Dual purpose single use wood grill brush and method
A dual purpose, single use wood grill brush for cleaning a grilling surface and thereafter providing a flavor enhancing smoke. The device is a thin sheet of wood selected for the flavor enhancing characteristics of the smoke therefrom when slowly burned, which sheet is desirably soaked in water to make the wood flexible so that it may be manually used to clean the grilling surface prior to grilling, and then deposited on the heat source where it smokes rather than flames because of the absorbed water content. Exposing the food being grilled to such smoke during the grilling process provide a unique flavor to the food. One embodiment of the device includes a flat edge on one end and a plurality of longitudinally extending fingers at the other end, both useful in the cleaning process. Other embodiments of the device specifically for grilling surfaces with spaced parallel rods include a thin sheet of wood with notches for selectively cleaning the entire surface of the rods. Methods are also disclosed.
1. A dual purpose, single use device for a grilling surface overlying a heat source for cleaning the grilling surface and thereafter producing a flavor enhancing smoke device, said device comprising a sheet of a wood,
said sheet of wood being between about 1/32 and 5/16 inches in thickness and between about 1″ and about 4″ in width,
said sheet of wood having a plurality of fingers formed unitarily therewith by parallel slots that extend longitudinally from one edge thereof a distance between about 1″ and about 5″, and
said sheet of wood (a) having the capacity to provide a flavor enhancing smoke when slowly combusted, and (b) having the capacity to absorbing sufficient water to (i) resist breakage when used to clean the grilling surface and (ii) to reduce the combustibility of the device sufficiently to provide a flavor enhancing smoke during the grilling process,
whereby the device after absorbing water may be used (a) to clean debris from the grilling surface, and (b) deposited on the heat source to provide a flavor enhancing smoke.
2. The device of claim 1 wherein said wood sheet has at least one edge surface adapted for use as a scraper for removing debris from the grilling surface.
3. The device of claim 1 wherein said wood sheet has two edge surfaces adapted for use as a scraper for simultaneously removing debris from the facing generally hemispherical sides of adjacent parallel rods of a grilling surface.
4. The device of claim 1 wherein the width of said fingers is between about 1/16″ and about ⅜″, and
the distance between immediately adjacent ones of said fingers is not less than about 1/16″.
5. The device of claim 1 wherein the grain of said sheet of wood runs longitudinally of the device and said fingers.
6. The device of claim 1 wherein the length and width of said fingers and the spacing between said fingers in combination permits lateral movement and twisting of said fingers when used to clean the grilling surface.
7. A dual purpose, single use grilling surface cleaning and flavor enhancing device comprising:
an elongated sheet of wood between about 1/32 and 5/16 inches in thickness and between about 1″ and about 4″ in width,
said sheet of wood (a) having the capacity to provide a flavor enhancing smoke when slowly combusted, and (b) having the capacity to absorbing sufficient water to (i) resist breakage when used to clean the grilling surface and (ii) to reduce the combustibility of the device sufficiently to provide a flavor enhancing smoke during the grilling process,
said sheet of wood having a plurality of spaced-apart fingers extending longitudinally from one longitudinal end of said sheet for use as a scraper to remove debris from a grilling surface before the grilling of food,
the length of said fingers being between about 1″ and 5″,
the width of said fingers being between about 1/16″ and about ⅜″, and
the distance between immediately adjacent ones of said fingers being not less than about 1/16″,
the length and width of said fingers and the distance between adjacent of said fingers combining to permit each finger to act somewhat independently of the other fingers.
8. A wooden grill brush comprising a unitary sheet of wood of substantially uniform thickness having a plurality of generally parallel slots not less than about one sixteenth of an inch in width and not less than about one inch in length extending into one edge of said sheet of wood to form wooden bristles, the length of all of said plurality of slots not being identical and the distance between adjacent ones of said plurality of slots not all being the same so that the stiffness of some of said wooden bristles is different than the stiffness of others of said wooden bristles.
9. The grill brush of claim 8 wherein the number of said parallel slots is not less than about six;
wherein said plurality of slots are between about 2 and about 4 inches in length.
10. A dual purpose, single use device for a grill overlying a heat source for cleaning the grilling surface of the grill and thereafter producing a flavor enhancing smoke device comprising:
a sheet of wood between about 1/32 and 5/16 inches in thickness and between about 1″ and about 4″ in width, said wood having opposed first and second ends and a handle portion between the ends thereof;
said first end defining a scraping surface at the free end thereof for scraping debris from the grilling surface;
said second end defining a plurality of spaced-apart parallel fingers extending longitudinally therefrom for use as a scraper to remove debris from the grilling surface each of said fingers being between about 1″ and 5″ in length, between about 1/16″ and about ⅜″ in width, and the distance between immediately adjacent ones of said fingers being not less than about 1/16″;
the wood sheet (a) having the capacity to provide a flavor enhancing smoke when slowly combusted, and (b) having the capacity to absorbing sufficient water to (i) resist breakage when used to clean the grilling surface and (ii) to reduce the combustibility of the device sufficiently to provide a flavor enhancing smoke during the grilling process, so that the device after absorbing water may (a) be used to clean debris from the grilling surface and (b) deposited on the heat source to provide a flavor enhancing smoke.
11. The device of claim 10 having a pair of side surfaces each including a notch to receive a respective one of the facing surfaces of adjacent grill rods of the grilling surface.
12. The device of claim 10 wherein the length and width of said fingers combining to permit each finger to act somewhat independently of the other fingers.
13. The device of claim 12 wherein the length and width of said fingers permit lateral movement and twisting of said fingers when used to clean the grilling surface.