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What is this for?

7 years ago

I bought this stainless steel thing at a thrift store this past Sunday (see photo below). I just love kitchen stuff that's made out of stainless steel. In the past I've bought stainless steel mixing bowls, cups, pitchers and so on.

With this thing in the photo, is it a griddle? If not, what is it? Also, what would you use to cook with it?

Just curious.

Any feedback will be highly appreciated.

Thanks!

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Comments (9)

User
7 years ago
Looks like a Chefs Secret. Television marketing.
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annie1992
7 years ago
I agree, it looks like a Chef's Secret griddle. Still a nice shiny one too!

Annie
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blubird
7 years ago
I have one very similar from Cuisinart. It was free in a promotion, as I recall, with the purchase of a food processor in the 1980s.
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dcarch7 d c f l a s h 7 @ y a h o o . c o m
7 years ago
Needs a glass cover. You can get one from a large Asian supermarket.

dcarch
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plllog
7 years ago
It's especially good to have a round griddle on induction if you have a big double ring. Assuming this has induction capable steel.
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foodonastump
7 years ago
last modified: 7 years ago
"Needs a glass cover."

I saw that these were sold with lids, and it stuck out at me because I've never noticed a griddle sold with a lid before. So I agree one is missing, but I'm not sure it "needs" one. I have a hotel pan lid that I bought to fit my electric griddle, but I use it very rarely.
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dcarch7 d c f l a s h 7 @ y a h o o . c o m
7 years ago
Having the cover can give you a lot more flexibility in temperature control.

dcarch
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jwvideo
7 years ago
last modified: 7 years ago
>>>"With this thing in the photo, is it a griddle? If not, what is it? Also, what would you use to cook with it? "<<<

It is a round griddle-comal-plancha-teppanyaki pan. Cook everything that implies.

Besides the "Chef's Secret" (aka "Maxam") pan -- which also can be found on Amazon, eBay, Walmart, and other such online sites --- Cuisinart still sells a one similar to the model blubird mentioned. The current Cuisinart has copper rather than aluminum layered with the stainless (apparently for spreading the heat faster and, hopefully, evenly.) The Cuisinart version does not come with a lid, IIRC, and costs about twice as much as the Maxam/Chef'sSelect version. A link is here.

The lid for the Chef's Secret/Maxam provides some measure of spatter control while probably working for things like melting the cheese on burgers. (Nordicware makes griddle domes for commercial griddles that they call "cheese melting domes.") As darch says, the dome provides some temperature control, although it probably provides some steaming for griddled food, too. (Good for burgers but maybe not so great for stir frying?)

Sears sells one, too, and I've seen others as accessories for gas and charcoal grills. A friend of a friend got a larger one from a restaurant supply store. (Sorry, cannot recall the brand but it seemed to be about 17 or 18 inches in diameter.) He said he got the idea from seeing some street-food vendors in Mexico City using similar stainless steel comals. He heated his on his grill, took it off heat, oiled it, let it sit for a few minutes, and wiped the excess oil. Then, he re-heated it on the grill and did a Benihana-style teppanyaki show.

Note that unlike the carbon steel comals you can find in Mexican and Latin markets, the stainless ones do not permanently season. The pre-oiling step just allows you to cook with less oil.
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bostonoak
Original Author
7 years ago
So far it's cooking really well. But I've only cooked scrambled eggs and heated pita bread with some olive oil.

Let me know if you have any questions.

I'll keep folks informed when I cook other things.

Really appreciated the feedback.
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