Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: Hotdog grills turning black

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Posted by Angel Suarez (Member # 2448) on 09-19-2006, 07:28 PM:

We use Gold Metal Hot Diggity Hotdog grills and Oscar Myer hotdogs, by the end of the day the have all this sticky greasy black stuff all over the rollers. Does anyone else have this problem, or know how to fix it? Are the hotdog grills being set too hot, do we need to add PAM before we put them on, or do we just need new hotdog grills cause the non-stick layer wore out?

Posted by Jack Ondracek (Member # 1466) on 09-19-2006, 07:41 PM:

We use that grill & have had that problem, too. It seems to be a combination of the kind of hot dog you use and how hot the grill is set. We found that we really don't need to cook these things to death. Running the grill near the low limit set by your health department should be good enough. They're cooked already, after all. If you can, experiment with other brands of hot dog. Some will handle a roller grill better than others, and we used to use a brand that left quite a crust on the rollers. We're presently using the Sinai brand dogs... very good... though even those won't hold all day on a roller grill.

We also use a little Pam... emphasis on little . Too much of the stuff and you get a foamy surface that doesn't hurt anything, but doesn't look all that great, either.

In the end, the answer to this is probably not to put more hot dogs on than you think you can sell in a reasonable amount of time. On really slow nights, we don't use our grill at all. Instead, we'll just use the microwave, if and when an order comes up. That might not be the PC way to do it, but it'll look a whole lot better in the bun when you sent it over the counter.

We use one of these to steam our dog and burger buns.

Posted by Barry Floyd (Member # 385) on 09-20-2006, 09:38 AM:

Ah... the "Fresh-O-Matic" steamer. We have one in the kitchen at the drive-in. Does wonders for making those little "White Castle" / "Krystal" type burgers. Never thought about putting a hot dog in there though.

Jack.. Is your steamer the type that uses distilled water or can you use regular tap water. Ours is the distilled type.

Posted by Jack Ondracek (Member # 1466) on 09-20-2006, 09:44 PM:

So's mine, Barry.

Hope I didn't sound like I put the hot dogs in there... just the buns! If we don't roller-grill the dogs, they go in the microwave.

We buy the water by the case from our foodservice wholesaler. We also use it in the humidifier tank of our pretzel warmer.

I wonder if the office-cooler water, filtered by reverse osmosis would work as well?

Posted by Barry Floyd (Member # 385) on 09-21-2006, 09:55 AM:

At the Dairy Queen I used to work at in high school, we had 2 of the Fresh-O-Matics. We made our own "steamer water" by hooking up some type of sand filter in a clear cylinder to the sink in the back room and filling 1 gallon jugs.

We just buy ours at Walmart during own of Dawn's weekly shopping runs.

Posted by Kevin Raisler (Member # 1761) on 09-23-2006, 02:38 PM:

Angel,
We have the same set up. I find that by reducing the heat it solves the problem. The tradeoff however is that the hot dogs take longer to cook so you'll have to put more on earlier.
I run the dial about 1/4 to 1/3 of the way up and get cooked hotdogs in about 30 mins.. good luck!

Posted by Jim Ziegler (Member # 86) on 09-23-2006, 09:51 PM:

We use Eisenburg hot dogs on a roller grill and have no problems at all.. They also taste better than Oscar Meyer and were about $8 a case cheaper as well.

Posted by Jack Ondracek (Member # 1466) on 09-23-2006, 11:44 PM:

The Eisenbergs are great hotdogs. Unfortunately, we have a concession supplier that's selectively outrageous on their prices, and they were hitting us pretty hard on the Eisenberg products.

We also found we can get customized drive-in popcorn tubs from PMG for less than I can buy the generics from our local supplier. This season, I discovered I could buy J&J Super Pretzels from a local grocery wholesaler for half the price I was paying our concessionaire.

Guess it pays to shop around sometimes!

Posted by Scott D. Neff (Member # 185) on 09-24-2006, 03:26 AM:

I know that Oscar Meyer changed their recipe a few years back which resulted in a number of theatres I've dealt with having a HUGE amount of grease build up. I recall hearing that Oscar Meyer did this to satisfy their convenience store customers ability to cook them on the carousels.

All the theatres in my area switched to Nathan's to alleviate the problem. And damn I never thought I'd love a hot dog so much.

Posted by Robert Burtcher (Member # 3227) on 10-05-2006, 03:17 AM:

Is the sticky, greasy stuff you're talking about like this?

We use Oscar Meyer 100% Beef franks, and we often see this kind of greasy buildup. The method I use to clean the grill usually can take care of this type of grease as well. I turn the grill on the highest setting and let it heat up. Once hot, I take a washcloth or disposable towel, wet it and squeeze most of the water out, and then I run the cloth/towel back and forth as the rollers rotate, steaming the crap off the grill. It takes a little bit of scrubbing sometimes, but it works.

The reason why the first few rollers are silver and not black like the rest of the rollers is because for a rather long time, other employees have been cleaning the grill with Windex ( [Eek!]

) and a green scrub pad ( [Eek!]

), which scrubs off all the nonstick coating. [Roll Eyes]