A big outdoor griddle can change your whole feeling about summer. And the best griddles can make dinner feel like an event to be proud of. There's little more satisfying than the slap of a spatula onto chopped onions and ribeye meant for a perfect cheesesteak, the blister of corn tortillas cooked in the grease left by hard-seared carne asada, the smash of a burger at a backyard barbecue, the blessed evenness of pancakes cooked on a well-seasoned flat-top grill plate. An outdoor gas griddle has become an essential backyard counterpart to the satisfying direct heat of a great charcoal or wood-fired grill'adding all the versatility of your favorite diner to your sunny-day toolkit. I've spent weeks cooking dozens of smashburgers, bacon strips, tacos, and pancakes to find the best outdoor griddles for each kind of backyard cook. But a flat-top griddle requires care, and in the end you need to love it: My top-rated Traeger Flatrock ($900) quite simply offers the most even and reliable...
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