What is barbecue burn-in?

Barbecues are usually made of stainless steel. For smoker barbecues, cast iron (easily identified by the roughness of its surface) is the most commonly used metal. Stainless steel barbecues should be preheated for half an hour before first use. Cast iron, on the other hand, must be pretreated to prevent oxidation. In English, this is called “seasoning. We use the term roasting.

Smoker barbecue
Using a lint-free soft cloth, rub the outside of the cast iron smoker evenly with heated linseed oil. Do not rub the inside and the grates. The grates wash off with warm water and soap. Then rinse with clean water and dry.

For roasting, use charcoal that you light with firelighters. Open the heating chamber vent about 2 cm. and the flue valve about halfway up. Leave the lid open until the charcoal is glowing. Then spread the charcoal over the center of the charcoal grill and close the lid. Let the temperature rise to 120°C and hold this temperature for 2 hours. Then open the ventilation entrance and flue valve a little further and raise the temperature to about 180°C – 200°C. Hold this temperature for an hour. Then shut off the oxygen supply to extinguish the fire and allow the smoker to cool.

Cast iron grill grates
By default, most grills are not made of cast iron, but of chromed steel, stainless steel or aluminum. If you choose to purchase a cast iron grill, it must first be burned in. In addition to preventing oxidation, this is necessary to remove the wax layer applied by the manufacturer during manufacture, as well as to create a non-stick coating.