Cooking on a clean BBQ is not just hygienic but also helps with both the look and taste of your food. When cooking on a dirty BBQ, I've noticed that all the burnt pieces of fat and meat from the previous cooking sticks to all your new food. Also, there is a bad taste of old fermented oil as the old grease is burnt and infuses its smoke into your food.
After trying several methods, I settled on a routine which I found gives the best results. The following method is based on my BBQ which is 4-burner/gas/hooded/volcanic rock with cast iron grill and hotplate.
Another thing I noticed was if you use olive oil, cleaning is much easier as it is not as sticky and gives a smooth finish. Canola oil is more sticky, but does not charcoal all your food like olive oil does since Canola has a higher burning temperature.
After trying several methods, I settled on a routine which I found gives the best results. The following method is based on my BBQ which is 4-burner/gas/hooded/volcanic rock with cast iron grill and hotplate.
- Allow the grill and hotplate to cool before handling. Keep the hood open.
- Put on some rubber gloves and take out a steel scourer.
- Fill a bucket with warm to hot water.
- Using dish washing liquid with the scourer, dip it in the hot water and scrub the grill and hotplate. Do this until all the burnt pieces are cleaned off.
- Run the grill and hotplate under the tap to remove all the dish washing liquid.
- Now place the grill and hotplate back on the BBQ, however instead of putting the grill over the volcanic rocks and the hotplate on the other side, swap them around, that is, have the hotplate on top of the volcanic rocks.
- Turn the heat on full and cover the hood.
- Smoke coming from the BBQ is from all the fat and oil on the volcanic rocks which is being burnt off at a high temperature since the heat is trapped by the hotplate.
- Wait till there is little or no smoke before turning the gas off. Water from the cleaning should have been evaporated and the old oil and fat should now be burnt off.
- Keep the hood closed and wait until the BBQ has cooled before placing the cover back on.
Another thing I noticed was if you use olive oil, cleaning is much easier as it is not as sticky and gives a smooth finish. Canola oil is more sticky, but does not charcoal all your food like olive oil does since Canola has a higher burning temperature.
