Keeping Your Grill Clean & Maintained Through the Summer
If you love cooking on your grill, then you need to keep the grill clean and well maintained. For so many grill users, cleaning and maintenance seems to go by the wayside, but if you want this unit to work well and last a long time, then you need to treat it right. Your grill is something you prepare food on and just like your stovetop, you should want to keep this item that you cook on clean. To make this task easier follow a few of these tips for grill cleaning.
Clean the grill while it is still warm
One of the key steps in keeping your grill clean and in good condition is to not allow any food or grease to get set in. Removing the remnants of the just cooked meal before they have a chance to cool and become caked on the grill will make the job much easier. You do not need to get the grill sparkling clean, but when you are done cooking, take a few minutes to give it a quick brush down and remove any large bits of food and the bulk of the grease.
Oil the grills
For a lot of people, oiling the grill is a matter of personal preference. It is not something that necessarily has to be done, but it can make maintaining and cleaning your grill much easier. Oiling the grill prevents the food and grease from building up and sticking to the grill and it makes it much easier to remove these deposits when they do occur. However, you do want to make sure that you do not use too much oil, because this can make for additional flare-ups when you are cooking. Simply apply a small amount of oil to a paper towel and spread a light coating to the grill surface. It only takes about a minute and it can make the cleaning much faster and easier.
Grease traps
The grease catchers can be one of the most difficult and messy parts of a grill to clean and this is especially true if you only do when it is a necessity. You can make this task a little easier by lining the grease tray with aluminum foil and putting a small amount of sand in the trap. The sand will absorb most of the grease and the foil will protect the tray itself. When the trap is full, simply lift out the foil with the sand and replace.
Make sure the grill is properly stored
For maintaining and keeping a grill clean, not enough can be said about proper storage. If you can keep the grill somewhere indoors, like in a garage, that is the ideal way to go. If this not an option, the best thing that you can do is purchase a grill cover to protect it from the elements. The weather will really take its toll on a grill and it will also mean that the unit will require additional cleaning when you need to use it. A grill cover is relatively inexpensive, it will save you effort on cleaning, and it will help to ensure that you get a lot of use out of the unit.
Heat your grill before every use
Allowing the grill to heat up before you cook should be the first step every time you use the unit. Start the grill and let it heat up the grates for about 10-15 minutes before you put the food on. This will help to burn away any of the residual food and grease that may have been left behind when you cleaned it at the end of your last cooking session. Not only that, but a grill is an outdoor item and a little bit of heat will help to kill any germs or bacteria on the cooking surface.
When you look at these steps, it takes no major investment of time and effort to keep your grill clean and in good working order. Taking this little bit of time will help to maintain the unit and it will make the cooking process safer and easier. Along with performing these quick cleaning and maintenance steps throughout its use, you should also perform an annual overhaul cleaning of the entire unit.
Don’t forget, Haley Comfort does offer some of the highest quality grills in the area!