Terracotta dish is dirty, can I burn off the gunk?


 

Tom Hinkle

TVWBB Super Fan
Hi. I use a terracotta saucer in my WSM, and usually wrap it in foil, but it has nonetheless gotten baked on carbon that doesn't wash off. I would like to clean it off. Has anyone tried burning this stuff off in an oven, maybe even the self clean cycle? Or does anyone have any other ideas for cleaning it off? I'm not sure if the terracotta would crack if I put it in a hot oven. I know they fire terracotta to about 1800º which is far hotter than I can get a grill or oven to, but OTOH, a lot of pizza stones will crack if you use them on a grill, so I want to be careful.
 
The reason these things crack is usually because of uneven heating or sudden changes in temp. The self-cleaning cycle of the oven is a long, controlled ride up to 800-900°F and back down again, so my guess is the dish would survive...but it's gonna STINK your house up to high heaven!!

If it were me, I'd file this under "lessons learned", buy a new dish, and start double/triple wrapping in foil moving forward.

Good luck, let us know how you proceed.
 
Thx, and yeah, these saucers are so cheap, it's no big loss to get a new one.
Maybe I'll try putting it the middle of my gas grill and just use the two outer burners, so it doesn't get too much direct heat, and see if I can burn the stuff off without cracking the dish. Maybe it'll be OK.
 
If it's truly carbon and not greasy crud that can support bacteria, I'd keep using it. Maybe wrapped in foil?
Putting it in the grill with only the outside burners on is going to make for uneven heating and probably result in cracking.
 
Yeah, I'm worried about that, too. I am actually thinking of getting one of those aluminum lids that they make for the water pans, and putting clean river rocks in the pan for a heat sink. That would probably work well and be pretty maintenance free.
 
I bought an aluminum plate because my terracotta plate has cracks. I used the aluminum plate a couple times and went back to the terracotta plate. While it has cracks it never has broken.............Yet
I'm sure it's all in my head. But i just like the terracotta plate better. Mine has a little gunk on it,but I don't think it hurts a thing.
 
I cant believe someone would worry about a sooty terra cotta planter bottom. Id wager its the cleanest part of their wsm... Just wrap it in foil and cook....no worries. If its grease, scrape it off, then wrap it.
 
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I wouldn't use a self cleaning oven on that. Terracotta is porous and if it absorbed grease you have a good chance of starting a grease fire in your oven.

Tim
 

 

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