When this news first came out, I tried practically all the alternatives. My personal experiences: Wadded up aluminum foil: really does not work well. It gets loose grime off, but anything at all burnt on will take very vigorous scrubbing and possibly result in shredded foil everywhere. Also feels like a huge waste of foil. Wooden scraper: works ok, since it's not flexible doesn't get between the slats well, need to p…
Surgeons urge people to throw out bristle BBQ brushes (2016)
241–250 of 324 posts
Re: Surgeons urge people to throw out bristle BBQ brushes (2016)
#242Re: Surgeons urge people to throw out bristle BBQ brushes (2016)
#243Earlier quoted context omitted.
I have that scraper, and found that it really doesn't do a very good job. A balled up piece of aluminum foil works better than the wooden scrapers, in my experience. Unfortunately, the best results come from the bristle brushes.
Aluminum is just being wasteful honestly. Not sure how clean you're expecting, but this does a fine job at getting all the big chunks off (which is what you want). Heat will nuke the rest of it.
Or you can be like me and just get the grill hot and give it a quick once over with a metal spatula to remove any chunks that are sticking up. I mean I'm cooking over an open flame here, it's already carcinogen city.
Re: Surgeons urge people to throw out bristle BBQ brushes (2016)
#244When this news first came out, I tried practically all the alternatives. My personal experiences: Wadded up aluminum foil: really does not work well. It gets loose grime off, but anything at all burnt on will take very vigorous scrubbing and possibly result in shredded foil everywhere. Also feels like a huge waste of foil. Wooden scraper: works ok, since it's not flexible doesn't get between the slats well, need to p…
Re: Surgeons urge people to throw out bristle BBQ brushes (2016)
#245Why do you clean a grill? Let the carbon build up. It's seasoning and food doesn't stick to it. Just preheat the grill to burn off any remains from the prior use. If there's really heavy buildup, use a straight edge scraper like a paint scraper or heavy spatula. Cleaning a grill down to shiny bare metal is a sure way to have all your food stick to it every time.
Because I don't want my meat to be covered in the ashes, the burnt food particles add bad flavors, ash-covered food looks unappealing, burning off hanging chunks of fat causes excess smoke, and ash-covered food is more difficult to visually measure doneness. Pre-oiling your metal grates should be done to prevent sticking and burning off excess food particles should be done to prevent build-up.
Re: Surgeons urge people to throw out bristle BBQ brushes (2016)
#2461. Use a grill with wide slats instead of round steel bars 2. Run the grill on high for ten minutes after cooking to burn everything to a fine ash 3. Use grill mats when possible so I don't have to clean the grill to begin with
I just use damp paper towels to clean up the grill before I use it since I burn everything off after the previous cook session.
Re: Surgeons urge people to throw out bristle BBQ brushes (2016)
#247When this news first came out, I tried practically all the alternatives. My personal experiences: Wadded up aluminum foil: really does not work well. It gets loose grime off, but anything at all burnt on will take very vigorous scrubbing and possibly result in shredded foil everywhere. Also feels like a huge waste of foil. Wooden scraper: works ok, since it's not flexible doesn't get between the slats well, need to p…
1: https://www.amazon.com/Pumie-Scouring-Stick-HDW-12T-4PK/dp/B...
Re: Surgeons urge people to throw out bristle BBQ brushes (2016)
#248"Hospitals in the Halifax area are seeing at least one or two cases each week" Wow - that's an incredible rate - I wonder what the national statistics are like?
Re: Surgeons urge people to throw out bristle BBQ brushes (2016)
#249Earlier quoted context omitted.
>You summed it up right there. Consumers cannot be reasonably expected to clean to the level of a commercial operation. "to the level of a commercial operation" just means actually washing it, not just scraping the hard stuff off and calling it good. It is not labor intensive on a per item basis nor is there any special equipment involved. >There is often, at best, tiny legalese text on the packaging about the bristl…
> "to the level of a commercial operation" just means actually washing it, not just scraping the hard stuff off and calling it good. It is not labor intensive on a per item basis nor is there any special equipment involved. Are you actually aware of what we are talking about? We are talking about filthy, greasy BBQ grills covered in baked on crap that is really hard to get off, some people use pressure washers. There…
When cleaned properly reasonably soon after each use is never gets to that point.
There is special equipment involved, namely special steel bristle brushes
A wire brush is not anymore specialize equipment than a shovel is.
>that deposit tiny bristles that need to be dealt with in a very specialized way as seen in commercial kitchens where they have stainless easy wipe down surfaces and huge sinks so that everything can be carefully cleaned after each service.
Things don't get cleaned carefully in a commercial kitchen. Things get cleaned as quickly as possible. Things are designed to be easy to clean so that less man hours are spent cleaning and more are spent on things that make money. There's no reason you can't clean things just as well at home. It will simply take more time and effort. That would be a big pain if you had to clean a stack of sheet pans at home but for one grill it's no big deal.
>Deep down, you know this isn't true. A knife is very well known to be sharp and is obviously a hazard. A wire brush has hidden dangers. Bristles are expected to remain attached, but unknown to many users they come off when cleaning and then even more unknown to them they get into food and can cause trauma in the body and are very hard to get removed.
If you've ever uses a wire brush regularly you know that the bristles come off as a part of normal wear.
>Erm, isn't this the same? In your examples you are describing specialist commercial equipment, and so in mine I was also.
No they're not. The dishwasher was a literal need. The well designed sinks and counters are an efficiency/profitability thing. The job can still be done without them but would require more labor.
Re: Surgeons urge people to throw out bristle BBQ brushes (2016)
#250What proportion of these brushes giving up their bristles in sufficient quantities to be on Surgeons' radars were made in China?
Growing up we had zero plastic-handled brush options. They were all well-built, wood-handled beasts and the bristles would be mutilated and disgusting prompting replacement long before they were falling out of the holder.
You can't even buy a manual can-opener that doesn't deform into a useless paperweight on first use at a big-box store anymore. Why expect their grill brushes to be any better?
Edit: To clarify, I've seen many plastic grill brushes on shelves at stores. It has become increasingly difficult to find anything made of wood in the kitchen-related isles of stores like Wal-Mart and Target. There are obvious problems with a plastic-handled grill brush. The tendency is to heat the grill prior to brushing, which softens the plastic, loosening the grip on the bristles over time.