Thanks in part to our on-going love affair with the hamburger; griddles are an important part of most commercial and institutional kitchens. Griddles are the primary production method for most quick service hamburger chains, the high school cafeteria and our favorite diner down the street. In addition, their ability to simultaneously prepare the full range of short-order breakfast foods makes them a must-have cooking platform for operators serving the breakfast day-part. Griddles are prized for their ability to “change gears” at a moment’s notice, depending on the day-part, menu and customer order demands. In spite of their popularity and the dizzying array of models available from a host of manufacturers, conventional griddles have some inherent problems that are difficult to overcome and frustrating for griddle users.

2. Slow Heat Recovery – These griddles are slow to come back up to temperature. Many operators cook hamburgers from frozen patties. If a griddle plate is slow to recover from contact with frozen patties, cooks must space burgers to allow turning to a “new” hot area. This procedure effectively cuts griddle capacity in half.

3. Limited Production Capability– High volume operators with griddle-dependent menus need high production griddles. Production capacity is a function of: usable griddle surface area (width x depth), cooking surface heat uniformity and recovery speed. With inconsistent surface temperatures and slow recovery, their production capacity is limited.

Steam heated griddles were first introduced to the U.S. Foodservice Industry in 1999. Since their auspicious and award-winning debut, steam griddles have grown in popularity with a wide range of operators because they virtually eliminate all of these “griddle problems.”

Steam griddles have a flat sealed chamber or flat “steam jacket” fabricated from two thinner stainless steel plates, rather than a solid plate heated from the bottom. Distilled water is put inside that jacket, all the air is removed, then the chamber is hermetically sealed. In the case of electric powered models, heating elements are welded into the jacket and submerged in the water that fills about half of that space. See the Steam Griddle Cross-Section below.

A Steam Griddle creates steam inside a flat steam jacket under the cooking surface. They are a sealed, self-contained system that never requires service. When the power is turned on, water in the jacket is brought to a boil by the heating elements or by burners mounted just below the jacket, in the case of gas heated models. That boiling water turns into steam and expands to fill the jacket space above the boiling water. That steam transfers heat by giving up its energy on contact with the colder surface of the upper plate, which forms the griddle surface. After giving up that energy to the upper plate and the food being cooked, it condenses back into water droplets, which fall back into the hot water reservoir. As steam fills the upper jacket space, it builds pressure, making it harder for the boiling water to change into a gas [steam], requiring ever-higher temperatures and more energy.

The steam pressure and temperature rise together, reaching as much as 400º F [the thermostat maximum] at a pressure of about 255 pounds per square inch [PSI]. The typical operating pressure and temperature of most self-contained steam jacketed kettles tops out at 45-50 PSI and 292-298º F, respectively. Obviously, higher temperatures and higher jacket pressures are needed to do typical griddle cooking at 350 or 375º F. Steam griddle jacket construction is incredibly strong and each unit is tested at 382 PSI and provided with a safety pressure relief, similar to a steam kettle. This flat griddle steam jacket is a closed and sealed system, that never needs water, cleaning or any kind of maintenance. From the outside, it doesn’t look much different from conventional griddles -- but it is!

The payoff for using steam heat transfer is incredibly uniform cooking surface temperatures and near-instant heat recovery. Even the best conventional electric and infrared gas griddles have hot and cold spots and surface temperature variations of up to 90º F. Steam griddle surface temperatures only vary by ± 2-3º F. In addition to a uniform surface temperature, steam griddles deliver near-instant heat recovery. Recovery time is the time it takes the cooking surface to come back up to the set temperature, directly below cooked product. With conventional griddles, this drop in temperature can be 30-40º and can take 1-6 minutes to recover. In high volume operations such as fast food burger chains, this can mean that griddle cooks must turn or flip product to a different area of the griddle surface, to ensure rapid and complete cooking. This often means their griddles must be oversized and zoned with designated front-side and back-side cooking areas.

2. More Consistent Grilled Product – With the hot and cold spots of conventional griddles, it took experience to learn individual griddle “heat topography”. It took experience to even out cooking and ensure all burgers were done to a safe internal temperature. Uniform cook temperatures make it easy to produce consistent results and ensure safe internal temperatures on potentially high-risk products such as rare cooked hamburgers. Pancakes can be perfectly browned on both sides. Steam griddle cooked foods look better, and people eat with their eyes...as the saying goes!

5. Food Safety & Peace-of-Mind – Food safety is a critical issue for all foodservice operators. During the 90s, contaminated ground beef and under-cooked hamburger patties were a huge problem and an ongoing concern. While beef inspection has improved and the use of frozen product is more common, the need to ensure hamburgers are properly cooked remains a challenge, especially with multi-unit operators with high staff turnover and less experienced help. The uniform surface temperatures and near-instant heat recovery of steam griddles allows these operators to cook-to-time, and NOT rely on teen judgment of what constitutes a well-done burger or chicken breast.

Today many large national restaurant chains specify steam griddles. The use of steam griddles has spread to virtually every operator segment. Business & industry feeders (B&I), colleges and healthcare operators with food court style service use them for display cooking. Steam griddles are cleaner to use and radiate less heat, which makes the great for open-kitchen cooking. Even the United States Navy has taken the plunge. After extensive testing at the U.S. Army Solder System Center in Natick, Massachusetts, steam griddles were approved for use on a new class of destroyer, and they are being retrofitted on aircraft carriers as they are overhauled. The Navy liked the fast heat recovery, high production in less space and just loved the fast cleanup. Independent restaurant operators have also turned to steam griddles to replace trouble-prone conventional griddles that often needed professional calibration had hot spots and took way to long to clean each day. High production from smaller griddles is important for these operators, as well.

Originally, steam griddles were available in electric or gas heated tabletop and stand mounted models, in 24”, 36” and 48” unit widths and a choice of 24” deep or high capacity 29” deep cooking surfaces. Later one manufacturer introduced 36” and 48” drop-in electric models, which can be installed in a cabinet base or custom display cooking island or kiosk. This same manufacturer has introduced a compact 21” wide drop-in model, plus a modular Steam Cooking Center that combines a steam griddle with a six-pan connectionless steamer.

This multi-function equipment package is only 48-inches wide and provides both over- and under shelving for utensils, plates or pan storage. That steamer can pull double duty as a holding cabinet capable of holding grilled product for extended periods, without drying it out. For operators that need to regularly cook two or more products at different temperatures, this manufacturer can tandem mount two steam griddles on the same stand, providing two zone cooking, when and if needed. Two and three foot griddles can be combined to provide four-, five or six feet of griddle cook surface with two cook temperature zones. Steam griddles are available  with all the typical options and accessories, including a front mounted condiment board or plate shelf; and a Quick Gas Disconnect with safety chain, for caster mounted gas models.

A steam griddle typically costs a bit more than the same size conventional griddle. As with any equipment purchase you need to evaluate true lifecycle costs, which includes the potentially smaller unit size capable of meeting your production needs and all accompanying savings on annual operating expenses. You also should factor in potential labor savings from faster cleanups, more consistent product and less food waste. In addition, the real value of the food safety peace-of-mind provided by steam griddles is “priceless.”

In most cases, the investment in a steam griddle makes sense when:

• your kitchen or hood space is very tight;

• you have trouble keeping up with volume, at peak times;

• product quality and consistency have been a problem;

• concerns over food safety are an issue;

• employee turnover and lack of trained griddle cooks is an ongoing problem; or

• you want a kitchen with more innovative cooking solutions Steam griddles are a great solution for most foodservice kitchen operators.