I love to think about the things I buy. Why I bought them, and how I feel about them later. The Blackstone has been sitting at the top of my mind for a while now.
Back in my product management days, I’d often ask people a question: what is your favorite product, and why? It was a great question. You got to watch someone think about the things they use and why they feel the way they do about them. So consider this me answering my own question.
The first cook
I get abnormally excited when I have something new to show people. The last time it happened was at a dinner party we hosted about a year and a half ago. I’d just finished setting up my 28-inch Blackstone, and we invited people over for fajitas. If you haven’t seen one before, it looks just like a propane grill, except instead of grates it’s a giant flat griddle. That first cook, I chopped up three sweet onions and let those babies simmer down. By the time friends started arriving, the smell was drifting through the entire neighborhood.
By the time the chicken hit the griddle, everyone was gathered around. I let a few friends get behind the wheel, dicing and flipping things with the spatulas. I think there’s something embedded in all of us, from watching the cooks at Benihana, that makes us want to flip things on a large, hot skillet.
Needless to say, the food was amazing. Other than the salsa, which we made inside, everything was cooked outside on the Blackstone. The finishing touch was warming the tortillas right on the surface.
Three reasons it stuck
Since that party, three different friends have leaned into the Blackstone world. Reflecting on why I love this thing, I’ve landed on three views:
- It’s like grilling, but interactive. Often you throw something on the grill, wait, flip it once, and pull it off. The Blackstone wants you there, moving things around. It’s just fun and engaging.
- It keeps your kitchen clean. In our small house, when oil starts getting hot inside, it gets noticed fast: the smell, and the mess. I hate cleaning up oil in tight nooks. This keeps all of that outside.
- It feeds the masses. With the large cook surface, it’s so much easier to make a lot of food quickly. Even in the morning, making pancakes for my girls, dropping a huge stack on both their plates is a good feeling.
You should buy a Blackstone. Check Costco, they tend to have them at a good price.