Bob has been sending me notes about his Baking Steel for a while now. Last month he took it somewhere I had not thought of, and came back with these photos. I asked if he would tell the story himself. He did, and it is better than anything I would have written.
Andris
Eagle Harbor
One of my best friends has a cabin near Eagle Harbor, Michigan, which is one town away from Copper Harbor, the farthest you can get from an interstate in the lower 48. We've been going up there for years.
The food is always great cooked over a hardwood fire with a view of Lake Superior in the background. This year, however, I decided to take the Baking Steel Griddle up there and see if we could take it up a notch.
The first thing we noticed
Man, does this thing get and stay hot. We had to dial back the fire as it was getting so hot everything would char immediately.
The results were amazing. Burgers, hot dogs, boneless pork ribs, chicken thighs, and of course sausage, bacon and eggs along with toasting home baked bread on the griddle made the mornings a special treat.
What I'd tell you if you're thinking about it
If you are thinking of doing the same, go for it. The carrying bag is nice for transporting. I found a grate with legs online, although this campsite had dedicated fire pits.
Just remember you don't need a huge fire, and be mindful of how hot it remains after cooking.
It stays clean with a good scraper at camp, and the cleaning bricks take care of anything that gets stuck on.
Next trip
We are headed back in October and this time I plan on bringing dough for English muffins. They are so good at home. My mouth is watering as I write this thinking about fresh muffins with thimbleberry jam on them.
I'll send more pictures from old Gitche Gumee next month, unless the gales of November come early.
Bob
A few notes from me
I did not build the Griddle to be a camping griddle. It just turns out to be a very good one. A slab of carbon steel over hardwood coals holds heat the same way it does in your oven, which is the whole reason any of this works.
Bob figured out the important part on his own, and it is the thing most people get wrong the first time: you do not need a big fire. A steel over hardwood coals will get hotter than most home ovens can reach. If everything is charring the second it touches down, the fire is too big, not the steel.
On cleaning. Bob is right that a scraper handles most of it at camp. For anything that carbonizes on, the trick is to work while it is still hot. Get the steel warm again, splash a little water on it, and let it steam. That lifts burned-on food far better than scrubbing cold. Scrape along the grooves rather than across them.
One caveat on that: hot off a grill or out of the oven is fine. If the steel has been sitting in a hardwood fire long enough to look shiny, let it come down before you put water anywhere near it.
On the fire itself. Coals beat flames. You want a bed of embers with steady heat rather than a roaring fire licking up the sides. Same principle as a long oven preheat: you are loading the steel with heat, not cooking with the flame.
What you need
- A Baking Steel Griddle, or any Baking Steel
- A grate with legs, if your site does not have a dedicated fire pit
- A bench scraper
- Cleaning bricks for anything stuck on
- The carry bag, which makes transporting a heavy piece of steel a lot easier
That's it. No special gear, no outdoor cooker, no propane. If you already own a Steel, you already own a camping griddle.
Thanks Bob. Send the October photos.