Cooking Surface Clean-up on a Griddle

LDR

After continuously putting off this purchase, I hit a Facebook find that was too good to ignore.  I think the Blackstone will be a great match with the egg.  I did have to go back into the woods of Arkansas, so far that I was hearing banjo and somebody screaming "squeal!"  The guy said that he had only used it a couple of times before he became allergic to red meat.  It was in great shape, except for the cooking surface which has some corrosion or burned-on bits, in addition to what appears to be some type of congealed troll lard.  I suppose the congealed sticky fat will be easy enough to remove once heat hits it, but what's the best way to restore the cook top? 

For some reason, it looks great in the photo, with the sun hitting it at a low angle, but it's actually brown.

Legume

Congealed Troll Lard

Ozzie_Isaac

I heat them, hit them with some water to help boil off and lift anything.  Then I cool and scrub with steel wool or a stone.  Then heat and oil.  Nothing crazy for me.

paqman

If you need to strip the seasoning, Easy-off (the ?yellow? bottle) overnight in a garbage bag.  Repeat if needed.  Keep in mind that it contains lye so you don’t want it to touch other surfaces.  After that, just season like if it was cast iron (I used peanut oil on mine).

LDR

The sequence that seemed to work was:
Easy-off for six hours
Steel wool and water rinse (most food remnants were gone after this step)

4" wire wheel

Light use of 120 rotary sander
Four rounds of canola oil seasoning