Keeping it clean

[Chris__M]

A friend of mine says he never cleans his cooking grate, but simply burns off the worst of the gunk at the start of each BBQ. I'm afraid that I am a little uncomfortable with this. At the same time, I am not always of a mind to give it a good scrub after a BBQ, while it is still nice and hot. Moreoften than not, I think of it a couple of days later, when everything is nasty and stuck on.

As my grate is a little too big for the kitchen sink, I was pleased to discover the Tubtrug. The 35 litre one is 57cm wide so takes both my cooking grate and charcoal grate easily, and lets me both soak them and give them a good wet scrub, on the garden table, without getting myself covered in either water or grime.

Am I being too fastidious, do you think? What do you more seasoned BBQ'rs do?

[MadCow]

If you haven't got half an onion kicking around then try using a scrunched up piece of foil to rub over the grills while they are still warm ... that and a good burn off is usually enough to keep things clean !

[joker smoker]

why doesnt every manufacturer use enamelled grills like Traeger do? that makes things real easy for me.

[stickthekettleon]

Jackie, look away now!!
I never clean my BBQ. It's not through any lazy hygene, my thinking is this.
If you buy a wok (not one of the Anthony Worral Thompson, (or any other named brand), ones - A propper chinese wok), it is neccesary to season it first. This involves burning oil into the pourous surface of the pan. This does 2 things, 1; creates a non-stick surface, and 2; inbibes the cooking area with all the flavours of previous cooking. A chinese chef will never clean his (or her) wok with anything other than water, just to remove any food solids.
I extended this principle to my BBQs. Whenever I open the lids on my beloved ProQs the first thing that hits me is a wonderful smokey smell, I simply light the thing and then wire brush the grills clean when it's hot enough.

You can look now Jackie

[MadCow]

First of all Chris, never tell a woman to look away ... it makes her look even more !!!!

As for seasoning and cleaning, you just have to take a look into my FEC100 to discover it has never been cleaned (but don't tell my customers that) ... all I ever do is change the foil, remove the ash that has formed and brush the racks with a wire brush to remove anything that is loose.

Of course, being female, I believe in advising my customers to do as I say not as I do, but that's just to prevent them poisoning anyone or hurting themselves.

Finally, why is everyone suddenly picking on the Judge ... do you ALL want to get BAD SCORES at the next competition?

[stickthekettleon]

We only do it because we care (er.. and the fact we're miles away, hid safely behind our monitors)

[Mike_P_in_Tucson]

Another one here who never cleans his grills. I leave them on after taking the food off and closing all the vents (Excel20). Then, when firing up the next time, I wire brush them before starting the coals and brush them again after the coals are lit, just before putting the meat on..