Digital Friend's video: How-to Make A Wood Gas Griddle Tutorial

Learn how to make a wood gas griddle. Many people cook using griddles. There are electric versions and big griddles made for restaurants. Cast iron griddles are usually used on an indoor stove top in a house, over coals on a fire or on a BBQ. Wood gas stoves are small, transportable, highly efficient, smokeless and also have little visible flame. Wood gas stoves burn wood, not propane, but the flame looks like a gas flame. This means it is possible to store enough fuel to for many days of cooking in a house or on a small property. Wood is non-explosive, so there is no risk to storing a couple of bags of wood pellets or lots of twigs on a property. If necessary, wood from furniture, decks, floors or even wood from a house can be used during natural disaster situation, if the grid stops working temporarily and more fuel is needed. To eat food you need to have food and cook food, and to cook food you need lots of fuel. A modern lifestyle is fuel by lots of energy which is supplied by the grid. If you are living in the countryside, it is often possible to stockpile lots of firewood and have a woodstove. Woodstoves are not feasible many situations. Storing large amounts of fuels like propane or kerosene or even alcohol is often not possible, because these fuels are potentially explosive. The wood gas stove is a possible solution in an emergency situation or for a camping trip. Level The Griddle The griddle should be leveled before it is used, so that the cooking oil or pancakes don’t run to one side of the griddle. The legs of the outdoor fireplace can be shimmed and leveled with little pieces of wood or some other solution. Do this when the stove is cold and before the fires in the stove are lit. Fuels (all fuels must be very dry for high efficiency) Wood pellets (my favourite) Dry twigs (potentially endless supply of fuel) Chopped lumber (could be available in a natural disaster) Lump charcoal (low heat) Windscreen A windscreen is necessary for the stoves to operate at optimum efficiency. Re Fueling the Griddle You can use long reach pliers and welding gloves to reach twigs underneath the griddle and into the stove, but be careful not to get burned. It is easier to use the wire and BBQ tongs technique to lift the griddle from the wood gas stoves, refuel the stoves, and then place the griddle back on top of the stoves. Prepping Food When Using Griddles Restaurants use griddles to make food fast. They do lots of what’s called prepping. Restaurants want to make food to order and they want to make it fast. The solution is to do most of the work beforehand to save time. The meat is precooked and portion in into small plastic bags. Each bag is weighed to make sure each portion is exactly the same, say 100 grams of meat. This is all done well before the lunch time rush, sometimes even a day early. The fresh vegetables are chopped up and also put into small portioned plastic bags. When someone orders a wrap, the cook goes into the fridge, pulls out a portioned bag of meat (e.g. 100 grams) and pours the meat onto the pan or griddle. It takes 4 minutes to warm up the meat. The pre-portioned thin cut vegetables (e.g. 300 grams) are also poured out of the plastic bags and onto the griddle. A little cooking oil is spread on the griddle beforehand. The vegetables will cook in about 5 minutes. There is also a pre-cut and pre-portioned bag of lettuce which is in the fridge (e.g. 100 grams). The cooked vegetables, warmed up meat and fresh cut lettuce are all transferred to the wrap. It takes about 40 seconds to assemble the wrap and package it in wax paper. In less than 6 minutes, you’ve got your meal. Likewise, a hamburger can be precooked and then quickly warmed up. Prepping food beforehand greatly speeds up the food production process while also allowing for customized orders. Flat bread is fast and easy to bake on a griddle and requires no yeast. Safety Issues I don’t leave the stoves unattended. I have some kind of a fire extinguisher, bucket of water or watering can close by to put out any accidental fire. Watch out for sparks. I don’t set up the stove anywhere where something close by could accidentally catch on fire. Think and look around before you set up the stove. Is there anything close by which can catch on fire? I place the wood gas stoves in an outdoor fire pit to contain any accidental embers. I also wear safety glasses and welding gloves. Proper welding gloves minimize the risk of burning your hands. I don’t touch the griddle with my hands once it is hot. The griddle must cool down first before it can be touched. Make sure that no one accidentally comes into contact with the hot metal or snags their feet on the wire. Hold the griddle away from your feet, so that it doesn’t accidentally fall onto your feet and cause an injury. Use lots of common sense when using the wood gas griddle. Thanks for watching. Enjoy your food, stay safe and Have A Great Day!