How to easily clean a rusty teppan grill?
There is nothing worse than opening the teppan grill lid in the spring, and you will find a patch of red rust starting on you.
It is not hygienic, not appetizing, and not good for your grill.
The good news is that rust removal is relatively easy, requiring only a few household items. We will tell you how to do it.
What do you need to clean your grill?
The easiest way to clean a rusty teppan grill is to use salt and vinegar. Yes, the standard French fries seasoning will restore your grill to normal.
Before you start, it is best to assemble everything needed for cleaning. Once you clean it up, it will definitely make a mess. The last thing you want to do is leave rusty handprints on the kitchen cabinets.
To clean the grill with salt and vinegar, you need:
• 1 cup regular table salt
• 2 cups white vinegar
• 1 heavy garbage bag
• Disposable cloth or rag
A certain amount of salt and vinegar is used to clean a reasonable standard grill grate, so if you make more than one, just add the same amount of salt and vinegar to each grate.
How to clean the teppan grill with salt and vinegar?
Once you combine your ingredients, it's time to get rid of those rust stains.
1. Mix one cup of salt with two cups of vinegar
The first thing you have to do is to mix salt and vinegar. Table salt increases the natural acidity of the vinegar, allowing it to dissolve the oxidized metal.
However, its bottom will not be damaged. When scrubbing starts, the salt also acts as an abrasive.
2. Put the stove in a garbage bag
You need to soak the rusty teppan grill grates overnight, and this is where that sturdy garage bag comes in.
If one is not strong enough, stack up the garbage bag. You don't want the mixture of salt, vinegar and dissolved rust to leak everywhere.
3. Put the vinegar mixture into the bag
Once your stove is discharged in the bag, pour the vinegar and salt mixture into the container and push it around to make sure it covers your grate.
4. Lay flat and soak overnight
You will want to keep as much of the salt and vinegar mixture as possible on the rusty grill, so find a place to lay the bag flat and let it soak overnight.
5. Use a cloth or old rag to remove the remaining rust
The salt and vinegar mixture will work overnight and dissolve most of the rust, but you need to use some rags to get in and give your grill a good wipe.
Remember to use the remaining salt as an abrasive to help you remove the remaining rust.
Depending on how rusty your teppan grill is at the beginning, it may require several salt and vinegar baths to remove it all.
If you cannot choose salt and vinegar, there are some other methods you can use.
Other ways to clean up a rusty grill
Soap and water
If you only have some small rust spots and want your teppan grill to work as quickly as possible, you can use soap, water and some old-fashioned elbow grease.
The stiff brush nylon brush will be the best tool here in your arsenal, because it is hard enough to transfer rust, but will not damage your grille like a wire or brass brush.
Lemon juice and washing powder
Lemon juice and powder detergent work similarly to salt and vinegar, and dissolve rust by producing an acid solution. It is slightly less effective than salt and vinegar. Lemon juice can make things a little sticky, but it works well for small areas of rust.
Vinegar and baking soda
If you have rust spots in areas that are difficult to scrub, then making a paste with white vinegar and baking soda can help you remove the rust spots. Mix 2:1 baking soda and vinegar into a thick paste and apply quickly.
The acid in the vinegar will corrode the rust, and the baking soda will react with the acid to produce foam, which helps it enter all the crevices.
Safe rust remover
There are many rust removers on the market, but unfortunately, many rust removers use some dangerous chemicals. Since you are cleaning a cooking utensil, you need to find something safe and non-toxic.
The best offense is good defense
The best way to remove rust is to avoid rust first.
There are a few simple steps you can take to make sure your gills will not oxidize when it is not in use.
Clean the grill directly after each use
We know this is a kind of pain. You would rather listen to the sirens of beer and hot dogs, but cleaning the grease and burnt food on the grill directly after use is both hygienic and a good way to prevent rust.
If you have a stainless steel grill, avoid cleaning with a wire brush, as this will strip off the coating on the steel, making it vulnerable to corrosion.
Oil your cast iron grill grates
Your cast iron grill needs to be refueled, just like your cast iron pan. If you want to learn more about how to care for your cast iron, you can check out our article on this topic.
Buy ceramics
Not only is the ceramic coated grille non-sticky, but the coating also prevents water from entering under the metal and prevents rust.
We have an article that explains the pros and cons of each grill material, if you want to learn more.
Find a weatherproof cover
Keeping your grill or smoker water is the most important thing to avoid rust and investing in a weatherproof cover now will save you a lot of time, money and scrubbing later.
Wrap everything up
If you let it rust, it will eat your teppan grill from under you. However, this situation was quickly corrected with a little effort, plus some ready-made household products. Just remember that once the rust is gone, you need to take steps to make sure it never comes back.
If you have a reliable method of removing rust, or a good way to avoid grille rust, we would love to hear it in the comments below!
