Burn-offs After Cooking
All over forums, blogs, and even manufacturer's articles when searching the terms “How to clean my grill”; it is typically always recommended to just do a “burn-off”. “It’s just like the self-clean setting in the oven”. Wrong… Does your oven have an open flame❓ Do you throw whatever you're cooking directly on your oven grates without a pan - letting all the grease and deposits build up❓ Does your oven have parts that don’t receive a lot of heat and collect gunk, aka a drip pan or heat shields❓
By now you probably know where we are leaning on giving advice on whether or not we recommend burn-offs… The answer is sometimes yes, but primarily NO… let us explain.
When we would say go for it 💪
If you routinely maintain and clean your grill then it can be a great assistant to making that job way easier. Heating the grill at very high temperatures does help to singe some of the grime and make it easier to remove, particularly from the grates. If you are someone who does a burn-off routinely after EVERY cook, vacuums/cleans out beneath the grates regularly, and always ensures your grill is in good working order - go for it!!
For you other 90%, this is why here at SBGC we don’t recommend it 🛑
Cranking the grill up to high heat does burn-off some of the grime, changing it to smaller particles; however, that doesn’t mean it’s all vanishing in thin air (think of ash in a wood fireplace). This creates a build-up of “ash” beneath the grates and a lot of people fail to remove it; as the ash builds so do issues.
When doing burn-offs, burning leftover meat particles at extremely high heat can create more Heterocyclic amines (HCA’s) and Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH’s). We’re no scientists, but it’s something to consider when deciding whether or not to do a burn-off or simply scrub the grates the best you can between cooks.
Remember, heat rises. High heat does little for areas beneath the grates; particularly, anything that sits below the burner line. Heat shields covered in carcinogens or a drip pan layered with mice droppings and mold - that high heat “ain’t gonna do nuthin”.
Grill components - As mentioned before, many owners fail to routinely check on the working components, particularly the burners. Many times we find clogged and cracked burners which inhibit your grill's ability to function and regulate the proper temperature. Turning all burners to the highest setting for 10+ minutes is a potential disaster. If you never look under your flavorizer bars and you are getting flame kick back, it’s an easy way to ruin igniters, wires, and burn through flavorizer bars quickly.
Aesthetics - This typically isn’t high on most people's list, but worth mentioning. A high heat burn-off, particularly if it gets out of control does cause more discoloration than normal use. It also tends to act similar to powder coating on areas such as the lid. It can bake in some grease layers, making it almost impossible to get back to the shiny stainless finish.
Most Important - Fire Hazard 🔥🔥🚒
✔ Half an 80/20 hamburger fell down by the burners and it wasn’t removed.
✔ You haven’t lifted the grates to clean underneath in months.
✔ The last time you did a burnoff was 20 cooks ago.
✔ You love to pull dinner off and do an unattended burn-off while you enjoy dinner with the family inside.
✔ For months, you haven’t checked to see if the burners and other components are working working properly.
If you check even one of these boxes, we don’t recommend doing a high heat burn-off. We have witnessed/heard of way too many fires being started via an improper burn-off.
So what’s the answer?
Again, in the proper scenario burn-offs are fine. This should never mean, just do a burn off and leave it… No matter what method you use, physically removing the grime has to be done at some point.
Give us a call at 469-470-0583 or shoot us an email via Contact Us. We are happy to get you scheduled for a professional clean and give you some basic tips on maintaining your grill in between.
