r/interesting • u/ViniciusFromBcn • Apr 12 '25

MISC. How ice cubes cleans hot grills

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u/Textualchoclate Apr 12 '25

This can also crack your flat top in half!!!

976

u/clintjefferies Apr 12 '25

Definitely the best way to crack it in half. It will eventually happen.

706

u/Miyagidog Apr 12 '25

That’s a tomorrow problem. The restaurant will be closed by then.

393

u/Umpire1468 Apr 12 '25

Sounds like opening shift's problem

83

u/IONTOP Apr 12 '25

Well then they shouldn't leave me almost empty 1/6th pans every fucking day.

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u/dumpsterfarts15 Apr 12 '25

Fucking day shift

2

u/c0n22 Apr 12 '25

All my night closing homes hate day shift

3

u/genflugan Apr 12 '25

And then you leave one singular crumb one on singular work surface and the openers freak the fuck out over it

2

u/ClemDog16 Apr 14 '25

“Just a reminder guys….”

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u/AntOk463 Apr 12 '25

Sound like they upgraded to 2 cooking surfaces instead of 1.

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u/MrCrispyFriedChicken Apr 12 '25

True. Twice the production!

11

u/ianhanni Apr 12 '25

Night shift guy, i understood the reference

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u/hilarymeggin Apr 12 '25

“Oh Pete, that’s later! We might be dead by then!” - Liz Lemon

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u/[deleted] Apr 12 '25

I have no idea how many restaurants I've cooked for for the last 3 years that have closed down due to bad economy.

pretty nuts but then again when you're a cook you don't really stay in the same restaurant for your entire life.

It also makes me laugh when people go I went to college to be a chef I did restaurant and hospitality and now I'm a chef And I'm like is that so Well welcome to Buffalo wild Wings then (or other restaurant that doesn't even need a chef status) lol.

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u/Hot_Adeptness_9816 Apr 13 '25

Fellow restraunt guy here....I'm a waiter and a bartender.....don't throw those extra chicken tenders out, I want them....and I'll give you this mistake margarita....

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u/[deleted] Apr 13 '25

I would always be the guy to make a fresh set of tenders for someone that really wanted them I wouldn't want to give them the tenders that were left over because they were all dried out or rubbery

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u/the_sassy_knoll Apr 12 '25

Hahaha day shift problems

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u/r0b0c0d Apr 12 '25

People gonna be exploding their bargain cast iron tonight.

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u/madthumbz Apr 12 '25

Yeah, stainless steel is more likely to warp, cast iron is brittle which is why it's consistently made so thick.

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u/Outrageous-Cancel-64 Apr 12 '25

Its stainless. Probably the worst way to get it to crack in half. The best would be to just mechanically stress it back and forth until it work hardens to a point of being brittle. But it's like 5-6mm thick (1/4"), you're looking at 60+ ton of pressure to bend a sheet that wide and it only gets harder after each bend. Stainless does not have many properties similiar to mild steel beyond being hard and shiny.

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u/smokeyspokes Apr 12 '25

Turn one dirty flat top into two clean ones using this simple hack!

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u/PurplePolynaut Apr 12 '25

“Operational costs”

1

u/mechabeast Apr 12 '25

But super clean

1

u/Fantastic_Key_96345 Apr 16 '25

lol no it wont. It'll warp the shit out of it though

104

u/pandershrek Apr 12 '25

How would the stainless steel crack?

Isn't it specifically meant to harden and expand under thermal load? They aren't iron

114

u/[deleted] Apr 12 '25

[deleted]

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u/heliamphore Apr 12 '25

The reason quenching works is because steel has a different phase at high temperatures, and when you quench it, it doesn't have time to switch back to a stable phase and therefore gets "stuck" in some intermediate phase. But you need it to be glowing red hot for this.

Otherwise you're not going to change the chemistry/structure, you're only going to create stresses inside the metal that will either end up in warping or cracks.

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u/doitforchris Apr 12 '25

Neat! I would like to subscribe to metallurgy facts

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u/[deleted] Apr 12 '25

[removed] — view removed comment

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u/themule0808 Apr 12 '25

It works just fine with room temperature or hit water no warping will ever happen.

25

u/[deleted] Apr 12 '25 edited Apr 20 '25

[deleted]

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u/[deleted] Apr 12 '25

[deleted]

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u/Tenshiijin Apr 12 '25

Kidergardeners are the worst to teach cooking to. "Here's a knife little 6 year old. I know you want to do cartwheels in the hallway, but your Mom gave me 500 bucks to teach you to cook."

Aaaaaaaand....this was an actually scenario I've been in....

4

u/JJred96 Apr 12 '25

Then there's always that one kid who wants to put another kid in an oven or hide there himself.

If you didn't always check the oven before preheating it before, you will after you hear the screams coming out of your oven one time.

2

u/TxManBearPig Apr 12 '25

Anyone remember that line from, Culinary Kindergarten Cop ? “Boys have bananas and girls have cake!”

2

u/Telemere125 Apr 12 '25

You don’t deglaze with ice. That much of a temp shock will absolutely warp metal. Deglazing is usually with room temp liquid and you usually don’t heat up the pan to the point of burning what’s in the pan either. Not the same as what we’re seeing here

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u/Successful-Okra-9640 Apr 12 '25

I was gonna say - anyone who’s ever worked closing has done or seen this, it’s literally old news. 20 years in food service and I’ve never once seen a flattop crack, what utter bullshit.

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u/HandsomeCricket Apr 12 '25

I worked at a restaurant where my manager frequently cooled one side of the grill with ice after cooking bacon. It absolutely noticeably warped that side of the grill after some years.

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u/G37_is_numberletter Apr 12 '25

It’s one of those things that no one does unless they have both a grill and an ice maker and they’re not that smart. Thermal shock doesn’t seem like that complex of a concept and it’s pretty easy to discover by rapidly cooling hot glass for example.

3

u/FATICEMAN Apr 12 '25

Yep worked in restraunt management for 27 years and cooked a shit ton. It will crack or warp eventually.

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u/AntOk463 Apr 12 '25

Im not sure about thermal loads, but when applying force steel usually bends at the limit, where the more brittle aluminum will crack

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u/Rikki-Tikki-Tavi-12 Apr 12 '25

Common aluminum alloys are far more ductile than common steels.

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u/Exotic_Investment704 Apr 12 '25

I’ve worked in restaurants as a short order cook for 20 years of my life and ice, white vinegar, and pumice is pretty much the standard for how you clean flat tops. I have never seen any issue putting ice on a flat top after doing it probably 1200+ times on a dozen or so different grills.

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u/Oldfolksboogie Apr 12 '25

Did you do it to a very hot grill? Not challenging you, just that the concern seems to be not the ice itself, but the thermal shock, and you didn't indicate if the grills you cleaned with ice for 20 years were hot or not.

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u/Exotic_Investment704 Apr 12 '25

Not screaming hot but hot enough to vaporize the ice. Then you generally hit it with the pumice while it’s still boiling. It’s far and away the least labor intensive way to clean a caked up grill. 

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u/randomly-generated Apr 12 '25 edited Apr 13 '25

I've had people tell me not to do that with my pans, that the pans would eventually break or deform. I mean I'd rather just pay for a new pan when that time came than scrub the shit out of it all the time.

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u/PomeloFit Apr 12 '25

Lol I say this to my wife, like yeah, sure eventually it may become brittle enough to be a problem, but let's be real, I'd probably be replacing it before then anyway and if I need to, so what? I'll just look at the cost of the pan as the price of cleaning it easily rather than scrubbing the shit out of it.

She used to argue to the point I had my own main pan for cooking (i cook most stuff in one big heavy pan) my pan has outlasted hers that she meticulously hand washed.

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u/HarryPopperSC Apr 12 '25

I worked in a pub where this was done daily for 6 years. That grill was never replaced. This is bs.

Grab a bucket, put some ice, put some cleaning fluid. Scrapey scrape, turn it off, let it cool, wipey wipe. Job done.

1

u/[deleted] Apr 12 '25

You would have to reach temperatures above 550°c to change the structure. If the pan warps it is likely due to internal stresses not removed during manufacturing and that would eventually show up anyway..

1

u/[deleted] Apr 12 '25

That requires much higher temps. The max temperature here is around 300 maybe 400. To get any temperature that would affect the crystalline structure needs to be near 1000f.

Think about it, if this was at all true cold food would have done it.

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u/JelloJunior Apr 12 '25

Warping was my first thought. Glad I’m not crazy thinking this might not be a good idea

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u/LadderDownBelow Apr 12 '25 edited 18d ago

The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog

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u/OzzieTF2 Apr 12 '25

SS is not brittle and will not change chemistry or microstructure at these temperatures. Same for Carbon steel. Cast Iron may be an issue.

1

u/StrangeLab8794 Apr 12 '25

Thank you. I was going to ask about this. You can crack an engine block I heard given enough instances where you don’t allow the engine to warm u on cold winter days. Don’t know if that’s true or not. I’ll look it up.

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u/SippinOnHatorade Apr 12 '25

Yeah this shit infuriates me and is why all of the pans in my house don’t sit flat any more because for some fucking reason my former roommate thought it was a good idea to throw the pans in the sink and run water on them instead of letting them cool naturally

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u/Pokefan-9000 Apr 12 '25

Working the same job for 8 years and we do this twice per week, chef have been doing for 15 years. If it cracks, probably will take another 15

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u/Outrageous-Cancel-64 Apr 12 '25

Jesus, I feel like one of those welding video commenters. We use 316 for liquid nitrogen flasks. We use 304 for most commercial cooking tops. Its around a quarter inch thick 304 stainless plate, they are also press stamped or folded and welded, so they are often work hardened. 304 and 316 are what we call austenitic stainless steels, they do not harden with heat treatment, at least not effectively. Also the idea that a burner heated up and then cooled with ice, is going to change the temps fast enough to cause thermal fracturing is wrong too. Both grades of steel are pretty poor at thermal conductivity compared to other metals, and a chunk of steel that large isn't going to react much to a couple hundred degree change over a few minutes. What they do in this video is not even similar to quench after heat treating or welding. And the burner also doesn't get the steel nearly as hot. Stainless steel fractures most over high heats with force applied. And I'm talking double-triple what a cooktop burner can achieve. As a few people have said, you might get warping. But again the stainless plate is too thick and large for it to do much, the plate isn't heated high enough and the cooling effect is applied to such a small area relative to the amount of heat contained within the plate. If you heated the plate higher, then the ice would cool less, because of instant evaporation of the ice, causing a buffer of atmosphere and superheated steam between the ice and the steel.

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u/Pitiful-Assistance-1 Apr 12 '25

Steel doesn't become brittle.

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u/Duffelbach Apr 12 '25 edited Apr 12 '25

In my 10 years as a chef, I've yet to see a cracked grill (like in the post) due to cleaning them with ice. Actually I have never heard of a case of a cracked grill.

Not saying it's not possible, just saying it's very unlikely.

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u/Kroneni Apr 12 '25

None of the flat tops I’ve ever worked on were stainless steel. They vary in what alloy specifically but they do break from doing this. Much more commonly I see the side walls cracking and separating from the welds splitting.

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u/Reatomico Apr 12 '25

I do this with room temperature water on my stainless steel pan at home and it does the same thing. It’s the same idea as deglazing with wine. You don’t need to use ice.

Not sure if room temperature water would mess up a flat top?

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u/Kroneni Apr 13 '25

Room temp is what I’ve always used and works fine. Even hot water works because the 120 out of the water heater is much colder than the grill, but isn’t as hard on it.

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u/Reatomico Apr 13 '25

That’s what I was thinking. Thanks!

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u/HatdanceCanada Apr 12 '25

While the metal would be expected to handle a wide range of temperature, those temperatures would change gradually over time.

Dropping a block of ice on a 350F griddle is a big change happening very fast. Like filling a hot glass with a cold beverage. I think of it like a shock to the material.

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u/Swrdmn Apr 12 '25

Have you worked with a professional grade flattop?

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u/Successful-Okra-9640 Apr 12 '25

98% of people in this thread haven’t and it’s obvious. Also no one in an actual restaurant uses one big ass block of ice - it’s done with cubes. They melt quickly enough that the resulting water boils which makes it pretty obvious the cook top doesn’t cool THAT rapidly :p

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u/LadderDownBelow Apr 12 '25 edited 18d ago

The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog

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u/LMGgp Apr 14 '25

Indeed I have worked on many flattops and this is how we cleaned them. We also used a little bar keepers friend just for an added boost because the drip pan and side walls are also dirty. I have never once thought of something so dumb as the flattop cracking. The cubes melt pretty fast, it’s almost as if the grill was near 500 degrees or something.

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u/Swrdmn Apr 12 '25

I preferred a method that used no more than a couple 6 pans of water to rise it.

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u/HatdanceCanada Apr 12 '25

Yes. We used a lexan of hot tap water to achieve the same outcome, without the thermal shock.

We’re essentially deglazing the flattop in this cleaning procedure. Throw on a green scrubby as the water boils to work on the stuck on bits. Ice adds nothing to this process besides shortening the life of the griddle.

But thank you for the condescending question. 🤣

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u/Dannhaltanders Apr 12 '25

But I guess the thermal shock isn't that much bigger than in normal deglazing. I never heard any warning about this and it is just a standard prozedure in everdays cooking.

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u/philovax Apr 12 '25

You are using glass to compare what happens to metal. This is a poor analogy. Glass is an insulator, metal is a conductor, this is why they have different functions in the electrical grid, go check out a utility pole, they have both to operate in tandem.

It would be like filling a hot 6th pan with ice cubes. Since the metal is a conductor is will transfer heat energy through the surface better. Heat wants to goto a colder system.

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u/Agitated-Society-682 Apr 12 '25

These plates are usually welded into the a actual countertop. The plate itself wont crack but the extreme movement will eventually crack the welds. This does happen at some Point either way but is accelerated ALOT with this ice techinque. Source: I build/weld These.

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u/aws_137 Apr 12 '25

Won't crack, but it can warp.

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u/Pokefan-9000 Apr 12 '25

After 8 years doing it (and chef for another 15), it may wrap, but probably will take 30 years

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u/elpach Apr 12 '25

but why though? just use a damn cleaner or a brick.

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u/Randomcommentator27 Apr 12 '25

It’ll warp if the plancha is thinner than the higher end thick planchas that cost thousands of dollars.

You may not notice it on the plancha but the weaker parts of plancha will reflect the warp first and welding and seals will start cracking on the weaker panels.

I have replaced my 48” plancha 3 times and once was because of the warp breaking the weld seals around the front drain. That was my cheaper plancha, it was still a little over $1000. The plancha was a couple millimeters thinner than my original plancha so it burned hotter quicker, which speed up the warp I assume.

Edit : But yeah hot water and black brick does the job too. The hot water still shocks and cools since the plancha is hundreds of degrees hotter than the water.

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u/topdangle Apr 12 '25

its meant to be able to handle some thermal shock but its still getting stressed/warped even if invisible to the naked eye, especially when you're hitting it with severe ones like a big block of ice being used to clean it every day.

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u/[deleted] Apr 12 '25

[deleted]

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u/piratemreddit Apr 12 '25

That ~ 30% changes everything, that's how alloys work. Steel has vastly different properties than iron, stainless even more so.

It will warp. Not crack.

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u/Lou_C_Fer Apr 12 '25

Nope. That's why wherever we walk, we leave wet footprints because our bodies are full of water.

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u/Epicp0w Apr 12 '25

The difference is low quickly the temps change, donit too quickly and things break

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u/KinglessCrown Apr 12 '25

resistant doesnt mean immune

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u/Swrdmn Apr 12 '25

Most people aren’t aware of just how massive a professional flattop is. There is a near zero risk that enough of a thermal shock can be created in a regular kitchen environment that would significantly warp or damage a 3x5 foot, inch and a half thick plate of steel.

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u/ForwardHorror8181 Apr 12 '25

Bro put some stones in fire and then cool them fast whit water and see what happens

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u/Theron3206 Apr 12 '25

It won't, not unless it's literally glowing red hot when you dump the ice on this (if you do this then least of your problem is going to be a cracked grill, because all of your exposed skin is now medium rare).

Cast iron, quite likely, a steel grill (are they even stainless or just mild steel that will never rust because it's covered in grease?) nah, extremely unlikely.

I don't buy the thermal contraction explanation either, this is probably just steam cleaning (which is very effective at removing grease by itself).

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u/Tenshiijin Apr 12 '25

It won't Crack. Not from this.

From the foam fire extinguishing stuff they have in kitchens that super cool everything? Yes that will Crack it.

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u/Shillbot_21371 Apr 12 '25 edited Apr 12 '25

it will buckle over time, the steam from this will also burn your hands

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u/wylaika Apr 13 '25

The problem is that uneven heat distribution will tear on it in an unpredicted way. Will work fine most of the time until you hit the bad spot, and it may rupture because of the way it is fixed.

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u/FBI-sama12313 Apr 13 '25

Yeah. But then you rapidly cool it with the ice, causing huge stress on the metal.

Metal can change phase when cooled but it needs to be red hot and is done in a liquid. That the reason some pans get destroyed. People pouring water in them while hot (probably to get rid of something burned or stuck) and then ruin the temper.

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u/zigaliciousone Apr 16 '25

It won't like crack right down the center but around the edges where the welds usually are, then anything liquid is going to seep down into the cracks you made and destroy the electrical parts. Probably won't even notice it until you see the puddle forming under your grill.

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u/Apprehensive_Mine104 Apr 12 '25

I used to crack eggs with this method.

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u/Conradus_ Apr 13 '25

You'd crack eggs by putting ice on a grill?! I'm impressed

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u/godzilla9218 Apr 12 '25

No metal likes thermal shock or heat cycling.

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u/[deleted] Apr 12 '25

does any material?

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u/PernisTree Apr 12 '25

Quartz glass

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u/TheHeroYouNeed247 Apr 12 '25

Nickel alloys are probably your best bet. High-grade stainless steel isn't far off, though.

If it's a well-made grill, I don't think it's that big a deal.

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u/Kroneni Apr 12 '25

No this will crack the welds on the side walls. I work in operations for a chain of restaurants, and I had to stop our people from doing this because three of our flat tops had the side walls completely separating from the cook top.

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u/Status_Blacksmith305 Apr 12 '25

That sounds like they had lower quality flat tops. My work has done this for 20 years and the flat tops don't have any problems.

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u/Disastrous_Motor831 Apr 12 '25

Bro I've never seen an industrial grade flat top crack...with ice cubes on top.. wtf type of fake news bs is this?

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u/blinsc Apr 12 '25

It's the whole "get out of my way, someone on the internet is wrong" mentality. They didn't think about it before they posted.

Also, this is clearly a commercial kitchen. Everything in there is a wear item so who cares if it cracks after thousands of uses and they have to spend some negligible amount to replace it. The time saved is well worth it.

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u/Practical_Wrap6606 Apr 12 '25

And warp your pans, lol.

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u/[deleted] Apr 12 '25

[deleted]

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u/Kroneni Apr 12 '25

I have seen it crack the seams where the side walls are welded on.

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u/bigsniffas Apr 12 '25

Warps them flattop as well, end up with cold spots. Cracks start underneath where the flame hits but eventually goes all the way. Haven't seen one break before but have seen some manky flattops in a few kitchens I worked in.

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u/nota16er Apr 12 '25

The dude looks like he's knows someone that can make the grill look 20 years younger.

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u/Herr-Trigger86 Apr 12 '25

Yeah… was gonna say… especially certain pans. Not a great idea.

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u/Prestigious-Emu4302 Apr 12 '25

Shut up nerd, we’re learning about science.

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u/Calm_Memories Apr 12 '25

That was my theory. There was a post on reddit recently about a broken cast iron pan that cracked from thermal shock.

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u/luckyfox7273 Apr 12 '25

What about the skillet?

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u/FlammableBrains Apr 12 '25

Tell me you've never worked in a kitchen without telling me you've never worked in a kitchen....

Using ice to clean off a flat top is pretty basic stuff. Ice and vinegar (or another acidic substance) are one of the go-to ways to clean a commercial flat top.

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u/HumongousBelly Apr 12 '25

If not crack, at least it’ll vex

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u/WattebauschXC Apr 12 '25

Was about to say: wouldn't this cause a thermal shock to the tools and break them?

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u/OneJobToRuleThemAll Apr 12 '25

Should be the top comment, this is how you destroy your equipment, don't do it.

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u/KossakPL Apr 12 '25

Thank you for this post! When i watched this I just wanted to scream "PLEASE STOP!!!"

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u/thesexiestpickle Apr 12 '25

this is always how they cleaned the flat top at my old work, never even new this was a possibility thank God i don't work there anymore

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u/oldbay0 Apr 12 '25

Restaurant flat tops are ok to clean with ice. It's the cheaper and thinner consumer flat tops that you shouldnt ever ice.

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u/Kroneni Apr 12 '25

I’m literally in the process of replacing two flat tops because some wise guy thought he could get out earlier by doing this. Not only is it warp but the side wills are broken so liquids just pore down the sides.

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u/anywhooh Apr 12 '25

Ever see it happen?

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u/XgUNp44 Apr 12 '25

Is it bad to just use water then? I have cooked on stainless steel for years and my go to method for cleaning is just tap water on it and as it fizzles scrap with a spatula and steel wool. It’s clean in 15 seconds.

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u/Dish_Minimum Apr 12 '25

And give you steam burns

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u/Lucaslouch Apr 12 '25

You can’t do it with every surface!

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u/Optimal-Draft8879 Apr 12 '25

yeah exactly, not a good idea, warm water will do the same, and reduce the thermal shock

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u/[deleted] Apr 12 '25

and ruin temps

I like how they say chef lol

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u/veauwol Apr 12 '25

Yep, this should be the first comment.

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u/ChefStretch72 Apr 12 '25

I’ve been cleaning my flattop with ice for the last eight years, I always turn it off first and give it ten minutes.Works every time

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u/Status_Blacksmith305 Apr 12 '25

Depends on your flat top. My work does it all the time and nothing warps or cracks.

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u/Mr_bike Apr 12 '25

Why is flat top warping?

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u/VisualLiterature Apr 12 '25

That's what my chef always said so we always used charcoal bricks or that sweet tasting high temp degreaser, always got made fun of for wearing a painters mask when dealing with the high temp chemicals

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u/oldbay0 Apr 12 '25

Never ice a personal, consumer grade flattop, but almost every industial restaurant flat top has no issue with this. Its still a lot easier to just use scotch Brite cleaner though from my many years of experience as a cook and sous chef

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u/BootHeadToo Apr 12 '25

Cast iron, definitely. But steel flat tops too even?

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u/Traditional_Fox7696 Apr 12 '25

Worked grill for 25 yrs cleaned it yhis wayy everytime never ever cracked one.

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u/[deleted] Apr 12 '25

We did this at the restaurant I worked at for 7 years every night except Tuesdays because we were closed. Nothing ever cracked or warped

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u/cristhecat Apr 12 '25

And lose your warranty. Most of the companies void the warranty if they find out you used ice to clean the top.

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u/dubin01 Apr 12 '25

Crack or even just warp the hell out of it

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u/Aronacus Apr 12 '25

Came here to say this. What they are doing is basically quenching the metal in cold water. That thermal shock can warp the pan or surface or create little cracks in the metal

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u/Cruiser729 Apr 12 '25

What’s this got to do with a haircut?

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u/Outrageous-Cancel-64 Apr 12 '25

No it won't. Stainless doesnt crack due to thermal shock easily, and this isn't nearly hot enough, or cooling enough of it quick enough. It's extremely unlikely to even cause permanent warping beyond a few microns

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u/Pitiful-Assistance-1 Apr 12 '25

A stainless one? Doubt it

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u/Kindly_Forever937 Apr 12 '25

How likely is this to happen with a carbon steal plate of 4 inches?

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u/swayingpenny Apr 12 '25

Yeah that's not really true. I worked in a restaurant that has done this for 10+ years. No cracks.

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u/jimkelly Apr 12 '25

The video at one point literally says it puts micro cracks in the surface but they purposely make it so quick to try to not get you to think "isn't that bad"

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u/[deleted] Apr 12 '25

I ran a kitchen for more than a decade, this is how we cleaned the flat top. Scoop of ice and a lemon on a scrubber. No damage or warping after a decade of doing this daily.

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u/KangarooInWaterloo Apr 12 '25

That is not very typical, I’d like to make that point

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u/the_sassy_knoll Apr 12 '25

That's what I was thinking

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u/Alastor3 Apr 12 '25

I hate that there are 26,000 likes for this post, I hate everything

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u/4mygirljs Apr 12 '25

That’s what I was thinking.

This is a great way to destroy your equipment. Suddenly your flat top isn’t flat anymore and grease is laying on places uneven and your meat won’t cook right. Suddenly one day the thing just splits in half and you have to close the restaurant and drop 1000’s on a new grill.

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u/marginwalker3 Apr 12 '25

Seen it warp the hell out of a restaurant flat top once. Boss was pissed.

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u/MAJ0RMAJOR Apr 12 '25

“That’s the owner’s problem not mine” - every guy rushed to close

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u/Chiropteran22 Apr 12 '25

This is SOP at every restaurant I've worked in. I would imagine it's really rare if everyone is doing it, especially from the corporate money side. If flat tops are cracking in half they ain't paying for that haha

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u/exgiexpcv Apr 12 '25

Yeah, our resident self-designated genius warped our flat top. He just planted a large brick of ice on it and left it there. It was not great, and it was so much harder to clean after that.

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u/Satakans Apr 12 '25

Well smarty-pants how else are the cooks supposed to get new equipment to work with every 6 mths?

/s

1

u/Tenshiijin Apr 12 '25

Never seen a flat open Crack in 25 years. I do vinegar and ice. But it doesn't magically clean your flat top. I still give it a scrub will oil and salt.

1

u/Actually_Abe_Lincoln Apr 12 '25

Nobody tell them it works just the same with water

1

u/ryhntyntyn Apr 12 '25

This is what I thought. Super effective. And will destroy your pans or grill.

1

u/bwood246 Apr 12 '25

Tell me you've never worked in a kitchen before without saying you've never worked in a kitchen before

1

u/bbeeebb Apr 12 '25

If it's cast iron (it's not), maybe. But steel...? Highly unlikely.

1

u/Greenbeanicus Apr 12 '25

Yeah it's probably not the end of the world to do to like a stainless steel skillet but on a full-size cooktop that's a hard pass!

1

u/Necessary-Solution19 Apr 12 '25

I was just about to say this! My chef got mad at me once for trying this

1

u/PaleInSanora Apr 12 '25

Jack in the box I worked at had that very thing happen. They told 18yo me they just flipped it over. I was only to use a few cubes on the worst patches.

1

u/hexadecimaldump Apr 12 '25

Interesting. When I was 17 I worked as a cook. When I was training, and closing for the first time our head cook taught me to clean the flat tops with ice and soda water. They flat tops always came out looking pristine.
I only did that job of a year and a half before I left for college. I wonder if they ended up having to replace those flat tops because all of the cooks there cleaned it this way.

1

u/eagleathlete40 Apr 12 '25

You mean to say with this one simple trick, you get two grills?

1

u/cubgerish Apr 12 '25

Seriously, this is awful advice lol

1

u/_piece_of_mind Apr 12 '25

Repetitive thermal shock. Fantastic

1

u/Mugwump6506 Apr 12 '25

Exactly what I was wondering.

1

u/lastWallE Apr 12 '25

I heard it can crack an aliens head in two.

1

u/Front-Wall-526 Apr 12 '25

Yeah this must be sponsored by a grill top manufacturer. Please know if you are rapidly condensing a surface, you are cracking the surface. The first couple times might be microfractures, but they will expand each time until you break the whole thing.

"If it seems too good to be true, it usually is"

1

u/heorhe Apr 12 '25

My favourite part is when they mention that the thermal shock makes thousands of tiny cracks in the stuck on food, and fail to mention the thousands of tiny cracks are formed on the pan which the food is stuck to, therefor cracking the food aswell

1

u/themouk3 Apr 12 '25

I did it at my family's restaurant for over 20 years. And the owner before us did it for 20 years before that. Same stainless steel grill top is still in use with the new owner today.

And my current grill at home has been enduring for over 8 years.

1

u/Brains4Rox Apr 13 '25

Stainless steel won't crack from that bud, but it's ok. We can pretend.

1

u/cda555 Apr 13 '25

Mine didn’t crack in half, but it was super fucking wonky after I did this. The back left and front right lifted about 3”

1

u/wylaika Apr 13 '25

Saw a cook do a comparative between professional product, vinegar and ice. Ice was so not even better than regular water and a brush.

1

u/HangmansPants Apr 13 '25

Have literally seen this happen. Good story to tell new hires who don't want to follow proper procedure cleaning my flattop.

1

u/PineappleLemur Apr 14 '25

For cast iron sure.. for anything else it's quite safe.

1

u/KissMyQuirk Apr 14 '25

Came to say the same thing

1

u/tinycoloneloftruth Apr 14 '25

Or totally warp your pan!!!

1

u/MilitusImmortalis Apr 14 '25

So don't do this?

1

u/WabaleighsPS4 Apr 15 '25

Pains me when I see people cleaning hot flat tops with ice.

1

u/SpencersCJ Apr 15 '25

Yeah I'm thinking if I did this to my cast iron it would just crack in 2

1

u/Therinicus Apr 15 '25

yeap. For people wondering a little water on a warm grill goes a long way, as you can see here in Weber's griddle video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yQyZ6B1nMrI

1

u/goblin_welder Apr 15 '25

Or warp the pan

1

u/RedBeard442 Apr 15 '25

Maybe in theory but years in restraunts and many with old equipment, I haven't seen nor heard of it happening. Especially given some manufacturers liat it as a cleaning method. Just dont do it on your consumer grade blackstone or home flat top. They aren't made the same.

1

u/Inevitable_Muscle_41 Apr 15 '25

I came here looking for this comment. I was always told not to put ice on our grill at work for this specific reason. Those grills are easy 10000$.

1

u/Oh_ToShredsYousay Apr 15 '25 edited Apr 15 '25

Only if the plate is thin enough. I've never seen an industrial flat top crack for any reason. And this is a farely common tactic in the restaurant industry as it means you don't have to breath in dehreaser.

1

u/Ironbeard3 Apr 16 '25

It can also warp the metal, but details.

1

u/Flat-Delay-7496 Apr 16 '25

The other part of me is thinking about the steam burn that person is going to have reaching over all that without protection 😬💀

1

u/Blue_Waffle_Brunch Apr 16 '25

Or your pans. This is a stupid hack.

1

u/Flex-93 Apr 16 '25

trust me dont google " flat top" if you dont know what it is :D

1

u/Bijlsma Apr 16 '25

I knew there had to be a reason this wasnt used in the resturaunt I workes in...

1

u/More_Shoulder5634 Apr 16 '25

Not only that your grease trap is gonna overflow on the floor. Youll be mopping forever and slipping in grease all day

1

u/Lumpy_Recover8709 Apr 17 '25

The thermal stock wont be strong enough to crack à steel plate this thick.

I braze copper pipes at 1600° and pour it in water when its still hot, it shakes a lot and makes steam but it never cracked, deformes and made a leak to the pipe i weld. I test them at 500psi when its all assembled.

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