Latest news with #Blackstones
Tom's Guide
4 days ago
- General
- Tom's Guide
I've been using a griddle for a year — these are the best starter accessories everyone needs
When I first got my griddle, I thought I could get by with just a spatula, some basic culinary skills, and knowing how to season a flat-top grill. Thanks to social media, I'd seen enough examples of people making fajitas and smashburgers on their Blackstones, right? But after cooking almost exclusively on an outdoor griddle for the last year — the 5-star Weber Slate 36, to be specific— I've learned that having the right accessories is crucial to a positive experience. This was the result of testing dozens of tools, and while I found more than a few flops, I also discovered some add-ons that make owning a griddle totally worth it. So if you're a beginner to griddle cooking, and aren't sure what to get next, here's the gear I'd recommend to every griddle cooker. Many of my picks are from Weber to complement the Weber Slate, but Blackstone or Traeger Flatrock also offer in-brand accessories that are worth checking out. Otherwise, these are the best griddle accessories I use all the time, whether I'm cooking for two or feeding a crowd. Be sure to check out the rest of our Get Grillin' week for more tips on mastering the art of cooking in your backyard. If you buy one accessory for your griddle, it should be a proper spatula set. I'm talking about heavy-duty, stainless steel, diner-style spatulas that can actually stand up to the heat and surface of a flat top. The plastic or nylon flippers from your kitchen aren't going to cut it. Look for options with a beveled edge, a comfortable grip and sensible size relative to your griddle's cooking area. I started with a budget set from Amazon that worked fine, but once I upgraded to the versions in Weber's and Blackstone's respective accessory lines, it put the cheap versions to shame. Knowing what I do now, I would've invested in a quality set from the jump. This is my go-to griddle spatula. You can purchase is alone or go for the bundle that includes a scraper and one squeeze bottle, other useful griddling accessories. As a bonus, I use my spatula to clean down the surface while the griddle's still warm, so unless you're really into single-purpose tools, I think you can skip buying a dedicated scraper. Once you start keeping squeeze bottles near your griddle, you'll wonder how you ever lived without them. Most griddle cookers will want to keep two on hand: one filled with high-heat oil (like avocado or vegetable), and one with water. The oil bottle lets you grease the surface quickly and evenly, while the water bottle is key for everything from steaming eggs under a dome to loosening up stuck-on bits during cleanup. This two-pack of squeeze bottles keeps oil and water on standby for griddle cooking. When it isn't griddle season, I use these indoors for sauces and dressings. Unlike investing in quality spatulas, you don't need anything fancy here. Just grab a two-pack of basic plastic bottles with caps. If you're planning on making anything melty, a dome is 100% worth it. But a melting dome is great for more than just cheeseburgers and cheesesteaks. It's also great for cooking eggs, reheating leftovers, or finishing thicker foods with steam and indirect heat. This large-size melting dome is a must-have for gooey cheeseburgers, fried eggs, and more. Did I mention it's dishwasher-safe? I started with a lightweight aluminum dome from Amazon that did the job a few times, but the handle wasn't very user-friendly in an environment that's hot and greasy. So eventually upgraded to Weber's basting dome because it can apply the steam-cooking effect to a larger quantity of food at once. It's a little pricey, but I use it all the time and greatly appreciate that it's dishwasher safe. I've yet to meet anyone with a griddle who didn't plan on making smashburgers. They are one of life's greatest joys, after all. In order to properly indulge, you're going to need a burger press. A burger press is a game-changer for making perfectly shaped patties that cook evenly every time. You can use a spatula to smash, but a press helps you get that ideal thin, flat patty without all the mess or uneven thickness. The Burger Iron is a handy tool for making perfect smashburgers on your griddle. It's a small business product that I'd buy again and again. As a smashburger aficionado, I tested out a couple of different presses, and found that the aptly-named Burger Iron is my favorite. Stick to stainless steel — even though they look cool, I would avoid the cast-iron versions of burger presses as they're prone to rust. Everyone will find their own tactics for cleaning and maintenance on their grill, but chances are, your method will involve paper towels. Paper towels help capture excess oil, wipe down leftover residues, and dry up any remaining water from the cleanup process. I went through quite a few regular paper towel rolls in my year manning a griddle before discovering Scott Shop Towels. These are basically heavy-duty paper towels that hold up a lot better than Bounty. In other words, it takes fewer Scott Shop Towels to get the job done. These are my favorite paper towels for cleaning up my griddle. At nearly 50% off, I'm picking up this pack of 12 for myself. With these accessories, you should be set up for success with your griddle cooking journey. If you're just getting started, you truly don't need a ton of gear, but the right basics go a long way.
The Guardian
04-04-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
‘They didn't call us for Live Aid': the stars behind Black Britain's forgotten charity record
The Ethiopian famine of the early 1980s was one of the defining news stories of the decade, an exposure of the stark divide between developed and developing nations, still referred to at the time as the Third World. It is a received wisdom that the general public in Britain learned about the crisis when shocking images of emaciated men, women and children were shown on BBC news reports. This is not entirely true. In fact, plenty of Rastafarians were already aware of the situation. The east African country was their spiritual home – many in the movement viewed its former emperor Haile Selassie as their messiah – and a place free from the iniquities of the west. 'A lot of Rastafarians went to Ethiopia [before they] came to London,' says the musician and campaigner Leon Leiffer. 'I knew many of them, and there was a rumour going around that things were really bad because of the drought. We heard it like that before the mainstream media. And I had the idea to do something to help before we saw anything on the BBC.' Leiffer, a member of the influential reggae vocal harmony group the Blackstones, is the great social activist you may never have heard of. He was the driving force behind Brafa (British Reggae Artists Famine Appeal), an ensemble that featured, among others, renowned Jamaican vocalist Dennis Brown, roots heroes Aswad and Janet Kay, the queen of lovers rock, that uniquely British strain of romantic reggae. This month marks the 40th anniversary of the release of the group's charity single, Let's Make Africa Green Again, created to raise money for famine relief efforts in Ethiopia at around the same time as another, far more notorious charity single. 'We were always singing about Africa, so we thought: let's put our money where our mouth is,' Leiffer, a friendly 72-year-old with braided grey hair, says over tea in his front room in Leyton, east London. He had initially decided to stage a concert to raise money for famine relief but finding a venue and sponsorship proved too difficult, so the fallback position was to make a record, the proceeds of which would be sent to Ethiopia via Save the Children. Leiffer, who came as a teenager from Jamaica to Britain and pursued a career in music, duly assembled a team consisting of several Rastafarian artists, such as singer Gene Rondo, drummer Jah Bunny and bassist Elroy Bailey, as well as vocalists including Leiffer's wife Fay Addison and his Blackstones bandmates Tony Douglas and Ken Kendricks. This was very much a grassroots operation, and word spread of the plan to make a charity record at popular community centres such as Roots Pool in Hackney, east London, where, as Leiffer recalls, you were as likely to see reggae royalty such as Dennis Brown as you were a 'notorious local gangster'. One musician alerted another, and Brafa soon put together an all-star UK reggae cast. Finding a studio willing to give free session time was a problem, but Leiffer and Rondo lucked out through a chance encounter with Eddy Grant, the innovative Guyanese singer who had had a big hit with Electric Avenue. Grant agreed to lend the group his own east London studio, and with that manna from heaven the project motored forward. Leiffer and Rondo combined lyrics from their previous songs, one of which hailed Africa as 'paradise', and they soon had the tune for Let's Make Africa Green Again. 'On the day of the recording I said to everybody: 'Let go of your ego!'' recalls Leiffer. 'Any artist was welcome, all they had to do was come to the studio and take part. And there were people singing who had never sung on a record before. People walked by, like at carnival time, and we'd say come in, we want you to sing on the chorus. It was an open house, a special thing. We had all kinds of folk with us. There were over 200 people involved, including local schoolkids.' Sign up to Inside Saturday The only way to get a look behind the scenes of the Saturday magazine. Sign up to get the inside story from our top writers as well as all the must-read articles and columns, delivered to your inbox every weekend. after newsletter promotion That sense of inclusion was pivotal in Brafa. As far as Leiffer was concerned, the priority was for everybody, both in the reggae and wider Black British community, to pull together and do their bit regardless of who they were. Needless to say, Band Aid had captured the world's attention in November 1984 with Do They Know It's Christmas? but Leiffer did not feel they were in competition with that song. However, on the vexed issue of the lack of Black British representation in the aforementioned project and its follow-up concert Live Aid – notwithstanding the presence in the latter of pop-jazz star Sade – he has strong views, and believes the argument that reggae artists were simply not big enough to make the bill doesn't cut any ice. 'I'd say Bob Geldof and Midge Ure have good hearts,' says Leiffer. 'They did fantastic. But to have Aswad in the international charts, and [lovers rock star] Trevor Walters, Eddy Grant, Janet Kay all enjoying major commercial success and not be involved … They didn't call us for Live Aid and they didn't call us for the recording. We had gifted, talented people and we had something to offer, and I think they should have reached out to us. Soon after our record was made, I was coming from the BBC and saw Geldof walking to Radio 1 and I said: 'Wh'appen Bob?' He acknowledged me but made no attempt to stop. I got the feeling of a brush-off.' While Black newspapers such as Caribbean Times and The Voice (who had offered up their office, with an all-important fax machine, for practical help), and music magazines such as Black Echoes and Blues & Soul ran features, there was scant coverage in the national press. Leiffer remembers an article 'the size of a postage stamp' in the Sun, though he has fond memories of appearing on Janice Long's Radio 1 show to promote the single. Despite selling well to reggae fans, the song did not make the national pop chart. Still, Brafa soldiered on and finally was able to hold a benefit concert in Shoreditch Park, east London in May 1986 that featured many of the artists on Let's Make Africa Green Again. It drew a crowd of more than 10,000 people, raising £8,000. Although one headline called it 'Live Aid reggae style', the event also showcased Black British culture in the broadest sense, including appearances by notable sports people such as Olympic sprinter Mike McFarlane and boxer Dennis Andries. The concert countered the largely negative image that clung to Black British youth just a few years after the Brixton and Toxteth riots, which may well have contributed to the mainstream media snub of Brafa. Some recognition did eventually arrive, though. In 2021, the forecourt of the Britannia Leisure Centre on the border of Shoreditch Park was named Brafa Square in honour of Leiffer and his collective. Today, he is still focused on making music and the Blackstones recently enjoyed radio play on US reggae stations with their single Ting a Ling. Looking back, he feels a sense of achievement in what he, Gene Rondo, who died in 1994, and others did. 'We were well received, maybe not on the level of Band Aid, which I understand,' he says. 'We could have had more coverage. Of what we did, though, I am hugely proud. I remember the struggle, and all the good times.'
