Bullseye BT-380 Griddle Seasoning Review

[flippingeo]

Hello folks. Another long-winded post by this dude… This time I’m seasoning my Bullseye Griddle. WooHoo!!! Am I right?!?! Thrilling stuff. But seriously, if nothing else, it gives you a link to share with the countless folks that constantly post the question “How do I season this?” Or share pictures with a mild brown (not black) finished product. Or I’ve even seem some that don’t even bother with the seasoning, just put on some bacon and let it ride (mostly this is seen on Facebook Groups). I’m not saying they’re wrong, nor that I’m right. This was just my approach. Perhaps it saves someone in the future some time or headache. If not, at least it’s not a post about pellet brands/issues, moisture problems (auger jams), damaged shipments, or “Wild Temperature Swings”!
Below you’ll find my approach to seasoning, lessons learned, and my overall review of the accessory.

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Summary
Well I’m finally getting around to getting my griddle seasoned. I’ve had it for about 6 months now and have never gotten this thing ready for use. Today is the day. It’s nice - about 75°, breezy and cool. Perfect day to tend to the Bullseye and rewarding myself with some tasty bacon. Full disclosure, I grew up in a house of Teflon and stainless steel cookware. So I have very little experience seasoning a cooking surface such as cast iron, or carbon steel (which is what the RT Griddle is made of). But I’m going to give it my best shot, and hopefully it turns out great and I can start doing even more on my Bullseye. Best case is you learn from my mistakes.

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Perceived Issues
So there are so many different opinions on how to go about this. Which is probably one of the reasons it has taken me so long to pull the trigger. RecTeq ships the griddle with seasoning instructions, but from what I’ve read, its not always the most efficient or effective way.

Most complain that 400° is just not hot enough and it’s taken anywhere between 8-10 hours to finish the seasoning. Some even have to break it up over a couple days! Wow. I ain’t got time for all of that. Took me 6 hours, and I believe I could have shaved another 2-3 hours from that if I had known what I learned.

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Items Needed

• High smoke point oil. I used grape seed oil (as recommended by RT), but others have used Avacado, Canola, etc.
• Long rigid tongs. This sucker will get hot and you don’t want to ruin your day with a burn tag
• A cut up old dish rag. Ask the wife before you just go cutting up the dish towels. I rolled them up so the “cut” edge was tuck and I would alleviate threads getting on the surface while applying oil.
• Enough pellets in the hopper to get you through the effort.
• Bacon (Thick Cut)

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The TL;DR Version

1. Wash and dry your griddle
2. Place a light coating of oil on the entire surface and heat side, remove your grill grates and place the griddle in the cold cooker
3. Start the cooker on LO, run for 2 hours
4. Turn up to 500°
5. Apply light coat of oil to the cooking surface
6. Rotate the griddle 180°
7. Hold for 30 mins or whenever it stops smoking
8. Repeat 5. thru 7. @ 2-3 times
9. Turn up to RIOT
10. Apply light coat of oil to the cooking surface
    1. You must be light here and fast here with the oil. Soak a rag and apply, don’t pour the oil directly on the surface.
11. Rotate the griddle 180°
12. Hold for 10 mins or whenever it stops smoking
13. Repeat 10. thru 12. until you get the color you want (i.e., slick black)
14. Turn back down to 500
15. Put some damn bacon on it and do with it what you will

Oh, and if you want a way to store your griddle - Amazon - 22" Cymbal Bag

Don’t read further if you don’t like details. You can stop here. But don’t ask me questions I’ve answered below.

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My Process (The Plan)

1. Unbox the griddle and wash on all sides with mild soap and warm water to remove any factory grit and grime.
2. Coat lightly on all sides (heat side too) with grape seed oil
   1. RT doesn’t instruct this, but I figured it cant hurt to get a first coat on before throwing it on
3. Remove the grill grates and place the griddle on a cold cooker
4. Turn on the RT and set temp to LO
   1. RT recommends 200°, but we don’t have that on the Bullseye so I’ll go with LO
5. Set a timer for 2 hours and let it ride
6. Apply a thin coat of grape seed oil on all sides of the cooking surface
   1. I mean thin… No puddles or you’ll end up with a sticky mess and wished you hadn’t
7. Bump the RT up to 500°
   1. RT recommends 400° but far too many suggestions indicate it’s not hot enough, so I’m going with 500°
8. Let it roll for 30 mins, or until I see no more smoke
9. Rotate the griddle 180°
   1. This is due to the right side hot phenomenon. I want this thing to get even seasoning
10. Apply more grape seed oil, just as before (Thin coats bruh!)
11. Rinse repeat until I get that oh so good black slick surface dreams are made of
12. Put on some bacon while she’s hot and enjoy the fruits of my labor.

^ Note the golden red/rusty look of the deflector plate… its not actually red/rusty (it’s stainless). It was reflecting my sunlit canopy. This will help explain some of the later pictures.

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Process Log (The Actual)
Pre-Round 1

• Placed griddle on cold grill @ 1030A on LO (~200°)
• Let it ride for 2 hours
• At 1230P turned up to 500° and applied light coating of oil
• Repeated applications and rotations

Round 1
Taking on a good color.

Round 2 (1:40P)
A little richer brown.

Round 3 (2:00P)
Not much change. Checked surface temps. Ranges from 404 (left/left front) - 435 (right/right back)

Round 4 (2:20P)
Still brown.

Round 5 (2:40P)
Checked surface temps. Ranges from 430 (left/left front) - 470 (right/right back)

Round 6 (3:00P)
Not sure how much more seasoning she’s gonna take. Can’t see much difference. Not black yet though, and that doesn’t please me. Going to go 2 more rounds, then bump her up to RIOT MODE!!!!

Round 7 (3:30P)
I went a little heavier on the oil and it took longer to stop smoking. Still don’t see much difference in color.

Round 8 (3:50P)
Last round at 500°, time to RIOT!

Round 9 (4:10P)
Yup, this is where I should have gone after round 3. All these rounds at 500° with little to no change, and one round at riot gave me great smoke and almost instant black finish (images make it look brown, but its just the reflection of my sunlit canopy). Checked surface temps. Ranges from 616 (left/left front) - 677 (right/right back)

Round 10 (4:25P)
Final round. OK yes, you can see some uneven coating. After 6 hours of doing this, I’ve grown a bit tired and impatient, but its an outdoor griddle. I’m not going to sweat it. I should have started RIOT mode much sooner in the process. Time to cook.

Time for bacon
Turned it down to 500° to let the surface cool some, threw on the bacon. Love the sizzle.

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Lessons Learned

1. I’m not sure the 2 hours @ 200° is necessary. There was little to no surface color change to the griddle. I ain’t mad at it, just not sure it’s required.
2. I’m not waiting the full 30 mins between coats. Just running it until I stop seeing smoke and smelling the oil
3. Just go to riot after a few rounds. Fiddling around with lower temps was just not getting it there. I wanted it black, not brown. RIOT made it happen in no time.
   1. The issue with 400° (as recommended by RT) and 500° (my choice). The surface temp of the griddle is either under, or only just over the smoke point of grapeseed oil. Without the smoke off it’s hard to get the oil to polymerize to the surface.
4. If you are looking for a way to store your griddle. I went with the much suggested 22” cymbal bag. This is the one I got and it fits perfectly. (I even kept the silica gel pack in the bag to take care of any residual moisture) - Amazon - 22" Cymbal Bag

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Griddle Review

1. It’s great to have this surface. I don’t have the privilege of having a Blackstone (but I may be shopping for one), so this is the next best thing within the RecTeq lineup.
2. I think the seasoning method as instructed with the griddle is insufficient. Even with going up 100° from the recommended approach, the surface of the griddle was only barely over the smoke point of grapeseed oil on the hot side.
   1. Ideally, you want too be 50° above the smoke point. But at 500° we have no further set points before RIOT. RIOT worked well, though probably hotter than you want to season at. However, I wished I had started using that sooner in the process.
   2. That said RIOT is more rapid. I’d suggest dipping the towel in a bowl full of oil rather than pouring oil directly on the surface and spreading with the towel. I believe this is where my buildup occurred. The surface was so hot that it polymerized before I could spread it.
3. As far as cooking, we’ll I’ve just done bacon at this point, and it turned out well. Can’t wait to expand breakfast, smash burgers, and use the hot surface to reverse sear off my smoked steaks from the RT-590.
4. The surface temperature of the griddle will vary from side to side. This is no different than the grill itself, but something to be aware of. You may have to rotate your food around to get even cooks. Or put your cooler stuff to the left, hotter right.
5. The surface temperature also seems to be about 100° less than the pit reading. Something else to just be aware of. 400-500° is more than enough on a standard griddle for most things… But when you are at 300° on the surface, its not quite ready to give you that flat top sear.
   1. I’m going to continue to play around with temperatures here. I think RIOT is too much for cooking with this thing. 500° worked well for the bacon, but I also didn’t get quite the sizzle I’m used to.
6. As far as maintenance… Well this is going to be a sticking point for me. While I love the idea of having this insert, it will definitely be more of an effort to use than just a dedicated griddle.
   1. You can’t just store it in the Bullseye. If you have any moisture in your climate (mid-Atlantic here), it will rust
   2. There is no easy way to drain the grease. It’s heavy and awkward, and unless you let it cool completely you risk serious burns. For the bacon, I just used several wads of paper towels to soak up the grease. Not ideal, and a bit wasteful. And you’re going to want to get the loose food bits out of there. I used my 3” putty knife I use to clean the inside of the grills, but will probably want one specifically for the cooking surface.
      1. I’m open to others suggestions here on grease management with the griddle.

 

[kstone113]

Great write-up! I used a product called buzzywax on amazon. It worked really good for the griddle. I also did what you did as I would go from 500 to riot back to 500 and back to riot b/c I didn't want it getting up in the 700's.

I'm not sure why RecTeq hasn't changed their instructions as they are not right. I've done some amazing smash burgers on the bullseye griddle. Clean-up is a pain. I usually scrape what i want off and pick up with a paper towels and then re-oil to store. I have also oiled the underside of the griddle like you did. I thought it would be a good idea.
If people follow your instructions, they will come out with a nicely seasoned griddle, yours looks great!

 

[Austindave]

Thank you for the great write-up. The clean-up was quick and easy. I followed your directions/tips, which worked like a charm, and turned black in riot mode. I finished it off with a pound of thick-cut bacon. The clean-up was quick and easy. After drying it, I applied some crisbee stik, and ready for the next cook.

 

[ghuns]

Seasoned mine today loosely following your advice and a couple YouTube videos I watched. She's now nice and black ..