Quick and easy tips for cleaning a grill and keeping it clean
While summer may not yet have officially started, some of the more dedicated grill-masters have been cooking outdoors since the snow was still thawing. For the rest of us, it’s now probably safe to pull the old grill out of the shed or from under its cover and get it ready for the next few months. But before you fire it up, you might have to undertake a preseason grill cleaning.
We recently shared a video regarding the common misconception that there’s paint peeling off the inside of a Weber Grill’s lid (hint: it’s not paint, just grime and carbon buildup). Cleaning a grill lid’s interior was just the first step.
Today we have a video from our friends at Weber Grill, detailing the proper way to fully clean a grill that’s covered by grease and grime buildup. Thoroughly cleaning a grill fresh out of hibernation might seem like a daunting task, but this video shows how easy it can be. Keeping your grill clean will help it stay in top operating shape and extend its useful life. Check out the video:
That didn’t look too difficult, did it? The truth is, keeping your grill clean can actually be a relatively painless affair, if you commit to just one simple, regular task: clean the grates off after every use.
When you remove freshly cooked food from your grill, you’ll notice bits of meat often get stuck to the grates. The food remnants combine with fat, grease and marinade residue, and turn into a sludge that quickly builds up on the grill grates. It’s grimy, but it doesn’t become a major problem unless you let it cool down, when it stiffens into a rock-hard substance you’ll later have to chip away. Instead, while the grates are still hot, scrub them clean with a bristle-brush. It will be much easier than waiting till after all the buildup hardens. Also, rubbing a little olive or vegetable oil on the grates before every grilling can help prevent food from getting stuck to them.
Many grilling gurus suggest slicing a large white onion in half, poking the round end of it onto a BBQ fork, and using that to scrub your grates after an initial pass with a bristle brush. The combination of the onion’s moisture and its acidity act like a natural cleanser, helping remove the really caked-on grease remnants. Another tip, handy if you don’t have a grill brush, is to ball up a piece of aluminum foil and use that to scrub the grates. We know it’s no fun thinking about cleaning while you’re concentrating on perfecting the grill marks on your porterhouse, but keep in mind how much easier the next cookout will be when you start with clean grates. Plus, your food will cook and taste better as a result.
Two safety tips to keep in mind during and after your grill cleaning:
1.) Cleaning the grill while hot requires extra care. It can be easy to forget how hot the grill is while you’re brushing grates, but please BE CAREFUL around the hot surfaces.
2.) Before each use, give the grates a quick visual inspection to make sure no brush bristles have broken off and stuck to the grates. A stainless steel bristle can be a nasty surprise if it gets stuck to a steak.
If you decide that your grill is so dirty it’s beyond salvation, have a look at our large selection of outdoor cooking products, including Weber Grills, Big Green Egg Smoker Grills, and more.
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