The summer of outdoor grilling and foods cooked in a smoker are rapidly ending for those of us in the northern states. We have enjoyed a variety of tasty foods this summer made either on our outdoor gas grill or in our electric smoker. During our trip to Texas last year, the friends we were visiting took us out to a couple of places for fantastic Texas barbecue. While we can’t duplicate the authentic smoked meats made in wood-fired smokers, we decided to buy an electric smoker. The advantage of the electric smoker is it is only about the size of a dorm refrigerator and can run automatically at a designated temperature set on the digital controls. There is no need to add more wood or charcoal or worry about a propane tank running out of gas during the 8 or more hours needed to smoke whole turkeys or brisket.
The disadvantage of an electric smoker is that the inside surfaces never get hot enough to burn off food spatters. After smoking foods, electric smokers need to be cleaned to remove any food and grease spatters that would become rancid while the smoker is not in use. A piece of salmon, such as the one shown in the picture, requires very little cleaning, but chicken pieces, turkey and brisket tend to make more of a mess. Once the smoker cools, I found that a Scrigit Scraper cleaning tool is very helpful for quickly removing thicker spots of dried food and cleaning along the rails on the inside of the smoker that support the wire racks used to hold the food. Then a Scrub Daddy sponge with a solution of liquid dish soap and water can be used to clean off the rest of the food and grease. The dirty Scrub Daddy can go right into the dishwasher for easy cleaning. There is no need to clean off the smokey coating on the smoker interior once the food and grease are removed. This adds to the seasoning and ongoing wonderful smokey smell of the smoker. Only the wire racks and water tray need to be thoroughly cleaned since you will be handling them next time you use the smoker.
The shift to broiling in the indoor oven instead of using the outdoor grill came early this year because of a rainy weekend. This meant there had to be the dreaded effort to clean the broiler pan. After the all-important soaking, a Scrigit Scraper was used, as photographed previously, to scrape off the thicker buildups without scratching the metal surfaces. Then an SOS pad cut through the grease and eventually removed the remaining thin layer of baked-on material.
So if you need to clean broiler pans or any cookware with baked on food, make sure you have a Scrigit Scraper handy. Order Scrigit Scrapers for yourself and for friends and family today!
Cleaning off baked on food is so difficult, and this looks like it will really help, great product!