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3 years, 1 month ago

What's so special about using an onion to clean your grill?

In just about every grilling how-to I've read lately I've seen a recommendation to 'use half an onion to clean the grill.' I understand that using an onion is a cheap, environmentally friendly way to do it, but why an onion?

Is there something special about the oniony-ness of the onion that makes it optimal for cleaning grills? What about it makes it special? Is there another vegetable/fruit/whatever that works similarly?
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juwon | 3 years, 1 month ago
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it's not specifically an onion. you can also use half a potato, balled up corn husks or anything that is tough and abrasive enough to withstand being rubbed against a hot grill. onions are usually around (and cheap) in the bbq situation so commonly used.

the key is that the grill has to be super hot. it also helps to dip the onion in oil beforehand to get everything off. i've grown up doing this with korean bbq grills- works like a charm every time.

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easyeboy | 3 years, 1 month ago
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An onion is a natural alternative, and there are no harsh chemicals that you need to use or waste. Onions seem to work the best! There are special chemicals in onions that clean grills. They contain chemical compounds believed to have anti-inflammatory, anticholesterol, anticancer, and antioxidant properties such as quercetin. Onions have enzymes called alliinases to break down amino acid sulphoxides and generate sulphenic acids. These chemicals are healthy and act as a cleansing agent, so it's naturally a good choice.

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dbspringer | 3 years, 1 month ago Report

I get that much, but why, specifically, the onion? What about the onion makes it the 'natural alternative?'

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darcy logan | 3 years, 1 month ago Report

Then why are there no "onion" cleaning products? Sure smell, but there must be someway to counteract it.

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jcarlson | 1 year, 1 month ago
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check out thegrillion.com for the answer

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spoon | 3 years, 1 month ago
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Everything I have read about this method says the grill has to be extremely hot before running the onion over it... I have a feeling, since the grill has to be so hot, just about anything would work in the onion's place... potatoes, aluminum foil, piece of raw steak... in the end the heat from the grill is making the grates so hot that anything "stuck" to them will just fall off is brushed with something.

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easyeboy | 3 years, 1 month ago Report

I got an awesome idea! Let's make a brush and call it the onion brush. Just fill it with water. Sell it to people and then we can all be on the The Big Idea show someday. We can say we got this idea from some silly question on Mahalo Answers.

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spoon | 3 years, 1 month ago Report

easyboy - I love it! Maybe Jason could fund our endeavor and write it off as marketing for the site :)

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darcy logan | 3 years, 1 month ago Report

I wonder how many people have been burned running an onion over a very hot grill. I can't imagine any way to do it that wouldn't put your hand very close to the grill.

Gee, wouldn't you love people to ask what happened to your hand and you had to answer "I was cleaning my grill with an onion."

How many would reply, "should have used a brush, hmm?"

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