Making do with a Weber here, with a water pan and dry wood on lump.
Last lot was four ham hocks and a few beef ribs, squeezed in the middle to keep
the heat indirect. A lot of the fat dripped around the water pan. The fat and
the ashes made a real mess...

Got a lot off that off using a stainless steel scourer -- like extremely coarse
steel wool, but non-rusting. Picked up a lot of the dirt, but was completely
clogged afterward. Hey, about four for a dollar. And I have a couple around to
clean the grill while it's still hot, as that gets it clean enough without much
work. Take out water pan, get the grill hot, put on leather welder's gloves,
give it a scrub, done.

Still plenty of crud on the enamel. So, break out the oven cleaner. This is gel
that you brush on and let sit, with lye as the most active ingredient. And while
I'm at it, I put the stuff all over the inside of the Weber.

The deposits on the lid swell up with the lye, to 1/8" and more. And while I'm
scrubbing and so on, I think "should I even be doing this?" Is it kinda like
stripping the seasoning off a cast-iron pan? This was a build-up of wood
smoke... (No argument about the stuff in the bottom, that needed to come out, or
it'll rancid or burn and give oily smoke, or something.)

So, is it crud, or is it "seasoning"?


Thomas Prufer