Town Appliance Official Blog
Seasoning a New Grill: What You Should Know
Grilling season means investing in new cook ranges and knowing how to prepare them for the ultimate grilling experience. Whether you’re a rookie griller or a barbecue connoisseur, knowing the benefits of seasoning a new grill and how to do the job correctly is important. Continue reading to learn what you should know about seasoning your new grill in order to perfect your technique and create the optimal cooking surface.
Why Season a New Grill?
Seasoning a new grill makes the grates slicker, which makes food less likely to stick to them. It also creates a protective buildup to prevent the grates from rusting and to make the cleaning process easier afterward. Seasoning a new grill before you cook with it also removes any chemical residue left over from the manufacturing process. These chemicals could otherwise affect the flavor of what you grill.
How To Season a New Grill
- Clean the grill: Use water to rinse off the grates on your new grill to remove any dust, metal shavings, and other contaminants from shipping.
- Coat the grates: Using a paper towel or soft brush, coat the grill grates and the inside of the grill lid with oil. Most grill manufacturers recommend using peanut or canola oil.
- Turn up the heat: Turn on the grill, close the lid, and let the oil cook on the grates for approximately 40 minutes.
- Cool down the grill: After the grill grates have darkened, turn off the grill to complete the seasoning process. As soon as your grill has cooled down, it’s seasoned and ready for use.
Tips for Seasoning a New Grill
How often you season your grill gates ultimately depends on personal preference, but at minimum, re-seasoning your grill whenever you see rust forming is best. Remove any food particles from the grill grates after each use to maintain the surface of the grates.
An oil with a high smoke point is the best type to use for seasoning a new grill because it won’t burn quickly. Using lard or animal fat to season your grill grates is possible, but you can’t leave animal fat on the grates for as long in between grilling because it can affect the flavor of your food.
