Keeping your barbecue thoroughly clean ensures your food remains safe to eat while extending the overall life of your equipment. Live-fire cooking expert Jon Finch has shared essential advice to help people maintain their grills effortlessly during long stretches of warm summer weather.
Year-Round Grilling Expertise
"I barbecue all-year round, rain or shine — Christmas turkey on the grill, all that good stuff," says Finch, live-fire expert for Weber and author of Grillstock: The BBQ Book. "But to be able to sit out, be warm and comfortable whilst grilling, and not having to worry about the weather, is fantastic."
The run of sunny days means plenty of outdoor grilling, and few people want to spend time scrubbing the grill after every meal. However, doing a few quick maintenance tasks straight after cooking saves plenty of time and effort later.
Quick Maintenance Pays Off
"Quite often when you're cooking on the grill, you've got friends and family around, and you want to hang out. A little bit of maintenance straight after you grill, and then a bit of maintenance either well in advance of cooking or just before you put food on, really pays benefits," says Finch. Speaking to Sam Wylie-Harris, Finch offered his top recommendations for keeping your outdoor cooker in peak shape this season.
Beware Moisture
Trapped moisture is the single biggest threat to the interior of your grill. When you close the lid on a gas grill or shut the air vents on a charcoal unit right after cooking, trapped humidity creates an ideal environment for mould and rust, writes Sam Wylie-Harris.
Crucially, introducing soap and water to the interior does more harm than good. Soap is designed to strip away grease, but on a barbecue, a light coating of residual oil across internal metal components and grates acts as an essential protective barrier (similar to seasoning a cast-iron skillet). Using soap strips away this barrier, leaving bare metal exposed to moisture and oxygen, which accelerates oxidation and rust. Furthermore, residual soap trapped inside the unit can taint the flavour of your next meal. "We really want to keep soap and water, and moisture in general, outside of the internal working parts of the barbecue," warns Finch.
Scrub While Warm
Removing grease and food residue is much easier when metal grates are hot. Once you finish cooking, crank your grill up to high temperature and give the grates a good scrub with a wire grill brush to knock off burnt-on residue.
You don't want to scrub down to bare metal, however. Leaving a slight sheen of oil on the grates protects them from the elements between uses. Alternatively, if you prefer not to clean up while entertaining guests, leave the grates as they are until your next session. Simply fire up the barbecue, bring it up to heat, and scrub it down right before laying down fresh food.
Top to Bottom Cleaning
Begin your cleaning routine at the very top of the cooker and move steadily down towards the base. "When the grill's cold, start with the grill grates and give those a good clean. Then lift the grill grates out, and go down to the next layer. Clean the inside of the body, then clean the charcoal grates down the bottom... so everything's funnelling right down to the bottom of the grill," explains Finch.
This guarantees you're tackling everything... "the grease, the debris, right down to the bottom; so it's into the trap that's designed to collect it all."
Avoid Chemicals
Strong chemical sprays should generally be avoided when maintaining any surfaces where meals will be placed directly. "Wherever possible, avoid using chemicals on the grill at all," advises Finch. Heat combined with straightforward scrubbing will usually remove stubborn grime without needing synthetic treatments. However, if extra help is required, look specifically for grill grate cleaners designed for use on surfaces that food will come into contact with.
For the external shell, standard stainless steel polish or dedicated enamel cleaners will leave a bright, reflective shine throughout the summer. "A well-maintained grill will keep on going for decades. The number one rule is to keep it clean, and it will serve you well," says Finch.
Additional Summer Kitchen Tips
In related food news, experts suggest that cherry tomatoes could be healthier than other varieties, and a mum's 'best' potato salad with a couple of twists has been shared, alongside Mary Berry's 10-minute summer salad that's perfect for hot evenings. These culinary insights complement the barbecue maintenance advice for a perfect outdoor cooking season.
