Tips

Cleaning the braai grid

How to clean a grid while it is hot, when to deep clean, how to stop rust, and why cast iron and wire brushes need care.

A clean grid is the difference between meat that lifts off and meat that tears. It also stops old fat from catching fire under your chops. Most of the work takes two minutes, if you do it at the right time.

Clean it hot

The best time to clean a grid is right after the meat comes off, while the grid is still hot. Burnt residue brushes off a hot grid. Cold grease sets like glue.

If you forgot last time, heat the dirty grid over the next fire for 10 to 15 minutes before you brush it. On a kettle, put the lid on with the vents open and let it run at full heat for 15 to 30 minutes. The residue burns to ash, and a brush takes it off.

The onion trick

Before the meat goes on, spear half a raw onion or half a lemon on a fork and rub it hard over the hot grid. The juice loosens what is left and leaves a thin coating that helps stop sticking. Crumpled newspaper or a ball of foil held in tongs does the same job.

Wire brushes

Loose steel bristles from a worn brush can stick to the grid, end up in the food, and cause injuries. This is well documented. If you use a wire brush:

• Check it before each use and throw it away as soon as bristles start to loosen.
• Wipe the grid with a damp cloth after brushing.

Bristle-free scrapers, coiled-wire brushes, wooden scrapers and the onion or foil method all avoid the problem.

Deep clean

Do this once a month, or after a sticky baste such as the one on sticky pork spare ribs.

• Soak: fill a tub with hot water, a squirt of dish soap and 250 ml (1 cup) of white vinegar. Leave the grid in it for 20 to 30 minutes, scrub, rinse, and dry at once.
• Paste: mix bicarbonate of soda with enough vinegar to make a paste. Spread it over a warm grid, leave it 30 minutes, scrub, rinse, and dry.

Stopping rust

Mild-steel grids, which most South African braais have, rust within days if they are put away wet. Stainless steel is more forgiving but still lasts longer with the same care.

1. Dry the grid straight after washing. A few minutes over the coals works.
2. Wipe it with a thin coat of vegetable oil on a cloth.
3. Store it under cover.

Hinged grids

Open the grid fully and clean both faces and the hinge. Fat and ash pack into the hinge, and that is where a hinged grid fails first.

Cast iron

Potjies, pans and jaffle irons are different. Do not soak them in soapy water, because it strips the seasoning.

• Clean with hot water and a brush while the pot is still warm.
• Dry it over the heat.
• Wipe the inside with oil while it is warm.
• To season a new pot, heat a thin layer of oil in it until the oil smokes, then wipe it out. See potjie basics.

The bowl, ash and drip trays

• Empty cold ash after every braai. Wet ash is corrosive and eats through steel bowls.
• Line the ash catcher so it tips out cleanly.
• Wipe grease out of the bowl before it builds up. A layer of old fat under the grate catches fire eventually.
• Let drip trays cool, soak up the fat with cat litter or paper, and put it in the bin. Never pour it down a drain.

End of season

Give everything a full clean, oil the grid and any cast iron, and put the cover on. Store a potjie with a paper towel inside and the lid slightly open, so air moves and the inside stays dry.