Maybe you cannot tell (or do not know) from the picture that this is a Jenn-Air range. One thing that they had unique was that the burners were arranged in cassettes. Meaning that you could pop out the unit on one side and replace it with something else. They used to offer a griddle option so that one side could make pancakes or whatever while the other side was boiling soup.

We didn’t install this range, it was done in the late 1990s. So, it was six or seven years old when we purchased the house. We never had the griddle attachment, but there was a grill. I never used it because I just couldn’t imagine grease dripping down inside my range. But, there was a significantly older Jenn-Air in the little house. It actually had the griddle. It also had an attachment to screw in a mason jar to catch the grease. Great idea although it significantly cut down on oven size.

I replaced that tired, 1970s range in one of my first remodels and I took the griddle off thinking that I would use it in my house on occasion. But, I never did. My wife purchased a 14″, round pan that looked very much like a paella pan. That was our pancake griddle, tortilla Comal, grilled cheese maker etc. That pan was used to death.

As much as we used it, there was a lot to be desired. For instance, I was limited to warming one flour tortilla. I could get three corn tortillas with overlapping edges and pancakes had to be poured very carefully to get three. It also hung off of the edge of the range profile. So whenever we were using it we had to move all the stuff of the counter to give space for the pan.

One final issue, Jenn-Air is not the company it used to be. It is no longer it’s own company and is owned by Whirlpool. Like all gadgets, appliances, etc. it has a shelf life. Parts are no longer available at least new. Heck, even keeping it running is now cobbling parts together. So, it’s days are numbered. A griddle is not really an option at this point.

I know that my wife has been looking for a replacement. One day, this Made In package showed up. I thought, that is fancy. I have seen them sponsor shows like Top Chef. It looks like cast iron but I read through the literature and it says that it is carbon steel. Hmmm, what is the difference?

In order to be considered carbon steel, it must contain more than 2% carbon in the iron. So, that means that cast iron is iron plus less than 2% carbon. There you go. If comparing two pieces and one has 1.9% and one contains 2.1% carbon, the first one is cast iron and the second is carbon steel. As you can see, there is not much difference.

The internet would have you believe that carbon steel is a wonder material. At the very least that validates the marketing and justifies the significant cost difference. My experience so far has been there is not much significantly different between the two. I have used cast iron for most of my life. I like the no fuss nature i.e. no cleaning just wipe clean.

As far as I know, you treat carbon steel exactly like cast iron. Season before use, don’t use soap, continue to keep oiled, etc. I made blueberry pancakes for dinner the other night. This was a trial run for the product. I can say that the results were as expected. This means that it works, I enjoyed having plenty of space but time needs to be spent optimizing the controls and overall seasoning.

On my range, there is an 8″ burner in the back and a 6″ burner in the front. This means that it heats slightly unevenly. I know, this is not what the literature says but the reality is there is more power to different areas of the griddle. That is just a fact. Even though I had the dials on different settings to try and accommodate, I still found that the back was too hot. I don’t know if it was the temp or the seasoning, but I still had some sticking mostly in the back,

I am not ready to throw the baby out with the bathwater. This is a nice piece of cookware that I hope will get a ton of use. I just need more than one session to make a good judgement on the overall capability. The non-burnt pancakes were pretty good and even the burnt ones were alright.

End Your Programming Routine: This is a huge upgrade over the pan it is replacing. Not only is the surface area larger and more useable but it is also not covered with a non-stick coating that is going to fail in a few years. I can’t stand that stuff. Even though I haven’t mastered the pan, which I will assume will get better with time it is definitely going to have a place in my kitchen.