Barbecue

Many families and friends enjoy great social times around food prepared on a barbecue (BBQ). Barbecue (also barbeque, BBQ and barbie) is a cooking method and apparatus. In the United States, to grill is to cook meat relatively quickly using the direct heat imparted by a charcoal or propane fire, while barbecue is similar to baking and is a much slower method utilizing the indirect heat imparted by the smoke of a wood-fueled fire, often requiring an extended period of several hours. (source: Wikipedia)

How to spring clean your barbecue

Prep the barbecue
Lay down some garbage bags and start eviscerating the beast. Remove the cooking grills and dig out the lava rocks, ceramic bricks, or sheet metal reflectors that sit underneath. Yank out the grate. Beneath that lies the burner, the heart and soul of the operation; it should just lift out, but there might be a spring, clip, or screw arrangement that holds it in place. Pull the unit up and out.

Clean out the old food dripping sediments at the bottom of the firebox with a scraper or wood stick. With an old rag or paper towel, damp some soapy water loosen up the sediment.

Check out the little holes in the side of the burner; if some are blocked, use a small nail or wire brush to clear them out. If the burner sounds like a maraca when shaken, but is otherwise sound, keep shaking — and try to work any loose rust particles out the end of the venturi tube, that gracefully curved section that delivers gas to the burner itself. Poking and prodding with a pipe cleaner or venturi tube brush can speed this process, and will also fish out any spider webs that might be lurking in there.

Next, examine all the other bits as if you were mentally reassembling your grill. The grate that holds the lava rocks, bricks, or reflectors will look like something from a car fire, but looks don’t count — it can be used indefinitely, until failure. If it snaps in two when you pick it up, note the dimensions and put it on your list. Now to the lava rocks. If they’re filthy but sound, you’re okay. Just reinstall the rocks dirty side down and let the cooking flames clean them. If they crumble into golf-ball-sized chunks, replace them with new rocks or get some fancy ceramic replacement briquettes — some people swear they work better than rocks. Now scan the cooking grills. They rarely fail, rust and grease (important for flavour and supplemental dietary iron) notwithstanding. If rusted out or broken, add to the list.

If grates, lava rocks, grill, and the burner need replacing, think about buying a new barbecue. Otherwise, pick up your replacements and reassemble the unit.

See the full article at "How to spring clean a barbecue". Zimmer, David. Cottage Life. 2014 <http://cottagelife.com/13124/diy/maintenance-diy/how-to-spring-clean-a-barbecue>.

The top five tips for preparing your BBQ this Spring

Source: Napoleon® a Canadian company.

Have your cleaning supplies ready
You wouldn’t cook in a dirty kitchen, so why would you grill on a dirty barbeque? In order to sanitize and deep clean your grill, you will need the following products: a brass wire brush, small pail to hold hot water, dish soap, venturi brush, a 1/16” drill bit, replacement grease cups, spatula, stainless steel cleaner and some fine sandpaper.
Give your grill a good spring cleaning
The cleaning supplies listed will help clean every nook and cranny of your barbeque.
Start with the burners. It is easier to detach the burners and take them out of the grill for a very thorough cleaning. Pass a venturi brush through the burners to snag out any blockages then brush the tops of the burners using a brass wire brush. Once the burners are cleaned, check all of the burner ports to ensure that they are opened. If some are closed with food particles you can use a 1/16” drill bit to open them.Sear plates and cooking grills should be washed with hot soapy water. Simply brush the top side of your cooking grills with a little oil to re-season them.Hot soapy water works wonders on the cast base and sides of the grill and to remove grease splatters on the outside of the grill. For porcelain lids a thorough washing should suffice, for stainless steel lids a stainless steel cleaner should be used to remove any discoloring. Once the paint is dried, brush the cast aluminium with a little olive oil, this helps restore the luster and prevent oxidation
Lastly, use a spatula to scrape grease from the inside of the base all the way down towards the drip pan. Remove the drip pan and give it a good washing and be sure to replace the tin foil grease catcher.
Inspect all hoses and feed tubes
Once your cleaning is done it is a good idea to visually inspect all hoses and feed tubes on your grill. Look for any crimps, scratching and or punctures, if you detect any of these, it is time to replace the hoses.
Do a complete leak test of the grill
A leak test should be performed any time your grill has been in storage for a prolonged length of time or when you are changing any components on your grill. Do not smoke or have an open flame nearby while preforming this test. View this leak test video.
Check all ignition parts
Now that your grill is clean and safe it is time to check out how it lights. For battery ignitions it is a good idea to replace the batteries with new ones. Check all electrode leads and ensure the tips of the electrodes are clean and have no grease or rust build up on them, if they do you can use sandpaper to clean them.
Source: "Get the Grill out of the Garage".Napoleon® Grills. 11 March 2012. <http://www.napoleongrills.com/blog/get-the-grill-out-of-the-garage/>.
"Napoleon® is an ISO9001 – 2008 registered company and operates with 1,200,000+ square feet of manufacturing space and over 1000 employees. We are North America’s largest privately owned manufacturer of quality wood and gas fireplaces (inserts and stoves), gas and charcoal grills, outdoor living products and heating & cooling products. The only gas furnaces made in Canada." from their web site Napoleon® <http://www.napoleongrills.com/company/>

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Barbecue

Barbecue (BBQ)

How to spring clean your barbecue

The top five tips for preparing your BBQ this Spring

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