Plancha Grills

1. Wash the cooktop with hot water and a scraper to remove any shipping oil; dry it completely. 2. Build a medium fire and let the plate heat for 30 minutes. 3. Wipe on a thin layer of high-smoke-point oil (grapeseed, canola, flax) across the whole cooking surface with a folded cloth on tongs. 4. Let it smoke and go dry — 15 to 20 minutes. 5. Repeat three or four times. The steel turns from silver to bronze to black. That black is the seasoning, and it is what makes eggs slide.

Every cook afterward adds to it. If you ever strip it — a rain-soaked, rusty plate — scrape, scrub, and season again. Carbon steel is forgiving; it is a giant pan.

A plancha grill runs on a small, steady fire, not a bonfire. Build it in the center with kindling and two or three splits; once it is burning clean, add a split every 30 to 40 minutes. The cooking surface takes about 20 minutes to come up.

Think in rings. The inner ring, closest to the fire, is your sear zone. The middle ring is the cook zone for burgers, chicken, and vegetables. The outer ring is keep warm: finished food waits there, tortillas soften there, the sauce pan sits there. On the OFYR, the flue draws the fire straight up, so the rings are especially even; on the Arteflame, a larger fire pushes the sear zone outward.

Wind matters. Cook with your back to it and the fire stays even; face into it and the far side of the plate runs cold.

A long stainless scraper and two flat spatulas are the essentials. A perforated plancha insert or grill wok lets you toss vegetables and shrimp over the center fire without losing them — the perforations give smoke and char while the walls hold everything in. A cast iron griddle press makes smash burgers. Arteflame’s XL charcoal grate would make the center fire a full charcoal grill for a crowd, and OFYR’s tool sets, cutting boards, and the storage cone keep everything at hand. A fitted cover for the cooktop is the one accessory nobody should skip.

People do — a fire pit ring with a steel plate on top is the DIY version, and it works for a season. What you give up is the engineering: a cooktop thick enough not to warp, a body that stands up to years of center-fire heat, an airflow design that keeps the fire clean, and a plate that comes up to heat evenly. Arteflame and OFYR have spent years on those four things. “Making my own plancha grill” is a fair weekend project; buying one is a twenty-year appliance.

An Argentinian plancha is usually a flat plate that sits on a parrilla, heated by embers raked under it — part of the asado station. A wood-fired plancha grill like the Arteflame or OFYR is a standalone appliance with the fire at its center and the cooking surface built around it. Both cook the same way on the plate; the parrilla version shares its fire with a grate for meats. If you want the crank grate and the brasero, see our Argentine grills; if you want the fire at the center of the table, you are in the right place.

Restaurants and caterers use the same plancha grills for live-fire stations — the OFYR PRO plate and the Arteflame Classic are the usual picks for professional cooking outdoors. For a commercial installation, call us: we can spec the unit, the clearances, and any hood or flue requirements for your jurisdiction.

Smash burgers: 3-ounce balls, hot ring, smash flat, 90 seconds, flip, cheese, out to the middle. Garlic shrimp: oil, shrimp, garlic, chili flake on the middle ring, two minutes a side, lemon at the end. Plancha vegetables: thick-cut zucchini, peppers, and red onion with olive oil and salt on the outer-middle ring until charred. Breakfast: bacon first, then eggs in the bacon fat, tortillas warming at the rim — the reason people say a plancha is the best outdoor cooking surface there is.

In practice, very little — both are flat steel cooking surfaces. Plancha is the Spanish word (British barbecue writers use it too), and it usually describes a thicker plate heated from one point so the surface has temperature zones; a griddle is typically heated evenly across its whole surface by gas burners. Wood-fired plancha grills have the zones; gas griddles have the even heat.

Hot enough at the center to sear a steak in under two minutes a side on a good wood fire; the outer edge holds gentle keep-warm heat. That range is the point: it is the only outdoor cooking surface that sears and keeps warm at the same time on one heat source.

With generous clearance, yes — these are open fires. Follow the manufacturer’s clearance to combustibles; OFYR PRO models have a flue that improves draw. A fully enclosed space is a no. When in doubt, send us a photo of the spot.

Yes. Lump charcoal reaches cooking heat faster and burns steadier; wood gives more flavor on the center grate. Most owners use both — charcoal for the base, a split of oak or fruitwood for the smoke.

No. Arteflame’s bases and OFYR’s cones are the stand; the grills arrive ready to place. A high base or cart brings the cooking surface to counter height, which most cooks prefer; a low base makes it a fire-pit-height gathering point.

Closer than any other grill. Because the cooking surface is flat steel, pots and pans sit on it directly — a paella pan, a Dutch oven, a kettle. Many owners use theirs as an outdoor stove as often as a grill.