Grill Daddy Grill Cleaners

The Grill Daddy Grill Cleaners are definitely making this summer fun. I first used this grill cleaner over the Memorial Day Weekend and I have to be honest, when I first saw the Grill Daddy, I thought it was a joke.

How could this grill cleaner work so well? There was not much to it at all and it felt cheap and flimsy so I was shocked when it actually cleaned the grill. I shouldn't have doubted but come on, it was an As Seen On TV cooking product and I've been through the ringer before so even though I had very high hopes, I maintained very low expectations. Who'd have thought this one would be a winner. As an As Seen On TV junkie, I should know how to pick them by know.

So for anyone who does not know what Grill Daddy is, it is simply a grill cleaner tool which cleans down the grill after you cook. Just think of it as a brush that actually gets the crud off the grill and will keep the cooking surface looking great for the next time.

My situation was a little unique in that I got the Grill Daddy before I used my grill for the first time. We just had the back yard redone and put in the mega grill with all the bells and whistles. I was almost embarrassed to buy the Grill Glove in the As Seen On TV box and not some fancy overpriced accessory but I pulled the trigger on the purchase and I'm glad I did.

Before we talk about how it works, let's take a look at the Grill Daddy Commercial.

So my Grill Daddy review is quite simple. I like it. If you watched the grill daddy commercial above you will see how simple it is to use. In fact it's so simple it almost seems like you really don't need one but trust me, this is a cool grill cleaner.

Now I first would like to say that I think the name, Grill Daddy, is pretty dumb because it doesn't really tell you what the product is or does. You might think it's the kid next door's dad who is really good at cooking. But the marketing geniuses from the As Seen On TV world love silly names and feel like they know what they are doing.

Next, when I got my new grill cleaner I skipped the directions like any guy would and tried to start cleaning. I couldn't figure out where the cord went or how to open the thing up to get the batteries in. I was pretty bumbed that that the batteries didn't come with the thing. But, what do you get for $14.95? I should have known. So I was baffled and pretty frustrated from the start.

However, when I decided to read the instructions to find out where to put the batteries, I realized that it doesn't need batteries! It's not electric so it doesn't need a cord. Pretty smart little device! And, apparently, a lot smarter than me.

Turns out that all you need to do is fill it with water and turn the knob. As long as your grill hot, you just brush the grill surface and because the knob is turned and water is able to escape through the brush, it will turn to steam and help clean and sanitize the grill. Really simple and very easy. I imagine that the more crusty build up you have on the cooking surface, the more elbow grease required to clean it off but it does a far better job than a normal brush.

As I stated above, my grill is brand new so there is not any build up of charred material, grease, grime or mess per say but this type of situation gives me a chance to see if the Grill Daddy can get cooking surface looking exactly as it did before my first use. The good news here is that we cooked chicken, burgers and fish at the same time so we can see if the residue from each is equally as easy or equally as difficult to clean.

So after we were done destroying the food, (not the best griller yet), we were anxious to try out my silly tool. To be honest, nobody ever wants to clean the grill because it's a pretty thankless job so if this turned out to be easy, I'm thinking we might volunteers in the future instead of seeing who draws the short straw. In any case it has to be done eventually. It is just the nature of the BBQ world.

It turns out that for the first use of my mega bbq, there was a lot more sticky burned up food on the surface than I expected. And, this brings up a point. A lot of expert grill masters will tell you that you need some of these battle scars before your BBQ is properly broken in. They don't want it too clean. I'm not so sure that's true and I'm not for burning old carcasses into my fresh food. So I want it clean.

Now as I brushed the cooking surface, the steam really gave me the impression it was an important part of the process. I didn't try and brush without it, nor did I try another normal grill cleaner which I probably should have. But, I have to say that my burned up fish and chicken skins came off easily and all the charred brown spots on the grates came right up. I didn't have to scrub hard at all, but I suspect if my grill was old and filled with crud, I would have to work at it. Perhaps the fact that this was the first use of the BBQ might explain why my food stuck to the surface when I tried to pull it off because I was truly surprised at how bad things turned out from a cooking standpoint and in subsequent uses there was much less stickiness. I doubt I'll ever have an answer to that, but I'm pretty convinced that with proper cleaning my cooking surface will remain as good as new.

The fact that the Grill Daddy is only $14.95, which is cheaper than any quality BBQ Grill Accessories I've seen out there, it seems to be a good deal and worth picking up for at least a try. I can't see that too many people would be disappointed with it. It makes a great companion to my new grill glove set I got so for me the Grill Daddy is a no brainer.