – the results will be worth it.
INITIAL SETUP
After removing the Flat Top from the packaging, wash the top and bottom
surface with hot water and a small amount of dish soap using a nylon dish
scrubber or equivalent. Blot dry immediately with a lint-free rag or cloth.
Turn your cooktop burners to medium low heat and allow the Flat Top to come to
temperature to dry completely. Using a metal spatula, spread a thin layer of
Flat Top Oil (or oil of your choice) on the entire cooking surface. Keep it
heated for 10-15 minutes before allowing to cool completely. Apply a thin
layer of oil to the entire surface of the Flat Top. This will provide a base
layer to protect the steel from corrosion while you continue the seasoning
process.
QUICK START
- Be sure to use all available burners on your grill to prevent warpage of your Flat Top. You can use different settings to achieve different heating zones, but never leave any burners off entirely.
- Pre-heat slowly and never exceed the recommended maximum temperature of 600 degrees to prevent warping or damaging your Flat Top
- Extreme temperature changes can cause warping. Do not excessively preheat your flat top before cooking, especially if you will be applying chilled food. This temperature change is likely to cause warping. Do not put frozen food on a hot griddle top.
- For easiest cleanup, begin cleaning right after cooking with the burners off while the Flat Top is still hot using water only to steam clean any stubborn food bits. Do not use soap as this will strip away the protective oil and seasoning layer.
STORAGE
The Flat Tops are made from Mild Steel that contains iron. When iron is
exposed to water in the form of rain or humidity it reacts with oxygen in the
air to form rust. Seasoning your Flat Top is the most important step in
protecting the steel from rust along with a fresh coat of oil after each use
before storing. If you live in a humid area or near the ocean it may be
necessary to store your Flat Top indoors during extended periods when it will
not be in use. Even the best layer of seasoning will not prevent rust from
forming in these environments.
THE SEASONING PROCESS
The seasoning process is the black magic of Flat Top ownership. If you’ve
ever owned cast iron cookware, you’re probably already familiar with the term.
For the uninitiated, “seasoning” refers to a natural chemical reaction where
oil and fat are heated to the point where they literally bake into the steel
through a process called polymerization. This transforms the raw silver steel
into a gorgeous black finish with amazing non-stick properties without the use
of dangerous coatings like Teflon.
- Follow the setup instructions to clean your Flat Top after receiving it. Apply the first coat of oil and heat it to 300 degrees for 15 minutes. Let it cool completely and apply another thin coat of oil to the entire surface.
- Greasy food makes the best first meal on your Flat Top. Bacon is our go-to food for this. Cook some bacon across the entire Flat Top, making sure to coat the entire surface in grease. Be sure not to overload it on your first use!
- After a few meals on your Flat Top you’ll see the entire surface transform into a cast iron-like appearance. The low-maintenance finish has amazing non-stick properties that cleans easily.
COOKING ON YOUR FLAT TOP
- Just like any new tool it may take some trial and error to find the best settings on your particular grill to get the temperature and cooking times you like to work with. It’s important to note that because the mass of the Flat Top is so much greater than common pans or skillets that it will cook food faster than you may be used to. We do believe that an infrared thermometer is an invaluable tool for finding the perfect temperature on your Flat Top.
- The Flat Top is designed to handle a maximum temperature of 600 degrees while most cooking occurs well below 500 degrees. It’s important not to heat the Flat Top beyond the recommended temperature to prevent any potential warping or damage to the Flat Top itself. Most grills will require only 1/3 power to heat the Flat Top to 400 degrees or more.
Pre-heat gently – start low and don’t overheat. You might get the urge to turn your burners up to full blast the first time you use the Flat Top, but don’t! Because the Flat Top is so large it can take time for it to heat evenly. Once it’s up to temp it will stay there for a long time. We recommend starting with your grill set to low heat and gradually increasing the heat until you get to your target temp. It’s actually easier to make it hotter once it’s already warmed up so by pre-heating slowly you can control the heat more easily. To be efficient with your time you can start the pre-heating process while you’re getting your ingredients together. It typically takes 10-15 minutes to completely pre-heat the Flat Top.
Oil is a critical component to Flat Top cooking. It helps transfer heat to the
food for cooking, prevents food from sticking to the cooktop, enhances flavor,
and helps create texture in the food. Use the right
oil for your style of cooking. Different oils can take different amounts of
heat before they start to smoke (and stop being good for cooking). In general,
canola and vegetable oil are most versatile. Olive oil is great for lower-heat
things like sautéing (not for stir-frying or higher-heat cooking), and
delicate or flavored oils should be avoided for cooking. Avoid the smoke – As
the name alludes, the smoking point is the temperature at which a fat or oil
begins to smoke. Sure, smoke is pesky, but that’s not the only reason why you
should be concerned. Heated past its smoke point, that fat starts to break
down, releasing free radicals and a substance called acrolein, the chemical
that gives burnt foods their acrid flavor and aroma. Think watering eyes, a
stinky kitchen, and bitter, scorched food.
2:00 MINUTE CLEANUP
It doesn’t matter how messy your meal was, you’ll be amazed how quick and
easy it is to clean your Flat Top. No elbow grease and no special cleaners are
needed and it really does take just a couple of minutes.
- As soon as you’re done cooking while the Flat Top is still hot and the burners are off add some water across the surface. Do not use cold water to prevent thermal shock to the metal and avoid using excessive amounts of water, adding small amounts at a time.
- The hot water will steam clean away any stubborn bits of food that may be stuck on the surface.
- Use a food scraper to clean the entire surface, directing grease into the drain holes. To prevent flare-ups, avoid scraping too much grease at once or use the scraper to move the grease and larger debris into a suitable container. Turn the heat on low to completely dry the Flat Top
- Apply a thin coat of Flat Top Oil (or oil of your choice) to the entire surface of the Flat Top to protect it from corrosion and leave it ready for the next meal.
Tips
- Get right to it : Clean the Flat Top immediately after use, while it is still hot or warm. Don’t soak the Flat Top or leave it in the sink because it may rust.
- Avoid using soap or steel wool, as these may strip the seasoning.
- To remove stuck-on food, scrub the pan with a paste of Steel made Flat Top Scrub, then rinse or wipe with a paper towel.
TEMPERATURE ZONES
-
Creating different heating zones on your Flat Top is an essential technique when cooking meats of various thicknesses, searing a larger cut of meat that needs to be finished with low heat, or cooking foods requiring different temperatures simultaneously like eggs and bacon.
-
You can create different temperature zones by setting the heat output of each burner separately. The first step to mastering cooking on the Flat Top is to learn the specific settings for your grill to achieve the desired cooking temperatures.
One of the most surprising things that people sometimes learn is that the settings on the knobs for the different size burners on their grill are not standardized, and are relative to each burner they control. For example, setting the power on a larger burner to level 5 (or medium) will not produce the same cooking temperature as setting the same power level on a smaller burner. Generally, these settings only indicate the relative power output for each specific burner. Experimenting with different settings while checking the temperature above each burner with a thermometer will help you find the best settings for your grill. -
Depending upon the layout of the burners on your grill, a natural warming zone may be created in the middle of your Flat Top if there is no center burner. If your grill includes a center burner you can create a warming zone by turning the heat output to a lower setting while doing your higher temperature cooking on the side burners.
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- PHONE : 620-374-9997
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References
Read User Manual Online (PDF format)
Read User Manual Online (PDF format) >>