Guest Blogger Mike Knapp – Evo Grill First Cook

Evo Grill First Cook

After a cold and rainy spring in Chicagoland, the weather finally broke this week, and I was able to finally fire up my Evo grill and take it on its maiden cook.

But before I get to that, let me tell you my first impressions of the grill.

The biggest thing? It’s built like a tank, and that’s a supreme compliment. This grill is of the highest quality, with sturdy construction that is built to last a very long time. And innovation? The Evo’s got this as well, check out the burners that give off plenty of heat while giving cooks the flexibility of two completely different cooking zones.

The griddle itself and the lid are of the highest quality as well. Lifting those babies definitely gives your muscles a workout!

So what did I make, you might be asking. I decided my first run of the grill would represent my favorite meal – breakfast – and I decided to make a breakfast skillet.

Here are my ingredients:

• Six eggs, beaten.
• Four sausage patties.
• Four pieces of bacon.
• One diced potato.
• Handful of peppers.
• Handful of onions.

I used a pan with a dash of olive oil for the peppers and onions in an effort to have them heat up a bit slower than everything else. I also made them “Bernie style”, throwing them in a bag with some olive oil, salt and pepper, although you can add chopped garlic and onion in there as well.

Why do I call that Bernie style? It’s something my good friend, Bernie Salazar, showed me how to make several years ago. Bernie appeared on Season 5 of The Biggest Loser and eventually won the at-home prize given to the person who was sent home but lost the highest percentage of weight. He is very much a foodie at heart.

Overall, it took just under 10 minutes to cook everything up, and while everything was a bit crispier than I wanted, it came out pretty well and tasted great!

Quick tip: one of the benefits of the griddle is the ability to mix things together as sort of a “flavor bomb”. For instance, before taking the eggs off of the griddle, run them through the bacon grease and even some other spices or whatever is still on the griddle. The food pops a lot better after that!

So here’s what I loved about the grill.

• Ease in operation. The grill starts easily and heats up quickly, so you can toss your food on there in a matter of moments after the grill is started.
• Two cooking zones. I still have a bit of work to do on that, but I loved the versatility in knowing exactly where the zones are to cook food at different temperatures as opposed to looking for “hot spots” on a conventional grill.
• The circular design. Not only is it a kind of cool thing for friends to stand around and watch and enjoy the cooking experience, but it’s also great for the cook too. I liked having the ability to walk around the grill and have the food I’m working on right in front of me as opposed to reaching across a very hot griddle.

Things I need to work on:

• Managing the temperature(s) of the griddle. There isn’t a temperature gauge on the grill, so I need to figure out what settings work best.
• Learning cook times. The griddle stores so much heat that it cooks faster than a conventional grill. My bacon was ready to be flipped over within 60 seconds! Another tip: using a small pan or skillet for more sensitive food (like chopped peppers and onions) slows down their cook time, which is awesome.

Like any grill there is a bit of a learning curve, but we’ll be able to figure it out. Overall I absolutely love my new Evo grill.

How much? So much so that I made burgers and brats on it later that night for dinner!

Guest Blogger Mike Knapp