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Blackstone griddle temp guide
There are many guides to cooking temperatures on the internet. What follows is only a very brief guide to offer a few rules of thumb, which will be sufficient to get a newcomer started.
As you become more familiar with your griddle, and your cooking preferences, you will also learn more about the temperatures of individual food items that suit your own taste.
A food thermometer able to measure the internal cooking temperature of food is the best and most accurate way to determine the cooking temperature of different foods.
These can easily be found in department stores and hardware stores, as well as on the internet.
1. Foods that need to be cooked at low temperatures of 300-325 F:
a. Eggs and Omlettes: Eggs and omlettes need low temperatures to cook. They burn quite rapidly if overheated. A temperature of between 300 and 310 F is ideal.
b. Hot dogs: Hot dogs require lower temperatures of under 325 F, as they burn easily at higher temperatures, and will burn before their internal temperature cooks them.
c. Toasting bread and buns: These also require low temperatures or they will burn easily. The temptation is to turn the heat up, but the bread toasts no faster, it merely burns.
2. Foods that need to be cooked at medium temperatures of 350-375 degrees
Most foods cook at this range of temperature quite nicely, and most of the time it will not be necessary to cook at a higher temperature. The temptation is to crank the griddle temperature up as far as it will go. This does nothing to cook the food faster, but does run the risk of burning the outside of the food.
a. Grilled chicken. In addition to cooking at this temperature, chicken should be cooked until its internal temperature reaches 165 F, according to the USDA food safety guidelines.
b. Ground beef, bacon, sausage, regular hamburgers (not smash burgers), and steak after it has been seared.
c. Fried rice, breakfast potatoes, pancakes, and vegetables.
3. Foods that need to be cooked at 425 to 450 F.
Very few things need to be cooked at this temperature. Only two are likely to be found in ordinary cooking.
a. Searing a steak. To sear the steak, it should cook at this high temperature for only a couple of minutes. After it is seared, the temperature can be turned back down to the lower level of 350-375 F
b. Smash burgers. Smash burgers are pressed very thin and allowed to cook in their own juices. Because of this, smash burgers are cooked the entire time at the higher, more intense heat on this setting. Ordinary hamburgers cook quite nicely at the lower temperature.
Blackstone temperature gauge
There are several different tools for measuring the temperature of food while it is cooking.
A Blackstone round grill thermometer or infrared digital thermometer contains a laser pointer for accurately positioning the thermometer over the food. It can measure temperatures between -56 F and 716 F, which should be an ample range for most cooking.
The Blackstone infrared thermometer with probe is similar, but adds a more traditional probe that can be pushed into the food to determine the temperature while cooking. This will display the internal cooking temperature, which is important to know in order to cook meat safely and to taste.
Measuring temperature on electric griddles
While a thermometer is the most accurate way of determining the temperature on the griddle, some cooks still continue to use the old rule of thumb of holding a hand 6 inches over the griddle surface. (Caution, never hold the hand lower, or touch the griddle.) Count the number of seconds before the heat becomes too uncomfortable, and you pull the hand away.
If you can only hold your hand in place for 4 seconds or less, the heat is high. If you can keep your hand in place for 5 to 7 seconds, the heat is medium. If you can keep your hand in place for 8 seconds or longer, the heat is low.
We repeat, a thermometer is the safest and most accurate way of determining the temperature on the griddle.
Robert is a certified Pitmaster, with over a decade of experience in smoking the best meats you’ll ever feast upon. He also has a Bachelor of Business Administration from the University of Texas at San Antonio. When he’s not researching technical topics, he’s most likely barbecuing in his backyard.