An Australian journal of fire and steel
Fire, steel and the Australian backyard
Barbecue GrillsIndependent long-form writing for Australian backyards, balconies and campgrounds.
Judgement
Cleaning, seasoning, grease fires, wet-season storage and the days you should not light anything at all.
A grill that is not cleaned becomes a grease fire. A grill that is not covered in Darwin becomes rust. A grill lit on a total fire ban day becomes a fine. This hub is the unfashionable work: seasoning new iron, washing a gas barbecue properly, putting a machine to bed through the wet, and knowing when the fire service would rather you used the oven.
Start with how to clean a gas barbecue and bushfire-season barbecue safety.
The Top End build-up and east-coast summer storms rust a barbecue faster than a winter in Melbourne. Clean it, dry it, keep the cover honest, and do not trap a wet machine in plastic.
Tom Bellear · 6 July 2026
A flare-up is fat meeting flame. A hot spot is uneven fire. A grease fire is a tray or tamer that has become fuel. They are related, and they are not fixed with a spray bottle of water.
Mina Rahman · 28 June 2026
Total fire bans are local, they change with the day, and a backyard barbecue can be legal, restricted or forbidden. Check the fire service, then decide whether dinner belongs on the grill at all.
Tom Bellear · 20 June 2026
Seasoning is a thin polymer film on iron, not a flavour and not a wash. Do it once, then keep it with heat, oil and the right kind of cleaning.
Mina Rahman · 12 June 2026
A gas barbecue that is not cleaned becomes a grease fire and a rust farm. The useful job is regular, not heroic, and it starts while the grill is still warm.
Tom Bellear · 4 June 2026