apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

Looks interesting, but I just use a wire brush after the grill is nice and hot. This would be a good trick for camping (when I forget the grill brush).

Also, I would cut the scrubbing layer of onion off and grill the rest for eating!

I saw my neighbors do this on the 4th of July. I thought it was incredibly strange, but they said they've been doing it for years and it works like a charm every time.

I'm not at all certain this is greener than using paper, a brush, or even crumpled aluminum foil.

You have to figure in the energy that went into creating the onion, and wasted by not eating it.

If you figure that $$ at the supermarket is a fair(ish) estimate of how much energy went into making something, then a $2 roll of 100 sheets = $0.02 per sheet, and likewise a $2 roll of 20ft aluminum foil = $0.10 per foot. Compare to an onion, which I'm going to claim is ~ $5 for a 2.5 lbs bag, or ~ $0.20 - $0.50 per onion.

Hi, a friend sent me the link to this post because we've been discussing various methods for cleaning grates. The most efficient is to clean both sides of the grate with a wire brush when you are finished cooking (that little hook on the end of brushes is perfect for lifting the grates, by the way, not only for hanging the brush on the grill handle.) When you pre-heat your grill use aluminum foil or a baking sheet or heavy-duty pot lid and rest it on the grates (if you left your grates upside down from your post-grilling cleaning it works to do this and then flip after a bit.) This will trap the heat and burn off the gunk, not unlike how a self-cleaning oven works.

I guess the biggest step you can take to "going" green is to not use manufactured briquettes. If you read the bags they state the ashes should not be used in compost piles, etc. Bad stuff in there. If you can switch to hardwood charcoal. No fillers or petrochemicals binders.

Or maybe switch to one of the new super efficient infrared grills that uses less propane or natural gas. I know the two I'm most familiar with are called RED and Quantum.

Regardless - of what you choose - onions are for eating, not cleaning! OK - maybe a radish for cleaning. Or a beet.

I am always surprised how many people dont know about this...works like a charm. People been doing this for so many years!

johan if you're paying $5 for 2lbs of onions, i hope for your budget's sake they're organic! lol. is it just me, or is that really REALLY expensive for onions? :P

it works, i've tried it!