Silicone Painted Racks

[Scotty-G]

I've read on several threads about the non-stick coating coming off the jerky racks.  Was wondering if anyone considered or tried coating the racks (original or jerky) with food grade silicone.  This should make cleaning easier and prevent the food from sticking.  ???

Found this link...
http://www.clearcoproducts.com/pdf/pure-silicone/np-foodgrade-1.pdf

[Wildcat]

I am not sure, but I think I read some posts awhile back regarding this issue. ???

[West Coast Kansan]

Seems it is not intended to be eaten.  More for use in maintence of food processing equipment.  I dont think incidental food contact is the same as putting your meat in direct contact on a rack.  But then again probably take a long time to kill you. I would stay with veg. oil sprayed or wiped on with a paper towel.

[Wildcat]

Found the thread.

http://forum.bradleysmoker.com/index.php?topic=4482.0

[Habanero Smoker]

Good timing. I applied some food grade silicone lubricant to my trays a couple of days ago. I then seasoned them by placing them in a 350°F oven for 15 minutes, then turn the oven off and removed the trays when they were cool enough to handle. What I have seems to be the same or very similar product to what is described on the Clearco site.
http://www.clearcoproducts.com/food_grade_aerosols.html

It comes in an aerosol can, and the consistency is the same as a nonstick spray. I will be smoking some ribs and pork loin either today or tomorrow. I'll let you know if it is any better then using ordinary nonstick spray or cooking oil. I'm also hoping that one application will last more then one use, but I won't keep my hopes too high.

[Habanero Smoker]

First I'll explain the conditions of use, which may be a factor on whether or not it is the worth the cost to use silicone instead of vegetable oil or spray. I wanted to try this on new trays, but decided to go ahead and apply it to the old trays that I currently have. My trays are in poor condition. They been used so much that almost all of the chrome plating is gone, so this may make it harder to get the food off. Second, I used a rub with a fair amount of brown sugar, which makes the clean up harder.

The silicone coating worked very well; way much better then vegetable oil, but I do believe it would have to be applied for each use. If you have new trays, or use rubs that have very little or not sugar then clean up would be easier to start with so vegetable oil/spray may be the way to go, as far as cost.

Will I use it again? Definitely, since I do have a can of the spray. The clean up between the vegetable oil, and the silicone treated trays is like comparing night to day.

[Scotty-G]

Hab,
Thanks for the update.
I was originally thinking about coating the racks in something more permanent.

Was at a cooking utensil store and saw these metal tongs that were covered in nonstick silicone that was rated to 500 deg.
Was watching a tool show on tv that showed plier handles being dipped into a paint and those two ideas got me
thinking.  How about dipping the racks into a silicone paint and then letting the paint dry/cure onto the racks (much like the pliers).  This "permanent" covering would only then need minimal cleaning as food should not stick much like a silicone pad my wife has (SILPAT) which is fibers covered in silicone.

[Gizmo]

Scotty-G, I like the idea of the metal tong type material.  We have the tongs with the orange colored material and that material should definately do the trick.  I almost think there is enough of that stuff on the two points of the tongs to coat a whole rack with a thin coat.  Sounds like a patent idea and investment time.

[Habanero Smoker]

Scotty;
I thought that was your original idea, but after looking on the site (I admit I did a quick search) I could not find any of the type of thick food grade silicone coating that could be applied permanently.