We love using our Blackstone at camp, and we use it for just about every single meal. We decided it’s about time that we upgrade from the 17 inch Blackstone to the 22 inch Blackstone, just to make it a little bit easier to feed our family of four.
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Connecting the Blackstone to the Trailer
We have the Jay Feather Micro trailer by Jayco and it came with a JayPort that we can use to mount a Blackstone right on the side of the trailer.
The same mount can hold the 17 inch Blackstone or the 22 inch Blackstone. So we’re able to upgrade to the larger size and still put it on the same exact spot that we used to put our 17 inch.
Why We Got a Larger Blackstone
We decided to upgrade because we wanted to have a little bit more space to cook for a family of four. We use the Blackstone for just about every single meal at camp and the 17 inch has worked well for us, but we have to do a lot more of cooking in rotations. We often have something sitting on a plate with foil over it while the rest of the food finishes.
So the 22 inch gives us a little bit more space. It’s also nice that it has two burners on it so that gives us more options when we’re cooking a full meal. It also makes it easier to keep something warm.
It plugs in the same way as our 17 inch Blackstone. We use the same adapter and the same hose to hook it into the quick connect on our trailer.
The 22 inch Blackstone that we upgraded to also came with a hood and a rear grease trap instead of the one in the front corner.
So, it fits on our trailer, looks good, I’m excited to start cooking on it, but before we do that, we have to season it.
How to Season the Blackstone
Blackstone provides pretty clear directions on how to season the Blackstone. But I thought I’d just go through and show what we do to season the Blackstone.
So, first you’ll need a few items. Anytime I use the Blackstone, I always have these items on hand. First, you want to have paper towels and then I always have tongs and two squirt bottles. I fill one of the squirt bottles with water and then the other one with oil. I like using grapeseed oil because it has a higher smoking point but it doesn’t really matter. You can use any oil you want.
To season it, you’ll need those standard items and then you’ll also need some soapy water.
Since it’s new from the factory, you first have to clean it. So that’s what the soapy water is for. We just poured some soapy water on top of it, and then rubbed that around.
Now, whenever I’m rubbing water, or oil, or anything around the Blackstone, my favorite way to do it is to grab a paper towel and then grab tongs and use the tongs instead of hands. So, in this case, the griddle isn’t even on yet so it’s not hot but this is the habit that I’m in. Anytime I’m cleaning off the Blackstone, I’m using the tongs just so my hands have some distance from where it might splatter.
So pour some of that soapy water on the Blackstone and then use the paper towel with tongs to rub it around. Make sure to get all the flat surface as well as all of the edges.
Once it’s covered with soapy water, rinse it off. I used the squirt bottle that I had with water in it and then I wiped it down with a clean paper towel and tongs. I repeated this a few times until all of the soap was gone.
Now you’re ready to turn it on! Turn both of the burners on to high heat for about 10 minutes. The griddle will start turning brown.
At that point, turn the grill off and then add some oil. I take my oil squirt bottle, and then use a paper towel and tongs. Again, spread it out in a thin layer. This is when the tongs are really important because the oil can splatter and that would hurt your hands. Make sure you spread it out in a thin layer. And again, get not only the flat surface, but also the sides and the edges.
Once you have a thin layer of oil applied, turn the burners back to high. Then let it sit until it stops smoking. It should take about 20 to 30 minutes for this to happen.
Then you repeat the process. So turn the burners off, add more oil, spread it out evenly, turn the burners back to high and wait for the smoke to stop.
Keep repeating this until you’re satisfied with the Blackstone seasoning. I repeated the process four times. Honestly, I would have done it a couple more, but I ran out of time so I decided to call it good.
First Meal on the Blackstone
I tested it out by making bacon burgers with sweet potato fries. And a couple of grilled cheeses for the kids.
I’ve made this meal before on our 17 inch Blackstone and although everybody always liked it, it was a complicated meal to make on the 17 inch. I would do the fries first and then I’d cover them with foil and the fries were fine. But they would always get a little bit too soggy from the steam. And they weren’t always that warm. So, I really wanted to try this out on the 22 inch.
So this time, I was able to cook the fries and the bacon at the same time. And then when the bacon was done, I pulled it off and put the burgers on.
So I had more than enough space to cook the fries, to cook the burgers, and I could even toast up the buns with no problem. So not only was this more convenient because everything was done closer to the same time but the overall cooking time was less because I didn’t have to start the fries earlier before I started cooking everything else.
Cleaning the Blackstone
After I cook, I always clean the grill up right away. It only takes a couple of minutes to do it that way. All I do is I have those same two squirt bottles that I always have on hand with water and oil. And I first squirt it with water and let the water steam all of the food up. The water boils up any food residue and that way it’s super easy just to wipe off. Then I take a paper towel with tongs and rub it over the grill and clean up anything left on there.
Depending on how messy the grill is, sometimes you have to repeat this a couple times. Just squirt on more water, let it boil back up and wipe it down again.
Once the grill looks good and it doesn’t look like there’s any more food residue on it, I squirt a little bit of oil on it, take a paper towel and the tongs. And just rub that out. So it’s a nice thin layer.
So that’s how I like to clean it up. Now that the Blackstone is all clean we can go enjoy these burgers.
Conclusion
So far, we are loving this upgrade to the 22 inch from the 17 inch. Both Blackstones are great. But the 22 inch does make it much easier to cook the amount of food that we need for a family of four.
