I ended up scraping it out as best I could by hand. Then I sprayed on a good coat of Easy Off and scrubbed it and sprayed it out with water. I’ve got a bottle of seasoning oil for cast iron, so once it was dry I painted it with that and a cheap paintbrush. Just sitting here now after having a burn in it. I made a pizza after all that had burned off. It came out nicely. I hope to do some pork butts here in it soon.Do not use any chemicals that you wouldn't put into your mouth.
If you don't have a power washer, get the smokers semi hot and scrape off the gunk with a putty knife or wire brush.
I just noticed that you are living in Sicily, so I don't know if you have self serve pay car washes there. (we call them quarter washes, because you used to have to put quarters into the machine to get them started).
Basically, you pay, and it's a pressure wand that you spray your car off with.
The reason I brought this up is that it sounds like you do not have a pressure washer at home. Pressure washers work best, but I've cleaned many smokers using a putty knife and wire brush, and a gallon of white Vinegar dumped into some hot water, it just requires a little more effort, it's not that hard to do though. They don't have to be squeaky clean, just get the soft gunk off and reseason with a high smoke point cooking oil.
My family heritage is Sicilian, from Palermo.
The sir names are, Filipponi, Lococo, Tarantino and Turriciano, any relation?
Good luck, it's really not that hard, just get the bulk of gunk off, burn a high heat fire to clean it up, then reseason it.
Dan.
I’ve been to Palermo, but mostly to see the ruins. It sure is nice out there, but it’s such a long drive. Roads here aren’t so great.
