Convenience, or another darned thing to clean??!!

When we moved into this home we inherited a JennAir range, electric, with a grill. I was pretty excited about the grill and the JennAir, but no so much about the electric part. I really hate cooking on electric ranges, there just isn't enough "umph" for do proper sauteing, woking, searing.

But, we have no money to change it, because that would entail having a propane tank brought in, installed, piped into the house, etc etc etc. Big, big bucks.

So when the parts started breaking, and we were driving across town repeatedly to get these little bits, we started looking for a used stovetop. After all, the thing was 20+ years old. Craigs list was the place to go and we found this little 'ol man who buys up "stuff" and off we went.

He actually had two JennAir stovetops and it was cheaper to buy them both, so I have a spare of a stovetop that I really don't like, just in case...go figure.

But the purpose of this post is that darned grill. Granted, it is handy to sling the odd chicken breast or hamburger patty on it and call it good. When the thought of schlepping out to the yard, uncovering the BBQ, cleaning it (because I was too lazy to clean it after I used it the last time), turning on the gas, heating it, yada yada yada. You get my point. I love to BBQ, I love to grill, I love to slow roast over flame. We have a gas grill, A Weber, a smoker. Use them all, most of the year.

Back to the grill. Number one son (of one only) likes to cook. He cares not what mess he leaves behind; when he gets a thought or reads something on-line he is Johnny-on-the-spot to try it out. Lately he has been using the grill, to nearly disasterous results.

I believe it started with the making of quesadillas on the grill. Actually not a bad idea. They grill up nice and crispy, the cheese melts quickly, not a bad idea at all.

Then came the addition of goodies. I believe the near disaster was due to bacon. Yes, grilling bacon is zippy, but there is a lot, a lot of grease. And if you snap the 'ol tortilla on the grill, it has a tendancy of catching fire. From all that grease. Dicey, to say the least. As son puts it "the bacon cooked fine it was the quesadilla that was the problem. It got very crispy, very fast! Very, very crispy!"

Today I finally remembered to ask hubby for the Oil Eater he keeps in the garage so I could clean up the grill. Now why I am doing this I do not know. Not having spent much time cooking, especially grilling this week, I do not understand the honor of getting to clean up this horrible mess. But clean I did.

Removing all the grills, phoney rocks and depositing them on newspaper on the front walk, I sprayed them liberally with Oil Easter. They are sitting out there right now. I am not sure how many applications I will need, they are really dirty. The stuff works great, but remember to wear gloves. It really messes with your skin. Evenwith gloves on my hands feel dry. Probably my imaginazation.

So I guess my point is: why are these supposed convenience tools so hard to clean? I have been scrybbing on these things for several hours. Spray them wait, scrub, repeat. Oil Eater is good stuff, but man oh man, this is a mess. There needs to be a better way.

I dearly loved my Mother-in-law. But she flat refused to use anything that took forever to clean. No, let me rephrase that. If she , say, spent three hours cleaning a toaster oven, my Father-in-law would throw it away. Really! The family lore contains the story of Apple Slog, created because she refused to put ANYTHING into the oven uncovered. Period. Never! If it was going to make her oven dirty, she would cover the dish no matter how much it would effect the outcome.

So, unlike Nana, I will continue to use the grill. My son will continue to use it to estremes too. It will get amazingly dirty and I will clean it again. But I will not like it, Sam I am.