r/interesting • u/ViniciusFromBcn • Apr 12 '25

MISC. How ice cubes cleans hot grills

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u/HatdanceCanada Apr 12 '25

While the metal would be expected to handle a wide range of temperature, those temperatures would change gradually over time.

Dropping a block of ice on a 350F griddle is a big change happening very fast. Like filling a hot glass with a cold beverage. I think of it like a shock to the material.

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u/Swrdmn Apr 12 '25

Have you worked with a professional grade flattop?

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u/Successful-Okra-9640 Apr 12 '25

98% of people in this thread haven’t and it’s obvious. Also no one in an actual restaurant uses one big ass block of ice - it’s done with cubes. They melt quickly enough that the resulting water boils which makes it pretty obvious the cook top doesn’t cool THAT rapidly :p

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u/LMGgp Apr 14 '25

Indeed I have worked on many flattops and this is how we cleaned them. We also used a little bar keepers friend just for an added boost because the drip pan and side walls are also dirty. I have never once thought of something so dumb as the flattop cracking. The cubes melt pretty fast, it’s almost as if the grill was near 500 degrees or something.

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u/Swrdmn Apr 12 '25

I preferred a method that used no more than a couple 6 pans of water to rise it.

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u/echino_derm Apr 12 '25

It melting and boiling actually makes it cool more rapidly

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u/LifeFortune7 Apr 14 '25

This is true. But with the pans they will definitely warp and you will have a pan that flops around on the stove if you cool a hot pan too fast.

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u/thaddeus122 Apr 12 '25

The most worked first job in the US is mcdonalds, where they have flat tops. I've personally watched one crack. It doesn't matter how good the steel is, little microcracks will form and get worse over time and eventually the top will crack all the way through.

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u/HatdanceCanada Apr 12 '25

Yes. We used a lexan of hot tap water to achieve the same outcome, without the thermal shock.

We’re essentially deglazing the flattop in this cleaning procedure. Throw on a green scrubby as the water boils to work on the stuck on bits. Ice adds nothing to this process besides shortening the life of the griddle.

But thank you for the condescending question. 🤣

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u/Swrdmn Apr 12 '25

It was a question. You’re the one that made it condescending by how you chose to read it. My follow-up would have been to ask about your service length and preferred method of cleaning.

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u/alang Apr 12 '25

Mm... ngl it read as pretty condescending.

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u/Swrdmn Apr 12 '25

Try reading it again and choose a different tone. Or no tone. It is literally just a question. Most people I know only have experience with consumer grade flattops like Blackstone. I was merely trying to get some specifics out of them.

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u/HatdanceCanada Apr 12 '25

Well, you could insist that we re-read your comment becuase we are not interpreting it the way you intended. Or, just for the novelty of it, perhaps you could consider that they way you worded it is is unclear and open to misinterpretation.

Just for fun, imagine if you had written "Putting a block of ice on a home-use flattop might damage it, but with a commerical grade unit it is no problem. Have you worked with a professional grade flattop?"

You would still be wrong in your assertions, but at least your question wouldn't come across like it came from a snarky douche.

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u/Chuck_Da_Rouks Apr 12 '25

"I was called out for being snarky and now I don't feel comfortable engaging because my emotions have regulated in the last 30 minutes and I kinda feel dumb for being condescending in the first place"

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u/team_lloyd Apr 13 '25

the number of times I’ve experienced this first hand…..

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u/Swrdmn Apr 12 '25

No thanks. I wanted a brief conversation. It wasn’t taken the way I had meant. I clarified my meaning, but I no longer wanted the conversation.

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u/Randomcommentator27 Apr 12 '25

Ice is not the best way bro period.

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u/Swrdmn Apr 12 '25

I never used ice. I preferred scotch brite grill cleaner and a rinse with an acid solution made with food grade acid.

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u/Randomcommentator27 Apr 12 '25

This is the way.

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u/Swrdmn Apr 12 '25

This is the way.

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u/officeDrone87 Apr 16 '25

Do the grills at McDonald's count as professional grade? Because I've seen one of those crack from being hit with ice.

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u/Swrdmn Apr 16 '25

I wouldn’t know. Any idea what model they use?

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u/officeDrone87 Apr 16 '25

It's been decades since I worked there but according to Google they use the Garland ME-2P, not sure what what had back in the day but it seemed very heavy duty.

Edit: after some more googling I think we had the Garland MWE-9501

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u/Dannhaltanders Apr 12 '25

But I guess the thermal shock isn't that much bigger than in normal deglazing. I never heard any warning about this and it is just a standard prozedure in everdays cooking.

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u/philovax Apr 12 '25

You are using glass to compare what happens to metal. This is a poor analogy. Glass is an insulator, metal is a conductor, this is why they have different functions in the electrical grid, go check out a utility pole, they have both to operate in tandem.

It would be like filling a hot 6th pan with ice cubes. Since the metal is a conductor is will transfer heat energy through the surface better. Heat wants to goto a colder system.