Cleaning question

[smokedjoint]

I got into grilling fairly recently and mostly cook seafood. While I find that a bit of cooking buildup actually enhances the flavor, I was wondering what people use to clean their grill/smoker?

[OSD]

Welcome, stop over to the Wanted Posters section and introduce yourself, tell us a little about yourself, and what you're cooking on.

What type of cooking grates do you have? Wire, cast iron, porcelain coated cast iron??

I don't like a build up of seafood residue on my cooking grates, so they are cleaned after every time I cook seafood. I don't want to do a steak after doing seafood.

Wire or porcelain grates, while they are warm, I put into a pan of hot water with Dawn dish washing liquid and let soak for about an hour. Most stuff will wash off easily. I lightly use a green pad on the tough spots.

My cast iron grates never see seafood. Only steaks or chops. Clean them the same way as you would a cast iron pan. I usually only wipe them down with hot water. They are mostly non-stick after seasoning and use. If you have to clean them or scrub with soap, remember to re-season right after cleaning or they can rust and everything will stick to them.

If you brush your grates ( not cast iron, just wipe ) with a grill brush right after cooking while they're still warm, they will clean up good and not get that heavy build up.

If they get real bad, a pressure washer will do a good job.

JMHO-YMMV

[smokedjoint]

Awesome, thanks OSD. I just did the introduction thing over at Wanted Posters.

Yeah, I cook on cast iron, mostly over oak and pecan. I forgot to mention – I don't really eat red meat, so I cook pretty much only seafood and occasionally chicken. So I don't really have the same post-seafood cross-flavoring concerns. But either way, thanks for tips. So far, I'm been (shame on me) cleaning it pretty much the way I used to clean my George Foreman in college lol -- just wipe it down with a wet paper towel while still warm. But it's no longer doing the trick, I think I'll just have to do the pressure washer thing.

Thanks again, cheers.

[smokedjoint]

Ha, imagine the irony. My buddy just sent me this literally right after I posted my cleaning question:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fOvr2K_XIcA

It's obviously some promotional thing for the paper towels, but I gotta give it to them it's pretty fun. I may just submit my ain't-seen-the-pressure-washer-in-weeks mess just for kicks.

[Burnt Food Dude]

Usually I give my grills a good cleaning once maybe twice a year. For the good cleaning I have a water heater pan that is painted black on the inside. I fill the pan with water (sometimes hot) and dish soap. I place the grills in the pan and leave it out in the sun for several hours. The sun heats the water and the hot water loosens the crud so it washes off easily.

Otherwise, I heat the grills up and scrub down with a ball of crumpled up foil to get rid of the burnt crud.