Did I mess up my platesetter?

Pa_BBQ

When I cooked my chickens tonight, I put the platesetter in (Feet up) but did not use a drip pan, I did not put any sauce on, but did baste with apple juice a couple times.

My platesetter is obviously dirty now, and from what I read, they can not be cleaned. Does using your platesetter unfoiled and with out a drip pan mess it up.

I saw nothing in any video, or manual about foiling it.

Live and learn I guess.

I obviously need a drip pan, what size should I get for the L Egg, and would you recommend one from a BGE dealer or just a roasting pan from a cooking store.

Thanks

Slotmercenary

Greetings,
use it and when it gets all nasty and black then flip it over once you load up on fresh lump and open all vents and do a high temp burn-off and everything will be white and clean again.

Mike in Abita

Mines completely grungy. You can do a high temp burn and clean it up some, but it will never be completely clean. It will discolor due to smoke and grease, but it doesn't affect the usefulness of the tool. You can cover it with foil to keep it somewhat clean.

Pa_BBQ

Thanks, glad to hear that.

Pa_BBQ

Thanks, as long as it does not change the way it works, will just burn it off now and then.

I will pick up a drip pan to help too.

Mike in Abita

You can probably use a cake pan as a drip pan, or some disposable pie pans work well too. Try and find one the same size as the platesetter.

Cactus Doug

Your platesetter will be fine. You will need a drip pan for cooking things with lots of drippings (pork butt), you dont want a grease fire. I either use the round bge one or the disposable foil ones from the supermarket, both work good just depends on how lazy I feel.

Slotmercenary

If you have a Sam's or Costco near by you can get a pack of 50- 1/2 pan aluminum trays for about 8 bucks

[Deleted User]

I typically foil my platesetter, but not always. In addition, when I do the high temp burns the platesetter comes out looking like new. I like to keep it clean because when baking breads and pies and such, they are susceptible to smoke.

That being said, my pizza stone is brown and I haven't been able to get it to like-new condition. Ironic that I use it for high heat pizza cooks that leave the platesetter white, but it remains stained looking.

Go Figure!

Pa_BBQ

Thanks, that sounds like the best idea.

emilluca

Paint scraper and that will clean it off. I never foil. Just before the next fire I use a putty knife/paint scraper to get the gunk off.
E

Buxwheat

The posts above are right on. I don't have a platesetter, but use my pizza stone instead. After many cooks, it was looking pretty gross and smelled bad. Even with drip pans, grease managed to get to it. I decided to do a high temp burn off before baking some bread on it. Little grease fires started up all over the stone where grease had soaked in. Looked like a miniature oil field on fire! Flames shooting up from pockets of aged grease. Once it was done, it came out looking clean as a hound's tooth. Been wrapping it in HD foil ever since. Now it's always ready for baking.

PS: Nice looking table. Don't wait too long to stain and seal it (like I did).

Paco

I picked up a 12" pizza pan to use for my drip pan ($5 on ebay). I just line it with foil before each cook and pitch the foil when it's done. No mess and no worrys.

2Fategghead

Pa_BBQ, Everyone does the same thing a little differnt around here. Because I had this laying around I now use it as my drip pan. I had to do a little grinding first and I line it with hdaf so clean up is easy. I have seen these sell for very little at goodwill stores. Tim
Thai is on my large.

Boilermaker Ben

I cook pizzas rather often. After a bad experience with a dirty plate setter making my pizza taste bad, I now create drip catchers out of foil to keep the plate setter relatively clean.

Unknown

Next time you do a high temp clean on your oven, stick your platesetter in the oven. After the clean, your platesetter comes out nice and white. I tried it this past weekend with my platesetter and some of the burnt on stuff that I could not scrape off pulverized into dust and wiped right off. Worked perfectly.

Big'un

Just throw it in the egg and do a high temp burn, then next time foil it. No harm, it'll be fine!