Bar-b-que Advice

[Metal Head]

Hi,

Firstly compliments of the season to you all and I hope you have a good one.

My wife & I bought a barb-b-que 3 weeks ago and was advised by the sales assisstant the best way to start using our barby was to heat the plate(s) up and with a banger (sausage) coat the surface with the juices from it. Then clean up the surface with paper. Do this procedure 3 times and it should be ready to start cooking the goodies.

Is this the normal procedure, or do you know of one better?.

Cheers
David

[masoth]

The sales bloke was indicating the plate(s) are coated with protective gunk, which should be removed before food cooking. There are many ways to achieve this.
Assuming the plate(s) is/are aluminium my way is: turn up the heat and using plenty of hot soapy water and a brush thoroughly scrub every inch of the cooking surface, rinse and do it all again. Using paper towling wipe the still hot plate(s) - if any discolouration shows on the paper more cleaning is required.
Once clean (no colour coming off the plate(s)) coat the lot with a thin
smear of olive oil, or lard. This is a protective coat and should be wiped off with paper towling before use; clean and apply this protection between each use.
This is a healthy way of protecting all who enjoy you BBQ cooking - have fun.:D

soth

[Gumby]

The best cleaner you'll find for a BBQ hot plate is a lemon. Heat up the plate, cut the lemon in half and rub it around. You'll be amazed at how it cleans the plates.

[Bluegum]

I used to used beer or salt from time to time, but never a lemon. Thanks Gumby for that I will keep that in mind.

[Ivan in Oz]

Gumby,
Agree with you
BUT!!!!

Get some Suet [Fat]
and rub your FAT
all over the hot parts......

Plate and grill.
Then do the Lemon thing.

Hotter the better.....within reason.

[Skew ChiDAMN!!]

The pickle juice from a can of preserved onions/gherkins/whatever works well, too. It's what McDonald's used (& probably still does) on their grilles every night for closing and we use on our BBQ.

After cooking , leave the BBQ running for 5 mins to get back up to full temp and liberally pour on some juice, giving any crusty spots a scrape with the spatula. Throw on a damp cloth (wetted in more pickle juice or, in a pinch, water) and use the spatula on it to wipe down the surface. Flip the rag over a few times until it starts coming up clean. Simple.

If the BBQ hasn't been used for a while we do the same thing to remove the surface rust, 'cept we also throw on a handful of Ajax. I kid you not! It cleans up the rust absolutely beautifully. :) Just make damned sure that you wipe it down properly before throwing on the snags! ;)

[ian]

My wife & I bought a barb-b-que 3 weeks ago and was advised by the sales assisstant the best way to start using our barby was to heat the plate(s) up and with a banger (sausage) coat the surface with the juices from it. Then clean up the surface with paper. Do this procedure 3 times and it should be ready to start cooking the goodies.

Is this the normal procedure, or do you know of one better?.

Cheers
DavidDavid
what the sales bloke is talking about is seasonng the plate. This is mostly an issue with cast iron plates as proper seasoning protects against rust.
(For interest iron woks need a similar seasoning treatment).

as others have said, hot soapy water to clean off any manufacturing gunk then get to it with suet


ian

[Iain]

We used to clean up with a mixture of vinegar and water but now we have graduated to the weber 'Q' we just run it hot until the smoke stops and brush with the spiral brass brush.
Incidentally, we clean the brush by placing it in the dishwasher, another Christmas pressy for yers all:D

[Studley 2436]

In my former life as a Chef the Grill used to be something of a holy thing. A fearsome beast that should be feared and respected at the same time.

The best way I found (picked up stole learned whatever) was to have an oily rag and hold it in tongs and rub it over the chargrill and also the flat top as well.

A welders wire brush is really usefull if someone has cooked on it half hot and got gunk catching on it. Go with the oily rag after you wire brush it. To clean a flat top just pour water on it while the flame is going to knock the worst of it off. You can use oven cleaner after that followed by a bit of vinegar lemon juice, but you might find that there isn't much point if you are cooking hot enough.

To tell the heat you should see smoke coming off the grill at a moderate speed. To fry eggs on it you want the smoke just wafting off. Good to keep a hot side and a warm side. Seal your fish on the hot side and finish it on the warm side. Fish especially will stick if the grill is not properly hot.

If you get all juices around the sides of your steak and bubbling there you knwo the grill is not hot enough

Studley

[Metal Head]

Hi Lads,

Thanks for the helpful advice - I look forward to trying some of it out when I return off my holidays next week.

Cheers
David

[Cliff Rogers]

Heat up high til it starts to smoke, hit it with some water & a looonnngg handle scrapper.
When the water is all gone, add a bit of cooking oil & you are off & running. :H