"Chris Shenton" > wrote in message
...
> I've got a Blue Star stove with heavy cast iron grates and burner
> bowls underneath. I cook a lot and inevitably get oil, sauces and
> other gunk on the grates/bowls, which cooks on. I have tried running
> them through the dishwasher but the oil seems cooked on.
>
> Any suggestions on how to clean them up? I've read some folks use oven
> cleaner in the normal way. I'm hesitant to put them in a
> self-cleaning oven but that seems overly paranoid.
>
> Or maybe I should just let them get gunked up, evenly glazed with oil
> over time, and periodically wash the non-oils off in the dishwasher.
> I bought the oven to cook on, not as a fashion statement. :-)

The oils polymerize over time. Just like a seasoned cast iron pan. I'd
keep them out of the DW. If you really want them clean, the self cleaning
oven will probably do a good job for the surface, but not quite as good for
the polymerized oil. . You can soak them in an ammonia solution to get most
of the stuff off.
Ed