Poll: How often do you clean your barbecue?

Cleaning your barbecue is never a fun job, particularly when you've left grease and grime build up over a long time.

As the weather turns warmer and we start to fire up the barbie more often, cleaning is an important chore. But how often should we tackle it?

Our latest Workshop poll asks how often you clean your barbecue. Are you fastidious and clean it before or after every single use? Or do you believe that the flavour builds up over time and prefer a more sporadic cleaning regime?

Let us know by voting in the poll on the front page. You can also justify your choice by replying to the discussion below.

Thanks for joining in the conversation on Workshop.

Jason

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Comments

Kehly

Pretty sure my hubby hasn't cleaned ours in months!!

Grandy

I clean after every use, if it was a late night then it gets done next day.
I also give it a once over before each use just to ensure that the native critters have not been playing in the BBQ

Andy_Mann

@Jason, I don't see the point in cleaning barbies, we've got a lid, fat drains, & a massive drip pan on ours. It's a massive show of disrespect to the manufacturers, who've gone to such lengths to save their customers from the chore, if we surcumvent their efforts by cleaning anything.

I somethimes sneak out to treat myself to a fair dinkum "Depression Sandwich". Yums.

For those too young to be aware of the recipe, what you do is trowel on a thick slathering of "dripping" (solidified 100% saturated fat, that was the treasured bi-product of cooked meat), onto a roughly hand sliced slab of white bread. Copious amounts of pepper & salt, give it the gourmet touch.

Enjoy. 😀

ChrisWho

https://www.workshop.bunnings.com.au/discussion/comment/2022#Comment_2022

Clean? What is this 'clean' of which you speak?

Andy_Mann

https://www.workshop.bunnings.com.au/discussion/comment/63284#Comment_63284

@ChrisWho, I pick on the chop bones that refined gentlemen, & elegant ladies who use cutlery at barbies, leave on their plates.

I learnt that from my Dad, it was his contibution, & called "Cleaning up". 😉

MoonshineBen

https://www.workshop.bunnings.com.au/discussion/comment/94151#Comment_94151

I scrub down the grill plate after every use, and because I am usually using Heat Beads or charcoal, I sweep that out of the Weber as well (once it's cooled down of course...) . Every few months I'll give it a good pressure blast, but the best way to clean it is to crank it as high as it will go until all the build up just turns to ash and can clean out easily.

Jackson

https://www.workshop.bunnings.com.au/discussion/comment/2022#Comment_2022

@Andy_Mann wrote:
I somethimes sneak out to treat myself to a fair dinkum "Depression Sandwich". Yums.

@Andy_Mann - I'm still waiting for you to tell us that this is a joke. I gagged a little when I read it 😲

Shane

I've always thought the most common advice was to clean before the cook. Leaving the oil on the plate and grill after cooking helps prevent rust.

Andy_Mann

https://www.workshop.bunnings.com.au/discussion/comment/63292#Comment_63292

@Jackson mate, Depression Sandwiches are the real deal, I learnt about them as a a kid, when Mum & Dad were reminiscing about the good ol' days. Yep, they experience the real depression, not the procession of the "depression that we had to have", invented by politicians, & all you suffered were higher interest rates on your loans & credit cards.

Being kids, we were curious, & as there was always a dripping stash at home, we (twin Sister & I) made some. They were originally made to fill empty tummies to ward off hunger, as food was heavily rationed.

True to my recipe, the bread was roughly sliced (we didn't have sliced bread back then), the dripping was trowelled on (we were brought up as children of excess), & lavished with salt & pepper, so were probably had the Matt Preston version. Come to think of it, I'm more sickened by seeing Matt Preston eat anything.

Anyways, they were pretty alright, & I've had plenty since.

Fair dinkum mate, you'll have to trust me on this one. *crosses heart & swears a lot*

Jackson

https://www.workshop.bunnings.com.au/discussion/comment/94155#Comment_94155

@Andy_Mann - we agree re: Matt Preston.

I'm just going to have to trust you on the sandwich though 😉

Andy_Mann

https://www.workshop.bunnings.com.au/discussion/comment/113416#Comment_113416

@Jackson, I can't imagine that anyone could enjoy watching Matt Preston eat, but I'll give you the point anyway. 😉

You don't know what you're missing if you don't experience a Dripping Sanga in your lifetime, but sadly, it'd be hard to replicate it's delectable best, in this day & age of processed foods.

For starters, you'd be hard pressed to find white (any) bread without preservatives & additives, delivered to your door, & partially wrapped in paper. Money left clearly visible on the front porch, & change left, if you'd overpaid by not having the right coinage.

To be sure, for sure, for sure (Grandpa was Irish), ants ran amok back then (possibly soldiers, but hard to say, they didn't wear uniforms in my more relaxed upbringing), but someone was always home, so they were'nt deemed a problem.

Dang, I'm straying off topic, but I'll throw in these quickies before the mods whip me.

Have you:

1 .. Eaten a pooch we'd on soursob?

2 .. Picked your nose & eaten snot?

3 .. Pulled a chain, & wiped up with gloss dunny paper?

4 .. Survived the existance of leaded only petrol, that stayed the same price for months?

5 .. Salivated over the miracle of the Wireless?

6 .. Known when needles were only for sowing, knitting & gramophones?

7 .. Learnt that landlines were the responsibility of surveyors, until the telephone industry messed that up.

I'm getting tired, haven't eaten, & wish you a lovely day. 😉

davehutchy

https://www.workshop.bunnings.com.au/discussion/comment/113416#Comment_113416

Are we talking about just scraping the hotplate or a full clean of inside and out? I reckon I do the latter no more than once a year...

Andy_Mann

https://www.workshop.bunnings.com.au/discussion/comment/124291#Comment_124291

C'mon @davehutchy, are you tell'n me that your energy/water saving dishwasher's that busy? 😋 😉

Grandy

https://www.workshop.bunnings.com.au/discussion/comment/94155#Comment_94155

It's interesting hearing the comments on the depression sandwich, I grew up with this a dietary staple, no money for much food so we ate what was on hand, the bread was generally the 2 day old loaves tossed out by the bakery up the road.
To freshen this up a bit we treated ourselves to the deluxe version of the sanga, fried bread in dripping, this was a tasty hot version and again lots of pepper & salt and if were really lucky we could add a dash of tomato sauce or my favourite a splash of Worcestershire "black" sauce. (Am I allowed to call it "black" sauce these days?
I still occasionally whip up a stack of these as a treat and a reminder of how good we have things these days

Jason

When it comes to their barbecue, most Workshop members are prepared to invest plenty of time to keep it clean.

Most community members who participated in our recent poll indicated that they clean their barbie after every cook. The second highest response was before every cook.

Fortunately only five per cent of respondents said they never clean their barbecue!

The full results of our poll are below.

Thanks for joining in. Feel free to keep the discussion going by replying below. Perhaps you'd like to share your tips for keeping your barbie clean? I like the quick tip below...

Jason

mje

https://www.workshop.bunnings.com.au/discussion/comment/94155#Comment_94155

I always clean before I cook and yep leave the oil on the hot plates. I usually turn on the BBQ and the get a sport drinking water bottle, spatula / crapper and paper towel. I wait for hot plate to get hot and clean it with these items. I do not use salt as it rusts the BBQ. I will pressure clean the BBQ every 4 to 6 months. I use a BBQ cover this seems to prolong the life of the BBQ.

Andy_Mann

https://www.workshop.bunnings.com.au/discussion/comment/113420#Comment_113420

@Grandy, it's great to hear your first hand experience, which confirms what I was told as a kid.

I'm salivating over your deluxe version, that'd be amazing, & it just so happens that I have a frypan with some solidified fat in it from last night, so I'll be diving into some for lunch, so thanks for sharing. 🤤

I'm with you on having/enjoying retro days, I've mown our lawns by hand (hand mowers are 100% human powered), snipped the edges with hand powered grass shears, & it's a heart warming experience.

Quite frankly, I'm bemused that a Depression Sanga would be deemed gag-worthy, have the youngs never eaten a cold chop that was left over from a barbie? Crikey, there's not much meat on a lamb chop, & the fat's the tastiest part, hot or cold.

But then again, I know people who bin leftovers, because they can afford to, & that to me is the sickening thing of today's society/mentality.

By the way, you'd remember the Jones', sadly, they've been crushed by the stampede of Wannabes in recent years, & are a forgotten generation.

RIP Jones'.

Grandy

https://www.workshop.bunnings.com.au/discussion/comment/124295#Comment_124295

Hi Andy,

I do well remember the Jones'es, lived in a few neighbourhoods that they were abundant in, never really had the resources to try and keep up with them in younger life and as I matured I set out on my own path and had no interest in what the other half did.

You do however bring back some fond memories with your talk of hand mowers and hand shears, I did enjoy the excitement of chasing our first Victa as a lad and spent many a hour traveling around the world on our sturdy old Hills Hoist, arrr, they dont make em like they used to, modern clothes lines would not stand for two full loads from an old wringer machine plus 6 kids with designs on being stunt pilots.
That's when we wern't hell bent on breaking land speed records (or ourselves) racing down steep hills in an old cane pram converted to a billy cart.
Now those were the days when kids were tough, no steering, no breaks and the old man used to say no brains so I guess not everything has changed

Andy_Mann

https://www.workshop.bunnings.com.au/discussion/comment/131574#Comment_131574

I'll have a crack at starting a "The way we were....." thread later today. 🙂

Jackson

https://www.workshop.bunnings.com.au/discussion/comment/94155#Comment_94155

Is this the most ridiculous gadget ever or what?

Jason

https://www.workshop.bunnings.com.au/discussion/comment/113442#Comment_113442

Most Workshop members are still fastidious about cleaning their barbecue after every cook according to our latest community poll. Nearly half clean it after every cook.

Thanks to all those who voted in the poll. Feel free to keep the discussion going by replying below.

Jason

Tyrone

https://www.workshop.bunnings.com.au/discussion/comment/2051#Comment_2051

I'm a chef my trade and grill bars only get the wire brush everyday before cooking after heating..and a quick brush down at the end of the night..they last forrver treated like that and only get the citric acic bath if not brushed down..thats all they need.

Jason

https://www.workshop.bunnings.com.au/discussion/comment/64063#Comment_64063

Thanks for joining in the discussion @Tyrone. Great to have you join us. I'm sure you can contribute a great deal to our barbecue discussions here on Workshop. I trust you will also receive plenty of helpful information and inspiration for your projects. Please let me know if you ever need a hand getting the most from the site.

Jason

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