Considering the Matador

Seattlepaul1975

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So...I was thinking that the Matador was a gas grill not a wok.....so I paused.....thoughts on it? One thing that did come to mind. Our back patio area is super windy at times here in the pacific northwest...how tippy is the unit?

Any impressions on it? I love my RT-700...and thought this might be a nice addition.....
 
When I read your post a few days ago I remembered seeing another owner post pics of his Matador, so I thought I'd reserve comments for actual owners.

I have an Eastman tripod burner, along with a couple woks and a Discada. I also use a stock pot on it, occasionally, and do a little deep frying too. Since I have these items, I feel the Matador would be redundant. If I didn't already have them I would consider the Matador but I'd ask myself if I could use those other accessories with it. If the other accessories that I noted are of no interest to you then maybe it's a good value. I realize it has a dual control burner but I'm not aware of any reason where that would benefit me. From what I see in the manual it has a combined rating of 18,000 BTU. My Eastman has 65,000 BTU but I honestly don't know how many BTU's is adequate. In my feeble mind it would seem that a large stock pot of liquid or deep frying a turkey would benefit from a higher rating. But I have no data to support this opinion.
 
I have a fire disc which is like the matador. When i got it i used the hell out of it. Thought it was pretty cool for the big bfast the family likes (make bacon then push off to sides, then potatoes using the grease then push off to the side then eggs). I also used it for frying. fresh potatoes French fries. Fish... wings. (nice to do that outside).

You noticed a lot of past tense. I ended up buying a griddle. The fire disk got moved up to my hunting cabin. It gets used 2-3 times a year for a big bfast up there. I found its usefulness (to me) to be limited. Although it worked for frying, we don't do that much and, in fact, i think we only did it because i had it. (we do fry at hunting cabin - fish fry, etc.). The big bfasts were cool, except i wasn't very creative. You couldn't do pancakes... temps not even enough on mine. You could, it just wasn't great. And then other needs... burgers, bfast sausage, etc. i just use a grill or the griddle. My experiences with fajitas, etc. was just ok.

Initially loved it. But, realized that what i wanted was a flat top griddle with space. I have 4 kids and if either my parents or inlaws come or the kids have friends over i am cooking for 6-10 folks. The fire disk was too small and limited for what i wanted so the griddle was my answer. Lots of videos out there of fire disks, matadors, etc. that make it exciting. BUT...ask yourself what you want to cook first and then think about the equipment. If you do it the other way you will have the equipment and then be trying to come up with what to cook. If i had done it the other way initially i would of just gone griddle.
 
It really does come down to what kind of cooks you might do, and if you already have other outdoor cooking device alternatives as well as any space limitations you might have.

As far as disco style cookers the Matador looks to be very good value. Largish stainless pan, good height at 36", a lid, okay btu rating, and potentially good temp control to satisfy a variety of cooking possibilities. The Firedisc was mentioned above, and if a like for like comparison is done the Matador is way more cost effective considering the "options" included that are extra on others. As for the stability question, having lived in Seattle for nearly 40 years before exiting, I don't recall wind bad enough to bother what this appears to offer with it's 4 legs/feet unless it was a major storm.

As discussed above, the cooking style is not for everyone. If you're a fan of the International District and love stir fry, then something like this is useful, though not quite a wok, it might work none the less. The btu's are just a tad light for good wok cooking, but again, not awful either. More btu's would speed things up, but there's enough on the Matador to do some thorough cooking with a little patience. RT offers a griddle attachment that's 21ish inches in diameter so you could do a fair amount of food on that. It would be nice to hear from any users as to hot spot issues/benefits (griddle hot spots/coolish spots are a working tool as well). We often hear folks on here trying to figure out a better way to sear. Like taste, it's not always easy to figure out how much sear is a person looking for. But lets say you like to smoke a steak first, or maybe a salmon fillet, and then you want to sear it for service. You're not hung up on having stripes like a hot grate might do, so a "pan" sear, with the griddle attachment, would be great (some sear "snobs" say the stripes are for show, a full sear is for go). I suspect it's a quick heat up so little fuel and time would be lost getting a good sear temp. Other possible cooks are anything deep fried. I do all my deep frying on the outdoor stove so it doesn't stink and grease film the inside kitchen. Looking at the pics on the RT site it looks like a flat bottom pan/pot would be able to sit on the burner base just fine, giving you lots of options for other cooking styles. Again, more btu's would be a bit better, but 18k ain't awful. I have a four burner Camp Chef stove I use similarly to what's discussed here, and it's 34" at the grate, a comfortable height similar to the Matador. I do all sorts of cooks on it. The single burner of the Matador might impose some limits from my style of use, but if it's not a problem for you it could be a useful tool.
 
I have a four burner Camp Chef stove I use similarly to what's discussed here...

This is another piece of informative feedback (Bob's reply in its entirety is valid; not just this one-liner that I extracted). I have a CF Somerset that I would not want to be without. That I can think of right now, it can perform all the functionality that I referenced earlier along with a couple other tasks that I cannot [or don't know how to] perform on the tripod burner: it works beautifully with my griddle and pizza oven (I refer to the Camp Chef pizza oven, which may not be at all what you more experienced pizza makers would deem suitable).
 
This is another piece of informative feedback (Bob's reply in its entirety is valid; not just this one-liner that I extracted). I have a CF Somerset that I would not want to be without. That I can think of right now, it can perform all the functionality that I referenced earlier along with a couple other tasks that I cannot [or don't know how to] perform on the tripod burner: it works beautifully with my griddle and pizza oven (I refer to the Camp Chef pizza oven, which may not be at all what you more experienced pizza makers would deem suitable).

Sadly, and to my thinking inexplicable, but they probably had their reasons, Camp Chef has discontinued the Somerset IV like mine, and I've been told the whole Somerset line. Any that are currently available are what's left in someone's warehouse. Supposedly CC has no plans for replacement......…...very sad.
 

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