[Steafonwlater]

Do you have any suggestions for the top manufacturers? I own a catering business and just purchased an old, but wonderful, portable 36" gas flat top. It needs thorough cleaning and sometimes goes months without being used. I need advice or recommendations on the best cleaning products and techniques.

Please accept my sincere thanks!

 

[chefwriter]

There are several options for cleaning it if it's a steel top. You can use chemical grill cleaners. Follow the directions on the package. When finished, flush with water and a bit of white vinegar to neutralize the cleaner. Or you can use a grill brick/pumice stone. They also have metal grill screens that will do the job. All available at your local restaurant supplier or online. You use whichever you
prefer.
For storage, you can coat it with a light film of mineral oil and lay down plastic wrap on top of the oil film. That should keep dust off and help prevent any rusting.

 

[hungryhiker]

Do you have any suggestions for the top manufacturers? I own a catering business and just purchased an old, but wonderful, portable 36" gas flat top. It needs thorough cleaning and sometimes goes months without being used. I need advice or recommendations on the best cleaning products and techniques.

Please accept my sincere thanks!

Oven pride oven cleaner is amazing for this. Comes with chemicals and a clear sealed bag for soaking overnight.

 

[Considiners]

Regardless of what type of cooking you’re doing, sanitation should always come first. Grilling is no exception.

 

[JohnDB]

Griddle cooking surfaces are made from A-36 steel. It's one of the "softer" low carbon steels. Same stuff used in construction projects. (Like covering ditches cut into the street)

The better griddles have a thicker slab of steel as the cooking surface and are HEAVY. ½" to 1" of 30" x 36" steel is not light.

Polishing the cooking surface with various methods (pumice, chemicals and etc) makes it look nice but the polymerization of oils is what makes the cooking surface non-stick much like a seasoned cast iron skillet or Griddle.
Now you can polish the surface to a mirror finish so much so that food won't have to ability to stick....but that mirror finish won't last long as foods have acids and salts that will etch the surface and the polymerized oils will be needed once again. But that smooth surface is what makes a thinner amount of polymerization needed for it to be non-stick.

I don't recommend acids or chemicals....because they don't leave the surface flat or smooth on a microscopic level and really cause food to stick...
Scrape and grind the surface clean and smooth and then buff it shiny using a finer grit abrasive. Then use food grade linseed oil to seal the surface until you use it again. You can polymerize the oil before you put it away...linseed oil tends to be the toughest when polymerized.

 

[cheflayne]

I don't recommend acids or chemicals...inseed oil tends to be the toughest when polymerized.

I don't like using chemicals either. At my current job, we use them, yeah it makes things bright shiny like new...but!!!.. yeah.
There is no talking to management though.
Thanks for the tip on linseed oil!