Steaks and Flare Ups


 

Doug LaFleur

TVWBB Member
I have tried many things to keep from having flare ups when searing steaks. My latest strategy, used last night, was to turn all of my burners (on a 4 burner Summit Platinum)on high to preheat to 450. When the grill reached that temp I turned off my two right burners and turned on the left to to medium. Well in about two minutes my steak was on fire.

I'm tempted to try turning my left two burners to medium when preheating to see if that lower temp won't get the flavorizer bars underneath so hot. Can someone offer a suggestion that I haven't thought of?
 
That does seem strange to me. I have a Silver B and preheat till the therm pegs - 600 + . I sear on one side for 2 min., rotate 90 degrees, sear for another 1 minute, turn off the center burner and flip. I'm not seeing flare ups with ribeyes ? I am using PCI grates which might make a difference versus SS ... ?

I'm sure your flavorizer bars are reasonably clean ? I don't guess the burners are closer to the cooking grate on a Summit ? You are searing with the lid down aren't you ? Also, you must be talking about an excessive flare-up, because there will always be some with a fatty meat.

i think I would call Weber CS and discuss - just doesn't make sense to me.

Paul
 
Originally posted by Paul G.:
That does seem strange to me. I have a Silver B and preheat till the therm pegs - 600 + . I sear on one side for 2 min., rotate 90 degrees, sear for another 1 minute, turn off the center burner and flip. I'm not seeing flare ups with ribeyes ? I am using PCI grates which might make a difference versus SS ...
Paul
I do Pretty much the same as Paul. What I do on my Summit Gold D is heat to 650 and chuck em on, but I keep cooking over direct, I likes lots O Char.
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I use the PCI grates also never even put the SS grates on my D. I think the hotter you can get the less chance of flames. It's so hot that the grease vaporizes instead of burning. JMO
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Don't know, Doug.

I have the summit platinum d-4 and I have never had any flareups except when I tried to do ribs last weekend. (That's a whole new story).

I preheat to 650 and then let the temp settle down to about 400 before I sear. I then turn off the two middle burners and slide the cooking grills left and right to get the meat in the right place.

Wish I could be more help.

Rick
 
I've not had that problem. I generally get it up to 600+ and sear at that temp. The fat dripping vaporizes before it gets to the flavorizer bars.

ONe thing you may want to do it trim the external fat as much as you can. You're just cutting it away anyhow. Leave a 1/4 inch on strips, though.
 
Thanks to all for their replies/opinions. Paul's comment about my flavorizer bars being clean got me to check them out. There was a bit of gunky grease/charred debris on them so I cleaned them with a steel brush. I'm hoping that clean bars together with high temps will result in drippings vaporizing rather than collecting and catching fire on the bars. I will post the results next time I do steaks. Again, thanks to all for the help.
 
I don't know about a Summit, but on my Genesis, flareups are a signal that my bottom tray needs cleaning. The Weber design reduces flareups, but if you get a lot of grease-soaked gunk in the bottom, it will ignite and burn.
 
A little off topic, but I just purchased a Weber Genesis a couple of months ago and I get this ignition thing quite often.

How often do you clean the bottom tray and what do you use to clean it with? I guess to answer my own question, it will depend on how often you use the grill and how fatty the foods are, but I guess the proper question is, when do you decide it is time to clean it.

Although it seem impressive to see all the flames, it really messes with the food being grilled.

Thanks in advance.

Mike
 
I don't have to clean mine very often. Once or twice a year, I guess. If there's a bunch of gunk built up, it traps the grease and can ignite.

Now, a little flareup where the flames lick the meat is a good thing and you should get that with the Weber. But if it's an inferno, clean the bottom tray. Also, extra greasy foods can cause flareups so when cooking them, cook indirect.
 
Originally posted by Mike Arnold:...the bottom tray ... what do you use to clean it with?
I use a plastic paint scrapper, maybe 1 1/2 inches wide. To do it thourghly, then wash it with warm, soapy water. I probably scrape mine every few months, but it gets used at least a couple of times each week, sometimes more.

Paul
 
Thanks for the information. As you can see by my post count, I just found this forum, and there seems to be a great deal of information here.

I have done a fair number of slow cooks (4 hr roasts and 2-3 hour ribs and had no fire issues. Occasionally, when I do higher heat cooking (steaks), the bottom tray completely engulfs into flames. (Needless to say, the temperature really goes up.) There is a lot of gunk on the bottom tray. So it seems you have given me the answer. It just seems like I just got the grill and it is already really messy. I really don't want to clean it that frequently (read low/no maintenance), but if it is just a couple of times a year, no big deal.

Really not that big of a deal right now, and since I have not yet cleaned the bottom tray, I am sure that is the cause of the infernos. I now have a chore to add to my list (very near the top).

Thanks for the replies, and all the information posted here. (By the way, you will probably see another thread started about questions about a smoke box.)

Mike
 
My advice would be to crank all burners to high for 20 minutes. Then let it cool and brush off the white ash on the flavorizer bars / grates, and coat the grates with some kind of cooking oil.

It's relatively easy to keep your Weber "flare up free" if you do burn-offs regularly. The most common cause I see is black burned bits / grease, which is still flammable because it hasn't been fully burned to white ash.
 

 

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