tonight's mission: the cheolpan

I'm on a mission to buy a cheolpan (rhymes, roughly, with "skull pond" pronounced the American way) this evening. The word, divided up, means "iron" (cheol) + "plate" (pan), and together, the syllables form a word meaning something like "griddle." In reality, cheolpan come in a variety of shapes and sizes: they can be round or rectangular, large or smallish; their surfaces can be flat or patterned (the latter of which I find annoying and inconvenient, especially when it's time to slip a spatula underneath, say, cooking fish); they can even vary somewhat in color, although most are a serious-looking dark gray. They can have non-stick coated surfaces or go commando. In my case, what I'm looking for is a cheolpan that'll make it much easier for me to cook several burgers at once. I really don't relish the thought of using a single pan to cook only one or maybe two burgers at a time.

The problem is that my new kitchenette's gas range has the burners set too close together: I'd like to be able to place two large pans on it, but a single large pan crowds out the other. As things stand, I can cook with one regular- or large-sized pot or pan on one burner, or with two very small pots/pans on both burners. Not convenient. A griddle would solve this problem, at least when it comes to flipping burgers or, say, to making pancakes. I measured the rectangular space that defines where both of my burners are; it's about 27 cm wide and 40 cm long. The question is: can I find a two-burner-wide griddle?

So tonight, I'm on the hunt for the perfect griddle. I'll try Lotte Mart at Jamshil first, then lumber over to the nearby Home Plus if I come up empty at Lotte. Wish me luck.