cooking eggs on griddle???

[smithwick1]

Hi, I am using frying pans to cook eggs but I'm thinking about getting a new stove with a griddle built in and using the griddle for cooking eggs. I would like to know if the griddle is good for cooking eggs but I'm not finding very much info on the topic. Does anybody have any suggestions?

Thanks

 

[kyheirloomer]

I give you one hint: every short-order restaurant in the world cooks eggs on the flattop. Your built-in griddle is merely a smaller version of that.

Eggs are almost always cooked with bottom heat from a flat surface. Sidewalls are unimportant to the process, and removing them will not effect how the eggs cook.

In short, go for it!

 

[phatch]

Most people with the built in griddles dislike them over time. Simply too much hassle to clean and maintain.

Doubly so for the built-in grills. You're generally better off getting a pan to do the job and adding an extra burner to the stove.

 

[boar_d_laze]

I never did short order, so take it FWIW: Griddles are fine for cooking eggs in certain ways. They have their drawbacks though.

Here's a couple:

The best you can do is squirt a little fat on them, but they won't hold much or hold it one place long -- which means you can't use a lot of butter if that's what you like. A real French style omelette is right out; so are eggs fried in bacon fat; forget basting them; etc.

Turning eggs on a griddle is something of an art. Things can get messy. Easier to flip 'em in a pan.

As a friend of mine, the estimable Willie Walker, once advised. "Get you a [carbon] steel pan."

BDL

 

[gonefishin]

Hi Smithwick1 (love the name...and the ale )


Welcome to cheftalk It's really a nice community. In your profile you have selected the Owner/Operator title. Is this griddle inquiry for your home use? or restaurant use?

thanks,
dan

 

[smithwick1]

hi Dan,

This griddle is for the restaurant. I've heard both good and bad about cooking eggs on a griddle and just want to get some more feedback before I purchase a stove with a griddle or just extra burners and stick with frying pans.

thanks

 

[gonefishin]

Smithwick1, it's great to have you post in the general cooking forum, but you may get results specific to a professional kitchen in the Professional Chefs Forum.

Good luck!
dan

 

[dc sunshine]

Smithwick1,

If you do decide on a griddle/flat top (it's a good tool for a commercial kitchen anyhow), you need to make sure its spotlessly clean at the end of service. Otherwise your food flavours left on there from the day before will affect the taste on the next day...not a good thing. I spent many an hour when I did kitchen work with hot water and a stone getting ours really clean. Wierd, but I enjoyed it. Go figure.

I'd be tempted to get it though, if it will also be used for other foods, but if you can, still go with an extra burner too.

I agree wholeheartedly with what BDL says about the basting of the eggs in pans etc - just depends on what you will be serving.

 

[phatch]

Ignore my advice, it was for home cooks.

 

[ed buchanan]

You are right some things just can't be done (quality wise) in addition you get mixing of flavors from other items cooked on grill or hot top or flattop whichever one wants to call it. I love then for searing filets pot roast etc.

 

[giraffic]

Turn you griddle to what ever your medium setting is and a offset spatula helps a lot!

 

[deltadoc]

I have a Thermador "Professional" 48" cooktop with a grill and a griddle. I use the griddle all the time, just like others said, its a small flattop, without quite as much horsepower.

For eggs, I bought some egg rings with little wooden handles on them. A little oil on the griddle, and I plop down the rings (to let them start to heat up) and then I generally use a fork and quickly whip the egg with lots of fresh black pepper and pinch of salt. What I really like about the egg rings is that the egg stays in place, and it is even thickness from edge to edge and all the way through, so when it is finished cooking, it is highly uniform.

After a while, you get the hang of the rings, and you can gently pull them off, and place them somewhere else on the griddle and do some more eggs. It takes a bit of time and practice to know when you can flip the ringless egg, without it losing its nice round disk like shape, but once you get the hang of it, its great.

Wouldn't be without it. And I leave the patina on the griddle, even though I do scrape it down to clean it, and then add some fresh oil to keep it (Stainless Steel, not Titanium like more modern ones) from rusting.

I really can't say that I notice any flavor problems from the previous cooking session, but I think its like a cast iron skillet that has been properly seasoned. It doesn't seem to pick up flavors either.

Anyway, thats my experience. On the other hand, when I used to cook, I remember those smelly volcanic bricks and having to scrape the flat top spotless, and then having to grab the long scrap oil pan in the back, and it would always drip onto my nice cleaned surface!

doc

 

[coulis-o]

when i was breakfast chef at Little Chef cooking eggs on the griddle, i used a metal pan lid (not a flat one obviously) to put over the eggs to help cook them on top also

i do the same thing with a frying pan as well sometimes as it helps to trap the heat in and cook the food better/faster :thumb:

 

[chefjonna]

I have a 48 inch Dynasty range with griddle. I love cooking eggs on it a little butter or other fat rubbed on the hot griddle and a Thin spatula. I keep a spray bottle of water to use to clean the griddle while it is till hot.

 

[mike9]

Yup - I have a South Bend with a flat top over a salamander and I rock it in cold weather.   Bacon and sausage on then push the drippin's to the side and trowel a little where you need it.  Usually French Toast, or Pancakes go down next then my eggs.  You can rock home fries diner style as well it's all good in moderation.   Go to a Greek diner and watch the short order guy cook breakfast - best griddle education ever IMO.

 

[bloodymary]

Aside from crepes, there isn't much you can't do on a griddle that you can with a skillet.

When I make breakfasts on a flat top in a restaurant, it goes off without a hitch. One side is hotter than the other for hasbrowns and bacon. For eggs, you need to use a cooler side of the griddle with a lower temperature.

Start the hash browns first. Flip them only once and don't use a lot of grease.

Next, I toss the vegetables and meat in another corner on the same hot side of the grill.

Whisk three eggs. Pour in a rectangular shape on the cooler side of the grill.

I make omelettes lengthwise, help spread the egg into shape with a long spatula. Add cheese, grilled vegetables, meat. Fold the longer sides in to hold the ingredients, then fold the ends into thirds with a little garnish on top.

I do prefer Pam or grease over butter (or that god awful commercial "Butter It" product) because butter stains the eggs.

Its not hard to baste eggs on a flat top. All you need is a squirt of water to steam them and a cover. It only takes a minute.