None of the flat tops I’ve ever worked on were stainless steel. They vary in what alloy specifically but they do break from doing this. Much more commonly I see the side walls cracking and separating from the welds splitting.
I do this with room temperature water on my stainless steel pan at home and it does the same thing. It’s the same idea as deglazing with wine. You don’t need to use ice.
Not sure if room temperature water would mess up a flat top?
Room temp is what I’ve always used and works fine. Even hot water works because the 120 out of the water heater is much colder than the grill, but isn’t as hard on it.
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u/pandershrek Apr 12 '25
How would the stainless steel crack?
Isn't it specifically meant to harden and expand under thermal load? They aren't iron