Sunday Lunch on the Matador

Greg Jones

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Premium Member
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Location
Saint Helena Island, SC
Grill(s) owned
  1. Bull
  2. Bullseye
  3. Trailblazer
  4. Matador
  5. WyldSide
The three of us are pretty tired of variations of turkey now, so I made us lunch on the Matador. Fried potatoes, onions, kielbasa sausage, and scrambled eggs. I’ve mentioned before how I don’t get why the Matador is labeled a wok cooker. It makes a poor wok, and it is so good at other things that I expect the single-tasker wok label turns people off to it.
 

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The three of us are pretty tired of variations of turkey now, so I made us lunch on the Matador. Fried potatoes, onions, kielbasa sausage, and scrambled eggs. I’ve mentioned before how I don’t get why the Matador is labeled a wok cooker. It makes a poor wok, and it is so good at other things that I expect the single-tasker wok label turns people off to it.
I ordered my 700 and the matador came with it (Black Friday deal). Would you compare it closer to a flat top cooker?
 
I ordered my 700 and the matador came with it (Black Friday deal). Would you compare it closer to a flat top cooker?
Congrats on your new recteq grills!

It’s hard to describe what the Matador is most similar to. It’s not a wok, but you can cook stir fry in it. It’s not a deep fryer, but you can deep fry in it. It’s not a flat top, but there are a lot of flat top style meals that work fine in it, others don’t work well at all.

As example, the above is a flat top meal and it worked well in the Matador, but only because the eggs were scrambled. Regular fried eggs don’t work well here, as when cracked they will run to the center of the pan. I don’t know if you have ever seen videos of Todd Toven from Blackstone make bacon fried corn, but any meal similar to that works perfectly in the Matador.

I’ll confess that I’ve not been as creative with the Matador as I would like. I want to explore just exactly how I might use It in ways to cook food that is best done on the Matador, rather than trying to use it in a way that is not the best use of the tool. recteq does have several videos where they cook on it, and some uses are pretty creative.

Perhaps the most boring use of the Matador is how I’ve used it most often to date-take off the pan and use a cast iron Dutch oven or skillet over the burner. This is actually quite handy to make side dishes while also cooking on the grill. One final thought on what you DO NOT want to do with the Matador. Don’t buy the round griddle that is listed as a Matador accessory on the recteq site. The griddle is for the Bullseye and is 22” in diameter. The ring around the burner of the Matador is 17”, so I don’t know what they were thinking when they decided It was an appropriate accessory.
 
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So the griddle for the Matador based on the Bullseye is too big? What is the issue if so? No heat on the outside? Just trying to understand also.. I am also in line for the Bull and Matador. I was actually thinking of selling the Matador but undecided and trying to see if there is a reason to keep it.
 
So the griddle for the Matador based on the Bullseye is too big? What is the issue if so? No heat on the outside? Just trying to understand also.. I am also in line for the Bull and Matador. I was actually thinking of selling the Matador but undecided and trying to see if there is a reason to keep it.
I would expect it could present some safety issues as it would just be sitting on top of the ring, with nothing securing it in place. Could be bumped, could make it tippy, but I realize people have different levels of risk comfort. Aside from that, I can’t imagine it could get the griddle hot anywhere other than right in the middle. I haven’t measured it, but the burner of the Matador is only around 8”.

This Lodge skillet might be perfect on the Matador, assuming the handles don’t hit the ring. It’s 17” at the top, under 14” at the cooking surface, and list price is right at what the recteq round griddle costs. Unfortunately, it’s been out of stock all year. I use the 12” version of this skillet on the Matador and it works very well.
https://www.lodgecastiron.com/product/dual-handled-pan?sku=L17SK3
 
I would expect it could present some safety issues as it would just be sitting on top of the ring, with nothing securing it in place. Could be bumped, could make it tippy, but I realize people have different levels of risk comfort. Aside from that, I can’t imagine it could get the griddle hot anywhere other than right in the middle. I haven’t measured it, but the burner of the Matador is only around 8”.

This Lodge skillet might be perfect on the Matador, assuming the handles don’t hit the ring. It’s 17” at the top, under 14” at the cooking surface, and list price is right at what the recteq round griddle costs. Unfortunately, it’s been out of stock all year. I use the 12” version of this skillet on the Matador and it works very well.
https://www.lodgecastiron.com/product/dual-handled-pan?sku=L17SK3

Cool.. I appreciate the insight. I just got a shipped message this afternoon but doesn't look like it is with the freight company yet. I'll check these out.
 
I like having the griddle for the Matador. It has heat zones, I can use a large section in the middle to do the cooking, then move things to the outside where is will stay warm and not burn while cooking something else towards the middle. It has lots of real estate, use it wisely.
 

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