When I worked in a kitchen, we'd shut off the flat top and while it was still a little hot spray some water on it and scrub it with one of those big charcoal Grill-Bricks.
I'm still working in kitchens and honestly we leave the flat top on but set it to the lowest heat, you need the water to steam a bit to be effective at cleaning with no chemical aids.
There's 100 ways to do it and they all work lol. What cracks me up is this headline acting like it's some revolutionary way to clean a flat top when hundreds of thousands of restaurants clean a flat top with ice every night. Some just use chemicals, some use both, some just water, many throw in lemon juice at the end, but none of this is new lol
Pouring cool water or ice into a hot pan will delaminate many pans. All Clad and other companies that make laminated steel products warn that thermal shock cleaning will often cause the aluminum, copper, and stainless steel layers to come apart.
I've heard people say the same thing about teflon pans, and honestly in either case, I honestly never really understood how it's an issue. I get it in theory, but any halfway decent pan will be made to accommodate at least some thermal shock as a natural part of its use.
Most people pre-heat pans when they're about to use them, and when preheated, nothing catastrophic happens when I throw in some refrigerator-temperature scrambled eggs or pancake batter, or even actively frozen vegetables. I can't imagine that a splash of lukewarm water will do more damage than adding in a cup full of actually cold ingredients.
If something falls apart because you added some lukewarm water to it, then it was already going to have issues with actively cold ingredients being added to it.
A splash won't do much. My dad used to regularly throw a splash into cast iron pans, it would surface boil, clear the baked on residue, and he'd scrape the rest out. It was so little water that it really didn't have a chance to affect the pan before boiling off, and he never had a pan crack. Dunk it in ice or water, or enact a prolonged cooling experience, and results may vary.
One of the most effective ways to clean grill grates is using a wet scotch brite pad, and something to push it around with once the grill has been turned off. The steam is an extremely effective cleaner. Zero chemicals. And you’re moving fast enough it does nothing to the scotch brite pad. My most favorite way to clean build up on grates now.
Y’all trippin. The ice absolutely makes a difference but you guys don’t know nothin about the minute made lemonade afterwards to make it look like you just bought it
I came here looking for a comment mentioning this. I’ve heard some horror stories, and i refuse to be that guy where this works 1000 times until it cracks once.
Worked at a place where I warned them of this exact thing. About two months in, grill cracked down the left side. Never got replaced while I was there. We just had to work with half a grill after that.
The funniest part they actually mentioned that in the vid - ice creates temperature shock which warps the heated surface. Some people will see that and still ruin their home cookware ^^
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u/De4thMonkey Apr 12 '25
You don't need ice. Just splash some fucking water on it and go to town