Kamado Joe Grilling Passion: The Kettle-Q griddle by The Little Griddle Innovations Review

Source of image: www.littlegriddle.com

I was given the opportunity to write a review on the Kettle-Q made by Little Griddle Innovations. I received the complimentary Kettle-Q by UPS. Before I begin with this review I would like to say a special thanks to Vicki Button for providing me a sample of their Kettle-Q griddle for this review!

The Little Griddle Innovations company manufacture various styles of heavy duty Griddles such has the Party-Q, Sizzle-Q, Kettle-Q and Griddle-Q that allows you to cook just about anything on your gas, propane or charcoal BBQ. The griddle arrived very well pack so it doesn't get damaged during transit.

Upon opening the box I was pretty impress with the quality of this griddle. Here's are some of the key features of this griddle that got my attention:

1. The griddle is made of 12 gauge 430 stainless steel which is pretty heavy duty stuff. You can also visually see that the quality and craftsmanship that was put into the making this very high quality griddle;

2. The Kettle-Q has high side walls which prevents your foods like eggs from sliding off during the cooking;

3. It has a full grease trough that is wide and deep enough to ketch lots of the grease and liquids while cooking and debris during the cleaning process. This full grease trough also prevents flare-ups from the grease;

As you can see the grease trough is 1 1/4" deep

4. Underneath the griddle there is cross braces that are vented to prevent twisting and bending due to heat during cooking. It also helps in dissipating even heat on the griddle;

5. The Kettle-Q griddle cooking surface is nice and smooth and has a non stick surface as long as you keep seasoning it prior to each cook with Pam or cooking oil;

6. It comes with a full lifetime warranty.

The Kettle-Q griddle gives you opportunity to expend your cooking limitation of your Kamado Joe. This griddles gives you a large enough cooking space to cook a few eggs, bacon and sausages at the same time. The Kettle-Q allows you to cook food such has pancakes, crepes, eggs, hash browns, etc,.. with ease!

The Kettle-Q griddle is 17" wide by 14" deep by 3.5" in height.

I was actually pretty impress on how easy this griddle was to use and clean. For cooking all you have to do is light up your Joe then bring up to desired temperature. Then place the griddle on top of your grill grate and allow it to heat up to desired temperature. One quick easy way to know if the griddle is ready for use is to drop a few drops of water on the hot surface and if you see the water sizzle vigorously then the griddle is ready for cooking! It's very important to use Pam or spray some cooking oil on the griddle before you put the food on to ensure a proper non stick surface. On the weekend I cook up some bacon and scrambled eggs on the griddle. I found the griddle extremely easy to use and I loved the fact that it didn't have any hot spots! The bacon and eggs didn't even stick! I also did some grill cheese sandwich for my 6 year old son which he totally loved!

Source of video: Youtube by Griddleman

The cleaning part of the griddle was actually easier then I tough it would be. All you have to do is use a flexible scraper and scrape away any loose debris into the grease trough.

Source of image: www.littlegriddle.com

The second step is to spray some Pam or cooking oil on the griddle surface to loosen off all stubborn debris, grease, or food build-up. You can also use water but you "can't" use water if you have cooked some bacon which has lots of grease because the water will cause the grease to splash and fall on the flame in the BBQ and cause a big flare up! Trust me it's very dangerous to put water on the griddle with hot grease in the trough. I tried it as experiment for this review and believe me it caused a huge ball of fire which was pretty scary!

Step three all you have to do is use the high temp griddle scrubber to scrub any stubborn spots and to remove any remaining debris.

Source of image: www.littlegriddle.com

For the last step all you have to do is wipe the griddle with a clean cloth or paper towel and soak up the grease out of the trough.

Source of video: Youtube by Griddleman

As you can see the cleaning process is quite easy to do and can be done under five minutes. A trick that I have learned from a friend that has own a Kettle-Q for a while is to put some paper towel in the trough to absorb the grease before you cook which will make it easier to clean the trough after your done!

All griddles manufactured by them are built with the same high standards of craftsmanship and quality material.

Here's a little bit of history on the company from their website:

"In 1997, John Button was asked by his church if he could make something that the youth could cook mega breakfasts on during their camp outs. A tool and die maker by trade, John created a griddle that turned the standard cooking surface of the gas barbecue grill into a full size, flat, low-stick cooking surface with sidewalls and a grease trough, creating “A WHOLE NEW WAY TO COOK OUTDOORS!”

Not knowing it at the time, but John had fabricated the original prototype of the "Griddle-Q". The church loved it and John found it fit on his own barbecue as well. He then made one out of stainless steel and he and his wife, Vicki, started cooking on it at home for family meals, backyard entertaining and they even took it along camping.

They found they could make dozens of family and restaurant quality dishes all outside on their barbecue. It was a huge hit with everyone that saw it and enthusiastic barbecuers clearly wanted one of these griddles to use on their own grill. Encouraged, John & Vicki made the decision to form Little Griddle in late 2000.

The true confirmation came when they introduced the griddle to the public at a local Home & Garden Show at which they hoped to sell the19 units they made. Instead they sold 83 units to customers willing to pay up front and wait 8–10 weeks for production! They continued the momentum by approaching two local hearth & barbecue stores of which both purchased, sold and re-ordered confirming to the Buttons that they indeed had a viable product.

In 2001 Vicki left a successful career in advertising specialty sales to devote full time to their new company becoming president. Shortly thereafter, John left the tool & die industry behind as well. Together they decided to devote themselves to making the Griddle-Q^® the next household name.

Starting in 2004, encouraged by growth and continued interest in the Griddle-Q, the Buttons decided to increase the Griddle-Q line. The introduction of the first Half Griddle was received very well as it gave the versatility of the griddle being used at the same time as the grill. Also introduced were a 3-pc set of cleaning tools and 6-pc set of cooking/cleaning tools. In 2005, LGI took it a step further and created the first import version called the Sizzle-Q, the patented smaller, lighter weight; one size fits all unit, is a less expensive version of the Griddle-Q and has mass appeal. In 2009, the mega large Party-Q was created for the serious bbq chef or caterer. And in 2010, due to the growing popularity of charcoal kettle style cooking, the Kettle-Q round griddle was introduced for the kettle style and ceramic charcoal grills!

Griddle-Q and Party-Q are proudly made in Michigan. Sizzle-Q and Kettle-Q are manufactured overseas. These high quality grilling products can be found in specialty and chain stores throughout the US and Canada.

Little Griddle Innovations have found that their griddles make excellent Fathers Day, Birthday, Holiday, and Wedding gifts as well as great emergency equipment. They continue to build griddles with excellent features and high quality, which has proven them to be second to none in the outdoor cooking market."

Rating

After doing a few cooks with the Kettle-Q griddle I quickly discovered how easy this griddle was to use which totally impressed me. The quality and craftsmanship of this griddle is worth every penny in its weight in gold! The Kettle-Q griddle will definitely bring your cooking to new horizon by allowing you to cook pretty much anything on your griddle! I am rating the Kettle-Q griddle a 5 stars out of 5 stars! I definitely recommending the kettle-Q to all Kamado Joe users. I also recommend any of their griddles to all BBQers out there. The quality of their product and their customer service is unbeatable!