After months of doing all our cooking inside the rig, we finally bought the thing every RVer told us to buy: a Blackstone. Ours is the Blackstone 17 inch model with the cast iron cooktop, small enough to store in a fifth wheel basement, big enough to cook a real meal for two. This is not a sponsored video. We paid for it, we unboxed it, and we made every rookie mistake on camera. (Quick side note from the same day: Fabiola also did her first drive in real traffic, which deserves its own mention because she nailed it.)
The unboxing, and a very short table
The plan was to set the griddle on a new collapsible camping table we ordered online. The table arrived, we unfolded it, and it turned out to be roughly knee height. Cooking on it would have been a yoga session. So let this be your reminder to check the height spec, not just the size, when you order camp furniture from a photo. We made it work for now, but a taller table is already on the list. The Blackstone itself unboxed easily, along with a pile of accessories: spatulas, scrapers, squeeze bottles, and a storage case.
The propane detour
Our first plan was to run the griddle off the RV's onboard propane connection. That did not go the way we hoped, so we made a Walmart run for a standard camping propane bottle instead. If you're setting up your own outdoor kitchen, have a backup fuel plan before the burgers are already thawed. We learned this in the parking lot.
Seasoning: the step you cannot skip
A cast iron cooktop arrives with a factory coating, and before any food touches it you have to season it: heat the surface, apply a thin coat of oil, let it smoke off and polymerize, and repeat. We did three rounds. It takes a while, it makes some smoke, and it's genuinely satisfying to watch the surface turn from dull gray to glossy black. Skip this step and your first meal will stick like glue and possibly taste like machine oil. Nobody wants machine oil bacon.
The first cook
For the inaugural meal we went with a classic spread: burgers, bacon, and eggs on the griddle, with fries running in the air fryer inside, powered entirely by our solar setup. There's something great about cooking bacon outside where the smell belongs, while the fries cook on sunshine. The 17 inch surface handled all of it for two people with room to spare. For a bigger family you'd want the 22 or 28, but for a couple, this size is right.
We also got the order wrong in a few places, most notably smashing the patties long after we should have. The full sequence, mistakes included, is written up as our Blackstone smash burgers recipe.
Cleanup is easier than a pan
The part that surprised us most was cleaning. While the surface is still warm, you scrape the leftovers into the grease cup, wipe it down, and lay on a thin coat of oil for next time. No sink full of pans, no scrubbing. Two minutes and it's done. Between the easy cleanup and keeping the cooking smells out of the rig, we get why the RV community treats these things like a membership requirement. We're converts.
Watch the unboxing, the seasoning, and the first burgers on YouTube. We also send a short weekly newsletter about where we are and what broke this week. The signup form is on our newsletter page.