A griddle, in the UK also called a girdle, is a cooking device consisting mainly of a broad, usually flat cooking surface. A traditional griddle can either be a brick slab or tablet, or bakestone flat or curved metal disc, while in industrialized countries a griddle is most commonly a flat metal plate. A griddle can have both residential and commercial applications, and can be heated directly or indirectly.
Griddles can be made of cast iron, but there are also non-stick varieties. A residential griddle may be made of cast iron, aluminium, chrome steel, or carbon steel. In British English it is also called girdle. This section needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Traditional griddles include a stone or brick slab or tablet, and a shallow platter filled with sand. The former are usually heated to cooking temperature before the food is placed on them, the latter heated after.
In traditional Middle Eastern and South Asian cuisines, a saj is a convex griddle that is used to cook a variety of flatbread types. In Latin America one traditional style of griddle is a budare. Made from stone or clay, it is used to cook a variety of flatbreads, such as tortilla, arepa and casabe. Modern versions for commercial use are metal and called comals. In Britain the griddle is also called girdle, and is used for instance for making scones. It can take the shape of a thick iron plate, round and held from above by a half-hoop handle.
It is used to cook Welsh cakes, pikelets, and crepes. In Upstate New York, a griddle used to be the lid covering a round opening on the cooking surface of a wood- or coal-burning stove. Griddles are often used to prepare breakfast items such as pancakes, French toast, eggs and bacon, as well as stir-fries and meat dishes like hamburgers, steak and chicken breasts. 30 inches deep, and their plates can be flat or grooved. The burners on the griddle units can be controlled manually or with the help of a thermostat.
Archive – At Home on the Farm”. NEFA – The North East Folklore Archive – Junior Section. Scran – Cooking oatcakes, or bannocks, on a girdle. S website has hundreds of pages on commercial griddles.