If you've ever had a perfectly seasoned burger, steak, chicken breast, or piece of fish stick to your grill, you know how frustrating it can be. Properly preparing your grill grates can make a big difference.
One of the simplest ways to help reduce sticking is to apply a thin, even coating of cooking oil or fat directly to the grill grates.
But there's a right way to do it—and a few common methods that aren't particularly effective.
Why Oil Your Grill Grates?
Grill grates are exposed to extremely high temperatures. Even a clean grate can cause food to stick, particularly when cooking foods with delicate surfaces or relatively little natural fat.
A light coating of oil on the grates helps create a lubricated cooking surface between the food and the metal.
Oiling your grates can help:
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Reduce sticking
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Produce cleaner grill marks
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Make it easier to turn and remove food
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Help maintain and season certain types of grill grates
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Protect cast-iron grates from moisture and rust
Should You Oil the Food or the Grill Grates?
You'll find plenty of grilling advice recommending that you oil the food instead of the grates.
There are situations where that works perfectly well. But they're two different techniques.
Applying oil directly to your grill grates allows you to lubricate the cooking surface itself. It can be particularly useful when you want a consistent coating across the entire grilling area or when you're maintaining and seasoning the grates between uses.
Depending on what you're cooking, you may choose to oil the food, the grates, or both.
When Should You Oil Grill Grates?
Before and after cooking. A good routine is to begin and end with clean & lubricated grill grates.
After removing leftover food and debris, heat your grill. Apply a thin coating of an appropriate cooking oil or fat to the hot grates just before placing your food on the grill.
Apply a light coating after cooking and cleaning, particularly on cast-iron grates where maintaining a seasoned surface and protecting against moisture can be beneficial.
Always use care around a hot grill. Cooking oils and fats are combustible, and excessive amounts can drip into the grill and cause flare-ups.
What Kind of Oil Should You Use?
There isn't one oil that's right for every grilling situation.
Common choices include high-heat cooking oils as well as traditional cooking fats such as beef tallow and bacon fat.
Whatever you choose, the objective is the same: apply a controlled, thin coating rather than saturating the grill.
This is especially important over an open flame. More oil isn't necessarily better.
The Problem With Traditional Application Methods
Applying oil evenly to grill grates can be surprisingly awkward.
Some grillers use oil-soaked paper towels held with long tongs. It can work, but it isn't particularly convenient, makes it difficult to control how much oil you're applying, and prevents you from applying to a hot grill since the paper towels may ignite.
Sprays can be difficult to control around a hot grill and may distribute oil beyond the cooking surface turning your spray can into a dangerous mini-flamethrower. And they will prove costly over time since each can ranges $8 -$17 each.
And many traditional basting brushes are designed primarily for applying sauces to food rather than coating a grill grate.
We thought there should be a better way.
A Tool Designed Specifically for Oiling Grill Grates
That's why we developed Grate Armor.
Grate Armor is a long-handled grill-grate oiling tool designed to apply cooking oil or fat directly to your grill grates while keeping your hands away from the hot cooking surface.
Its heat-resistant silicone head uses a series of flexible nibs to pick up the oil or fat and distribute it as the tool moves across the grates.
Instead of pouring or spraying oil onto the grill, you can control the application and work it across the cooking surface where it's actually needed.
The removable silicone head is also dishwasher safe, making cleanup simple.
Using Grate Armor
The process is straightforward:
1. Clean your grill grates.
Remove food residue and debris from your previous cook.
2. Coat the Grate Armor head.
Dip the silicone head into the oil or apply your cooking fat to the nibs.
3. Apply it to the grates.
Move Grate Armor across the grill surface, allowing the silicone nibs to distribute a thin coating along the grates.
5. Start grilling.
Once your cooking surface is properly prepared, you're ready for your food.
You don't need to soak the grill. A controlled, even coating is the goal.
What About Bacon Fat or Beef Tallow?
This is where things get interesting.
Cooking fats such as bacon fat and beef tallow can work especially well with an applicator because their consistency allows them to stay on the tool until they're exposed to heat.
For example, bacon fat can be spread across the Grate Armor silicone nibs while it is still relatively solid. As you move the tool across the warm grates, the fat gradually melts and transfers to the cooking surface.
That gradual melting can make it easier to control the application instead of dumping a large quantity of liquid fat onto one area of the grill.
We'll explore bacon fat, beef tallow and different cooking oils in more detail in future articles.
Make Grate Oiling Part of Your Grilling Routine
Good grilling starts before the food ever touches the cooking surface.
Clean grates, proper heat and a light, controlled application of oil can help prepare your grill for a successful cook.
Grate Armor was created to make that oiling step simpler, cleaner and more controlled.
Learn more about Grate Armor and see how it works in action.
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