How do you take care of your BBQ?

[FASTXR]

I love Summer - gives me the chance to get in touch with my caveman past by cooking bloody big slabs of meat over an open flame.

Trouble is, this brings on the age old problem of what to do with the barbie after the meat has successfully been turned to charcoal. There's two trains of thought here - the first is to thoroughly clean the bbq every time you use it, making it clean enough to....well, to eat off. The second theory is to leave some/all of the fat,grease, juice etc to "season" the grill so that each subsequent chop is basting in the remnants of its ancestors.

Personally, I normally just scrape off most of the grease and fat, but I don't thoroughly scrape everything spakling clean.

So what's everyones thoughts - have you got a special bbq maintenance programme?

Share your secrets :

[Racecraft]

pour abit of stubby over it to loosen the crud, then a quick wipe with paper towel

[Lightning Strike GT]

After I finish using it spread salt over the hotplates and when it cools it is a lot easier to clean the grills
I clean mine after every use and I just use a common household pot scourer with dishwasing liquid (not the steel wool type) and when dry I spray the grills with a light coating of cooking spray- pure and simple or something similar to stop the rust

[Racecraft]

it comes down to frequency.. i know people that have them plumbed into town gas and cook on them every night

[FASTXR]

Originally Posted by Racecraft

pour abit of stubby over it to loosen the crud, then a quick wipe with paper towel

The only thing is, I find that paper towel leaves tiny little flecks of paper all over the plate.

[eb_5litre]

I leave it as is until the next time I want to use it..... then just pour water over it and scrape the crap up before putting the meat on. Works for me.

[BAUTE]

lemons and newspaper. sometimes beer

[Peuty]

Originally Posted by eb_5litre

I leave it as is until the next time I want to use it..... then just pour water over it and scrape the crap up before putting the meat on. Works for me.

That is exactly what I do.

[bathurst77]

Originally Posted by eb_5litre

I leave it as is until the next time I want to use it..... then just pour water over it and scrape the crap up before putting the meat on. Works for me.

Same here.
Unless i have cooked something witha really goopie/sticky marinade, I just walk away.
Then next time I start by turning everything up full for a few minutes get it really hot and let it smoke for a few mins, burn off the crap, then i sprinkle salt on the plate and use beer to wash/cool the plate and scrape all the gunk off. Gets it good n clean!

Turn the jets to half or so. ready to cook.

Why do i use beer? I dont know!
I believe its like a sacrifice to the god of beer n bbqs - St Boonie.
The bbq just dont taste the same if i dont pour beer on the plate first, as the mightie St Boonie is not appeased.
(The Mrs says its just an excuse to open a beer or three, but what would a girl know about bbqs?)

Cheers- Jem. (polishing off another coldie after tonights bbq.)

[snypereb]

Ahhhhhhh dont waste the stubby bit of oil and some paper towel works wonders i think i have had about 8 bbqs this summer already they are great sit back abit of salad few bourbons or beers steak and sausages sets up a great night!

[trick_xd]

Originally Posted by eb_5litre

I leave it as is until the next time I want to use it..... then just pour water over it and scrape the crap up before putting the meat on. Works for me.

Thats sort of what I do But I use COKE not Water .. The COKE dose
a far better job cleaning ..
Give it a try next time and save your beer

[parawolf]

I keep it hot after serving the food onto a tray, scrape it down, and then tip on 1/2 a glass of coke and scrub with a hand brush. Take off the heat, cut a lemon in half and then use the lemon as a scrubbing device, use both 1/2's as much as possible, then leave it alone.

[b2tf]

There's a product you can get called "Barbie Sparkle", comes in a spray pack and costs around $10 a bottle. but its bloody good stuff, gets all the crud off easily and keeps it looking mint too.

I also leave it as it is, the fat stops it from rusting if your BBQ is out in the elements etc.

best stuff i have found is to have a spray bottle with vinagar in it. Spray in on when you have finished & clean the left overs off. Then do the same when you reheat the BBQ

[fairmont1998]

I'm another of the walk away after types. Next time I fire it up, give it a good scrape and wipe down then get it smoking before turning it down to cook on. No ones died yet

[ebxr8240]

I give it a quick wipe with cloth when cooled alittle when finished..
Then next time before it gets too hot I pour 1/2 cup suger over plate this mixes with the hard bits etc as it melts on plate and breaks it away leaving plate very clean when scrapped up with spatular.. Then quick wipe with viniger / wine ..Then add some oil and your away...

[Bluefreak]

Heat it up, scrape it, cook on it, turn it off... Repeat throughout the life of the unit...

[max^power]

hardly use mine, but i generally am a bit too drunk by the time the meats cooked, so i leave all the crap on there and clean it fully next time i use it. Every time i do it, i think, "i'm going to clean this straight after i'm done cooking" - it never happens.

[Rapid260]

I have a home made plate, 12mm thick, & no grill, hate the bloody things, all i do is strait after cooking scrap the bulk of the cr*p off & leave till next time, then heat hot & small amount of beer for BBQ gods & its all good to go.

Kev.

[GasoLane]

Take care of a BBQ?

What a novel idea!

[zetec]

I leave it until next time, then do the same as others. Reheat before cooking, I have a copper-bristled brush (or something copper coloured) that I scrub the grill with to loosen the charcoal. Once every couple of months I pull it apart and brush it down with a hard bristled brush or old toothbrush and use Selleys BBQ Clean to hit the hotplates in my sink to remove the gunk.

[Charliewool]

I leave it.. close the lid & leave a message on the Mrs notepad thingy that the barbie needs cleaning.

[ebxr8240]

Originally Posted by charliewool

I leave it.. close the lid & leave a message on the Mrs notepad thingy that the barbie needs cleaning.

Yea thats why they have short feet!! So they can stand closer to BBQ...Lol....

[MO]

Water/vinegar mix before and after use.

[Kapn_Kiwi]

Generally, once it's hot I scrape it off, and if holding a beer add a little of that. I hear half an onion rubbed on it helps too.

[loxxr6]

I leave it.. close the lid & leave a message on the Mrs notepad thingy that the barbie needs cleaning.

LOL.

I might end up in intensive care after that trick.

This is an interesting read as I just bought a four burner gas bbq (i prefer wood fire tho) myself. Its still not put together yet and I'm hanging to cook something on it.

[JG3282]

Leave your BBQ after use and then the next time you use it clean it. Scrape with a spatula and when the hot plate is really hot give it a wash with a mix of water, salt and vinegar. Works a treat as the salt breaks down the oil and fat and the vinegar burns off the previous times food aroma's and accrued gunk.

This is a three generational thing in my family that has never failed.

[falcon91]

I clean mine (Old type no lid or stainless)after each use with plain water which of course steams, then I burn my hand scrubbing it.
At about once a month, I take off the plates and grill and spray oven cleaner on the rest off the BBQ then hose off, DO NOT put oven cleaner on the cooking plates. (Of course no one here is that stupid)

However My Brother-in-law has one of those $4000 BBQs that takes twice as long to clean as it does to cook the meat, what a PITA, looks good though!

[chief]

Dont clean the barbie and till its next used. Got a $500 odd barbie with 6 hot plates, rotisserie, hood and wok that has never been used sitting next to the crappry 3 burner that is barely standing thanks to the brackets I built and drilled into the pavers. If it wasn'tr for that the barbie would of collapsed.

[TheSneakiness]

We fired up our new brick BBQ on the weekend. Damn it was good...

Anyway, at our place, apparantly salt and hot oil cleans it really well. Beer is left for human consumption, not for cleaning...