I'm not sure why you would use a onion to season a new grill. The standard method for seasoning a new grill is - after washing thoroughly - to spray lightly with a high smoke point oil (avocado, canola, sunflower) and then heat the grill to medium low (400F) and leave at that temp for 30 minutes, then allow to cool naturally.

This is almost exactly the same way you would season a new cast iron skillet or grill pan. This will form a solid nonstick surface and prevent rust. To clean, after grilling, turn heat up to medium high, run for about 7-10 minutes then use a wire BBQ brush to clean any remaining attached debris and finish with a light spray or brushing of the high smoke point oil. Repeat with each use of the grill.

Thank you Ken and gardengal. Those are great tips.

Ken, I'm cooking hamburgers, so there's going to be some fat :) I liked your idea for the next cleanup.

Gardengal, I heard it in a video about the onion. Maybe it's ridiculous, but they suggested it. Your ideas sound stellar and really helpful for the seasoning. Thanks!

As Ken suggested, I'm going for it! :)

your grates is no different than a cast iron pan ...

you season cast iron with a high temp oil .. find some vids that discuss that ...

and onion is NOT an oil.. so it will not TREAT your metal ...

whether or not it flavors your meat.. or you like grilled onion is another question ...

i cant and dont eat onion.. so i have no opinion about its use here.. but it wont treat your grates ...

do take pix.. and show us your results..

on my weber.. gas .... i heat it to about 350.. and i use a timer.. 3 mins one one side.. flip add garlic salt and oregano.. for 2 more mins.. do the hand test.. then the cheese and 2 more mins.. and it a perfect med rare most of the time... if i go a bit to long.. its still a very juicy med ...

do an extra burger or two for the fridge.. if you dont mind reheating with the microwave tomorrow..

i also weigh out perfect quarter pounders...

the key.. for me.. to learning.. same temp..same time.. and same weight.. and after a few tries.. you can get a perfect burger every time..

and never squish your meat with the spatula.. words to live by.. if you get my drift.. and dont do it to the burgers either.. rotflmb... ;)

ken

What you can do with the onion is cut it into 3/4" slices and grill it to eat. It's really really good alone or you can go with 1/2" slices and put on your burgers.

The bottom line is that onions will not do anything to help season a grill. There is nothing in an onion that could achieve this or contribute to the seasoning process. Ignore any comments about sulfur compounds - onions do not have very high levels of sulfur compared to other veg and far less than any meat. Which is actually helping to season your grill but with its fat content, not anything to do with sulfur.

You can read a whole lotta stuff on the internet but a sizeable portion of it is just nonsense. You need to evaluate the validity of the source as well as do some research and homework before blindly following a course of action that may be pointless and/or detrimental. Don't believe everything you read 🥴

I have a Napolean gas grill with metal grates. When I am done with the grill, I dunk my grill brush in a can of water and clean the grates with the wet grill brush. It adds a fair amount of steam to the cleaning action and it does a good job on the grates. If I have any small thing that is really stuck on, I turn the grill on very high heat to burn it off.

Thanks Ken, Kevin, Gardengal, and Gailan. All great ideas. :)

I went ahead and did the barbeque yesterday. It was simple stuff. However, since I'm a novice,

that's the way I wanted it. I used sunflower oil for the curing, which was done previous to the barbeque.

We had Vienna franks. And they cooked very well. They are not the beef franks people have in the States. These are pork ones, but like in the US, they are also considered the best by many. here in Central Europe. I followed Dead Broke BBQ's video on how to cook them,(400 degrees) and except for one of the buns that was toasted with a little sunglower oil basted onto it (which got a little scorched), these came out really well. Tasted great! The Weber chimney worked exactly as advertised: 20 minute ignition, and the briquettes lasted 3 hours. Exactly what it said on the bag of briquettes.

Then went to beef hamburgers. Unfortunatley, my old Wendy's grill experience kicked in, and I pressed the hamburger patty with the spatula. I thought, I'm going to press it first with the spatula, and then flip it over. I was afraid it would burn. Anyway, I shouldn't have pressed it (per Ken's remarks). It was way to early and it wasn't burned anyway. Because the patties stuck to the grill. I thought I was in the middle of a catastrophe. I was able to finally flip it over. This time, I let them sit for awhile cooking. After that, they were no problem to flip over.

The burgers were delicioius, no red meat,, and this time the buns were nicely toasted. Also, I put on corn on the cob while the burgers were cooking. I occasionally turned them like I did with the Vienna franks. The corn on the cob was great.

Sadly, we didn't make any pictures. If we barbeque next week, I will make some.

My Activa Angular Grillwagen is made by a German company. Here is a video that shows it in action. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k9KfX15Qkhs Hey, that's almost a hollywood production!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_zQCtG3d2ME At 3.17 you can see some serious cooking with the Activa Grill.

I looked at my notes. The burger cooking video said to take half an onion, brush it with olive oil (an important detail ! ) , and to use the tongs to push this onion along the grill grates to season the grill and prevent sticking. So, I was wrong about the video saying to simply use the onion to season the grill. I'm sorry about the mixup.

So, if I had let the burger patties cook longer, and had not pressed them, does that mean probably they wouldn't have stuck?

I have heard a lot about cleaning the grill, and that is a good idea to do when it is hot. Like to scrape it with a wooden scraper, though I know there are alternative methods to do it, but no one talks about the bottom side of the grill grate. I like the idea of cleaning the grates at the end of the cooking while they are still hot. How does a person handle cleaning the bottom of the grill grate while it is still hot?

Thanks again for the help !