So I recently purchased a 57cm weber one-touch and have enjoyed using it the last couple of evenings. But I'm paranoid about giving my family/friends/guest food poisoning due to technique or insufficient cleaning. I'm an experienced cook that knows about general meat sanitation, but I'm unsure about some elements of barbecuing safety. Specifically:
Cleaning - I have a wire brush I use to clean the grill. I understand that you can kill bacteria by heating the grill hot enough before using it to cook, and using the wire brush to clean the grill. What temperature is necessary to ensure this approach is safe? Does bacteria remain on the brush? Can you rely exclusively on this method for sanitation between cooks, over a period of numerous meals on different days? Is there more to this process I need to understand?
I would like to avoid having to soap-and-water clean the grill where it's safe to do so, as this would significantly reduce the amount of times I can barbecue due to time.
It's time and temperature that kill bacteria. Basically 1 or 2 seconds at 74C kills the most common forms of bacteria that cause food poisoning to a level that is considered safe. You can kill bacteria to a safe level at lower temperatures but it takes significantly longer.
Your Weber should be running significantly hotter than this. Generally once I've got the coals lit on my grill I put the grates and lid on then leave it for 10 mins. After the 10 mins I will use the wire brush to clean down the grates. If I remember I do the same at the end of the cook as well. Do check your grates after you have done this that there are no stray wire bristles left behind. The brushes also get bunged up from time to time so need changing. An alternative method is to scrub using a ball of tin foil gripped in some BBQ tongs. Then bin the foil afterwards.
I do actually wash my grills on a reasonably regular basis as well, not after every cook though. The reason I do this is that whilst the wire brush method removes crud from the grates you are still left with a certain amount of carbonised dust and/or grease from previous cooks. It's just my preference but I do like to clean them from time to time, that way I can be confident that my sear marks are from the cooking process rather than carbon left over from previous cooks.
No expert, but you will need to give the grate a good scrape if it is crusted as the crust could protect bacteria if they have formed a cyst. Other than that just wang the heat up max for 10 mins I would say. Over 75c I believe the kill time is about 10 seconds.
essexsmoker wrote:No expert, but you will need to give the grate a good scrape if it is crusted as the crust could protect bacteria if they have formed a cyst. Other than that just wang the heat up max for 10 mins I would say. Over 75c I believe the kill time is about 10 seconds.
It's pretty much straight away which is why the recommended cooking temperature for chicken and ground meat is set at where it is because it is easier to say to someone check that the internal temp is Xc rather than: well if its Yc it needs to be at the temp for X seconds or if it's at Bc then count to A seconds etc.
If I am worried I also tend to lift up the grill (with a mitt) and scrape the underside as well. You often get stray stuff under and while it's unlikely to harbour bacteria if you've preheated it, it's both a bit nicer for everyone and safer.
A quick few minute blast over red hot coals and then a brush with the wire or scrub with some foil and you're done. Mine has an annual wash unless it is ridiculously filthy but shouldn't be if used and scrubbed regularly.
This is why I love having a steel grate as my previous bbq had a cast iron one and that was an absolute bitch to keep clean and rust free (never managed it mind!) but maybe I had a cheap one...
Lots of horror stories surrounding wire brushes. If you must use one then be very careful of stay wires on the grate, I'd rather someone get food poisoning than ingest one of them. Personally I just use a ball of foil and hot, soapy water to clean grates
For the record, I've never given anyone food poisoning
