Trib tested: Grill Daddy

I was skeptical. With its plastic body and skinny bristles the Grill Daddy didn't look like a cleaning tool that would overcome the encrustation on my cooking grates.

I was wrong. Not only did the needle-like bristles on the main brush work through built-up char and grease, the thinner tool at the front of the brush removed the crud between the bars.

Using this tool is easy. Heat the grill. Unscrew the cap on the brush handle. Fill the handle with water. Replace the cap. One caution: Be sure the lever on the handle is set to closed or the water will leak out. After the grill is hot, open the valve and have at those icky remains of previous grillings. The hot grill turns the water to steam, making it easier to cut through grease and grime.

You do need to cut off the water flow if you pause to keep it from dribbling onto the hot coals.

Despite claims on the company's Web site your grill probably will not come out looking like new. But it will look a whole lot cleaner and slicker than it has in quite a while.

My only complaint is that the short handle on the $19.99 Grill Daddy tool requires you to reach over the hot grill surface to get at the far edges of larger grills. For the $5 difference in price, I'd recommend upgrading to the $24.99 Grill Daddy Pro that has a longer handle for extended reach.

-- Alice T. Carter

I love to grill outside. Remember the warm spell we had in March• That's when I cleaned my grill and hooked it up to our natural gas connection on the patio. I insist on a clean grill surface, and burning off debris helps, but that still doesn't meet my clean threshold. I use a grill topper for that very reason. I take the grill topper into my kitchen give it a good scrubbing in the sink and know that dried hamburger bits will not contaminate the chicken breast I'm about to toss on the hot surface.

I was excited to get my hands on the Grill Daddy for that messy job of cleaning the grill topper. The contraption looked really sleek and promising, but my test proved a disappointment. Because I bring the topper to my kitchen once its cools, that eliminated any chance for the steam-cleaning promise Grill Daddy makes.

Grill Daddy is not for a gas grill, so maybe I'd feel differently using it on a charcoal grill.

Also, to make the claim that Grill Daddy is dishwasher-safe is ridiculous. Who would unscrew the metal brushes just to put the plastic handle part in the dishwasher• That would be way more trouble that it's worth.

-- Rebecca Killian

Having seen the Grill Daddy promotions on TV, I was surprised at how lightweight the plastic-handled tool was. I was expecting the silver handle to be metal. But lightweight or not, the Grill Daddy tackle cooked and burned-on food remains in a heavyweight fashion.

Light the grill and allow surface to heat up. Fill the handle with water -- no wonder it's plastic! After the grill is hot enough, turn the valve and begin scrubbing with the metal brush. The water immediately turns to steam, aiding the process of scraping off grease and those unidentifiable bits of meat stuck to the grill.

It's comforting to know you're working with a cleaner surface after a Grill Daddy scrub. The power of steam is a wondrous thing. It certainly cuts down on the elbow grease.

-- Sally Quinn

Additional Information:

Grill Daddy

The claim: The Grill Daddy is the quintessential tool for barbecuing. It keeps your grill clean with the press of a button, release of a little steam, and the stroke of the Grill Daddy brush. Ultra lightweight, the Grill Daddy is designed for smaller grills while the Grill Daddy Pro is the ultimate dream cleaner for larger grills and backyard bashes.