Properly preparing any grill is an essential step that needs to be done before using any new grill. Stainless steel is no exception to this. It’s worth taking the time to make sure the cooking grates have been prepare properly or else the food cooked on the grill wont taste right.
Before you cook in any grill not just stainless it’s a good idea to give everything a good cleaning. All the grill parts are going to have residue on them from the manufacturing process.
Your going to need soapy water, a scrub brush, rags and clean water. Once you’ve gathered everting you need take the cooking grates and give them a good cleaning with the soapy water and scrub brush. After you’ve given them a good cleaning dry them with the rags.
It’s also a good idea to clean the inside of the grill as well and the heat plates that go over the burners. After you give everything a good cleaning dry all the pieces with clean rags.
After it’s all cleaned put the grill back together and start heating it up. You want to bring the grill up to around 500F and keep it there for 15 to 20 minutes with the lid open. This is what’s known as burning in a grill.
Your doing this to let any residue that was missed or that was left behind by the soap burn off. Keeping the lid open while your burning in the grill lets any gasses escape that my be made from the burning residue.
When your done burning the grill in, it’s a good idea to season the hole grill. Yes the hole grill not just the cooking grates. Using a oil with a high smoke point and some clean rags.
A lot of people like to use canola oil or a spray on cooking oil. There are a lot of oils you can use when your seasoning a grill you can find a list of them by Clicking Here.
I preferer to use peanut oil my self but they all work just fine. If you decide to use a spray on cooking oil make sure the grill is off before you start spraying it. If you have a charcoal grill than make sure all the charcoal is out.
Most spray cooking oils are flammable. If you were to spray them on a open flame there’s a risk of injury.
Place some oil on a rag and start rubbing the oil on the inside of the grill. Make sure you coat all the parts of the grill including the inside of the lid and the heat plates.
After you’ve coated everything in oil it’s time to heat the grill up once again. This time your going to want to heat the grill to just under the smoke point of the oil you used.
This time you want the lid closed. Once the grill gets to the temperature you want to leave it there for 30 minutes. After the 30 minutes has passed let the grill cool off. Now your done and your grill is all prepared and ready to be used.
This process will keep the grill from rusting and make it nonstick. It’s not as importin to keep seasoning stainless as it is cast iron but you should at least do it before the first use of the grill.
Do you Need To Season Stainless Grates
You don’t need to season stainless like you do cast iron. I still feel you should season it before the first time you use it but there’s not really any need to keep seasoning it like with cast iron.
The reason you season cast iron is because it’s porous and the oil works it’s way inside the metal. This helps keep it from rusting and makes it nonstick. Stainless isn’t as porous as cast and good stainless shouldn’t rust no matter what.
But stainless isn’t nonstick so doing a initial seasoning will help to make it nonstick. It’s always a good idea to brush a little oil on the cooking grates before you put the food on to keep it from sticking.
Just like spraying a pan before you use it. But stainless grates tend to be small and thin so it’s not as effective because the oil runs off of them fast and in to the grill.
If your having a problem with your food sticking then try brushing a little oil on the food itself before putting it on the grill. This will give you the same affect as putting it on the grates.
But sins it’s on the food there’s no time for it to run off before hand. So in this case you still get a barrier between the food and the cooking greats.
Best Way to Clean Stainless Grill Grates
Everyone wants there grill to stay shiny and looking like new forever. But the truth is it’s not going to and you really don’t want to. There’s a fine line between keeping your grill clean and over cleaning your grill.
All that extra grease on the greats is helping to keep rust from forming on them and making the grates nonstick. If you clean your grill to often then your going to start to see rust and you’ll have food stick more often.
It’s also adding a little bit of flavor to everything you cook. I only give my cooking grates a deep cleaning once a year.
It’s all ways a good idea to clean off the cooking grates before and after every use. What I like to do is let my grill heat up and then using a wire brush clean any burned on food off.
Heating the grill first will loosen everything up on the cooking greats. Like wise brush the greats after your done grilling and while there still hot. This will make cleaning easier and faster the next time you go to use the grill.
You want to stay away from using any chemicals on your grill. Cleaning chemicals might make your grill look like new but there also going to leave behind a residue on the grill.
This will give your food a bad taste the next time you cook on the grill. If you want to get the shine back in your stainless cooking grates start with the basics. Let everything cool and then take the cooking grates out of the grill.
You can either take them inside or use a bucket with soapy water in it and some steel wool and give them a good scrubbing. If your not seeing the results your looking for you can try a little baking soda and vinegar.
Sprinkle the baking soda on the grates. Then put a little vinegar in a spray bottle. Now spray the grates with the vinegar and let them sit for a few minutes and then try scrubbing them again.
Just make sure you give them a good cleaning with clean water after your done. Other wise next time you use the grill the food might come out tasting like dish soap and vinegar.
It might not be a bad idea to redo the burn in after your done cleaning just in case. For the half hour it’s going to take you it’s better then having bad tasting food next time.
Conclusion
Now you know how to properly prepare not just your stainless cooking grates but the whole grill. Make sure you give everything a good cleaning before you use it and do a burn in just incase.
You wouldn’t eat off a new set a dishes with out cleaning them first so why would you cook in a grill without cleaning it first. Just in case you miss a spot doing a burn in will make sure you don’t get any bad tasting food.
Remember don’t go nuts cleaning your grill grates some extra grease isn’t a bad thing. It’s helping to keep rust away and making the grates nonstick. If you clean everything off then your going to make more work for yourself.
Everything is going to stick and then you will have to give the grates a good cleaning and redo the seasoning process to make them nonstick again.
As Always, Happy Grilling!