Whether you usually cook meat and fish or crepes and pancakes, learning how to clean your fry top properly is a fundamental task to preserve cooking efficiency and prevent transfer of flavors in your kitchen. Indeed, juices, fats and food debris are left on the fry top’s surface while cooking and will accumulate and carbonize if not removed.
Cooking on stuck and carbonized food will affect the quality of the food causing issues in cooking evenness and transfer of flavors. Moreover, if you don’t clean the surface thoroughly regularly, food debris and grease will be more and more encrusted and it will be more difficult to be cleaned in the long run.
Regular cleaning and maintenance will not only guarantee the best food quality, but also extend the fry top’s life while ensuring food safety and high hygiene standards. The mild steel fry top requires a particular attention if you want to avoid corrosion issues and make it last longer.
Fry tops necessitate a specific cleaning method according to their materials and characteristics. For example, if we look at polished chrome fry tops, we know they are extraordinarily easy to clean, but you must avoid cleaning with abrasive accessories or inappropriate cleaners. On the other hand, mild steel fry tops are less delicate, but must be cleaned with extreme care and attention.
Mild steel fry tops are the most affordable from an economic point of view but require very careful cleaning and maintenance otherwise they risk corrosion. Both electric or gas powered, mild steel fry tops are:
- Less brittle than polished chrome fry tops
- Suitable for high productivity businesses in food service
This makes the mild steel fry tops the most widespread in the kitchens all over the world. Mild steel is more likely to be exposed to oxidation issues if not treated properly therefore a correct and regular cleaning process is the first way to prevent rust. Here below the correct process to clean a mild steel fry top:
Brushed chrome fry tops are innovative cooking plates that offer many advantages, including:
- Scratch resistant characteristics, thanks to a sturdy brushed chromium surface suitable for high production
- Versatile and highly hygienic, since the fry tops are non-stick and easy to clean at the end of the daily operations
- With the fry top still warm, scrape food debris and grease buildup from the surface going with the grain
- Wash with warm water and remove carbon buildups
- Wash again with detergent and water
- Rinse and wipe dry the fry top
- Apply a thin layer of oil to maintain a well-seasoned surface
- Eventually re-season the surface
Tips to avoid rust
The correct maintenance of mild steel is essential to prevent the surface from rusting. Indeed, mild steel requires careful cleaning and maintenance to last over the years since it has no anti-corrosion properties. A rusty surface does not transfer heat properly and has obvious hygienic consequences. Here some tips to prevent oxidation from your mild steel fry top:
- Always keep your fry top clean and dry, removing grease and carbon buildups
- Prevent scratches and cracks in the surface
- Apply a thin layer of oil to prevent the oxygen’s interaction with the iron and maintain the surface well-seasoned
- Use polished chrome and brushed chrome fry tops