Blackstone ?'s

awheelterd

Well-Known Member
Joined
Oct 18, 2007
Location
Kenly, NC
Wife wants a "Blackstone" for Christmas. Is Blackstone the brand to stick with or is there another one that's better? What size? We are a family of 4, 2 of which are under 10. Don't plan on taking it anywhere but home, so we don't need a travel version. I'm leaning towards the 36" 4 burner because it's only $50 more than the 28", but honestly the 28" would be fine and not take up as much room.
 
Get the 36" I have an 18 that came with our camper and a 22" that just works with my outdoor kitchen, space wise, the 18" is a struggle at times when cooking for two, fried rice and Philiy Cheesesteak it gets extremely cramped for space. The 22 is better but usually cooking for 3 and it gets tight also. I don't like the 18 as much due to only one burner, you'll love having the ability to use different temp zones with more burners. I always have an infrared temp gauge nearby to watch the temps.
 
I bought the 36" Bobo brand at home depot in a weak moment. Just like Gavin said, it works fine, but it's a chore to season it every-damn-time.

A year later I bought the Blackstone 22" for camping. Seasoned it once, tossed it in the con-ex with the cover for the winter, took it out and used it several times. Recovered for the winter and used it the next year. Never having to re-season it. It just works.
 
We have a big 4 burner Blackstone, I forget the size though. It's fantastic. If you've got the space, go big. You can always just light the burners you need.
 
You cook everything at once. Fries, burgers, corn on the cob, peppers and onions, etc, all at the same time. Pancakes and bacon are a little trickier, just because they come off nearly as fast as they go on. If you're going to cook a pound of bacon, the first pieces are getting flipped before you're halfway through putting them on. Definitely easier with two people.
 
I definitely would recommend the blackstone over other brands for seasoning purposes, per my personal experience
I would also recommend the 36in - you will not regret the space, not once.
Make sure to get the model with the drain hole in the rear, not the front. Then its easy to use some metal gutter pipe to a bucket to increase hold capacity.
I recommend also to pony up for the metal cover. Makes precook cleaning much easier.
The only thing I ever do to season mine is a whole slab of bacon every now and then.
I have not needed the "wind" guards - I wouldnt consider them a required optional purchase.

Consider it a "prepper" purchase. I cooked every single meal on mine when i was without power for two weeks.

Note of consideration: They are extremely easy to detach from the cart legs, and put them into a fancy cook station build
 
ckruzer said:
The only thing I ever do to season mine is a whole slab of bacon every now and then.
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BaconUp_clean-600.jpg
 
I have an 18" in the RV which works great for us when we are camping, cooking for two. I have a 22" and 36" at home. I use the 22" most all of the time for just us. When we have the company over (mostly the kids, grandkids on Sundays) we use the 36". Like others said, get the rear drain, probably they are all like that now, as mine is older with the front drain. Also as stated, the lid is a must. Get the 36", you will be glad you did.
 
Another for Blackstone… mine in the camper is great. The blue rhino one I got from lowes was always a fight against rust. Even when covered
 
Another blackstone fan

They are a bit messy and clean up can be aggravating but love ours.

I'll go against the grain on bacon grease for seasoning....I used flaxseed oil after too much internet nerdery and its been maintenance free for 3+ years. Initally did bacon grease and then did the blackstone paste and neither held up/would flake off under high temp cooks. Once did flaxseed its been great and you can clean pretty aggressively without cutting the seasoning.

We only cook thick cut slab bacon and it cooks fairly slow.

One "tip" that took me far too long to learn...dont assume high cooking for everything....heck truth be told I rarely use past a medium high setting for anything and it really changed the deal for me.
 
I’ve got the big 4 burner Blackstone. I love it. Cooks burgers like I know what I’m doing. Mine came with a metal cover/lid, but I still keep it in the garage. I’ve heard of some folks having a hard time with rust if you don’t keep em greased up and seasoned. I’ve not had that issue.
 
Ron said:
They are a bit messy and clean up can be aggravating but love ours.
Click to expand...

Tip ive learned. Every spring with the first bit of warm (because im a pu55y for cold water in the cold weater), I take a wire wheel and dawn detergent and i clean it extremely well. Rinse really well. And immediately cook bacon covering every square inch. Seasoned perfectly and gets rid of that gradual buildup over winter from hurried/rushed cleaning (brrrrr)
 
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