The Griddle Pan

When it comes to human beings and their long history of cooking, the griddle is one of the oldest items of cookware that we have ever had. In the old days, it was little more than a flat rock suspended on two other rocks over an open fire. Once it heated up sufficiently, food was cooked on it.

These days, the equivalent of the griddle isn't made of stone - they are typically fashioned from cast iron or another metal. The griddle plan is defined by most cooks and kitchen experts as a shallow pan that is used on a stove top to either bake or fry food, be it fish or potatoes or steak or kale.

Pan Fried Chicken

What separates the griddle from the griddle pan? The latter has slightly higher side, allowing for a degree of stirring not present in straightforward griddles.

But fancy definitions aside, if you are serious about cooking and kitchens, then you can't afford not to have both a griddle and griddle pan somewhere in the pantry! Without it, you are going to find that plenty of recipes - home fries, scrambled eggs, chicken fried steak - just aren't going to come off as well as you want them to.

Griddle pans come in many different sizes and shapes. There are those that are perfectly round and others that are rectangular or square. You can even find them in the shape of an oval! There are griddle pans large enough to fit two different stove top burners, while others simply sit on one.

Griddle pan surfaces also own some slight variation. Some have smooth surfaces - ideal for frying eggs, for example. Others have grooved exteriors that can lend your chicken breast those all-important grill lines. Or the grooves can catch the grease and fat dripping from cooked meats.

You are not limited to griddles and griddle pans that have to be used on a stove - you can buy variations that are designed to be plugged into an outlet and used that way.

Why are they so important to your kitchen? Simply because of the incredible variety that they offer you. You can cook just about anything on a few griddles - pan cakes, griddle cakes, home fries, eggs of all stripes, crepes, poultry breasts, French toast and so forth.

What good cook would deny themselves that kind of range?

Perhaps the most popular benefit to the griddle is that you can cook more food in a quicker time. In other words, where a traditional pan might only yield three or four slices of French toast, you might be able to cook as many as ten on a good griddle. This is ideal if you are a family chef and have lots of hungry mouths to feed at one time.

Think about it. Getting yourself a good griddle and accompanying griddle pan will only expand your ability to turn your kitchen into a haven of delicious food - why not go for it?

You'll bring loads of flexibility to your kitchen and cooking when you add a good griddle and griddle pan. All the hungry mouths that you feed will thank you.

The Griddle Pan

Want to pick up a few good griddle pan recipes? Check out Jasper Bailey's Griddlepan.net for lots of recipes, tips and ideas for stove top cooking.

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