Consumer

Grease Bullets: Do They Really Do That?

PITTSBURGH (KDKA) ― Who wouldn't want to get rid of grease and grime without having to scrape and scrub?

That's what the grease bullet purports to do… but does it really do that?

KDKA Consumer Editor Yvonne says the grease bullet is supposed to be a magic bullet for burnt on grease.

You just drop some tablets into the water and let the grease bullet do the job you hate to do.

We went to Alfano's at the Quail to test the grease bullet out.

Executive Chef Marc Alfano says he spends plenty of time scrubbing off grease and grime.

Alfano agreed to help us test the grease bullet.

It promises to make burnt on grease and residue a snap to clean.

You can see the promise on the bullet shaped bottle before and after "no scrubbing" in between.

But does it really do that?

To find out, Mark agrees to break his chef's heart by burning some bacon so we can test a greasy pan, a baked on greasy burner and a cookie sheet that looks like the one many of us own.

First, we fill a sink with two gallons of "as hot as you can get it" tap water and following directions carefully.

We wear gloves and add one tablet for each two gallons of water.

The tablets contain phosphates, sodium silicate and a secret enzyme blend.

We even add an extra tablet for extra cleaning power and stir up well.

We prepare two sinks, rinse off the excess food and in goes the grease and baked on residue that the grease bullet says will disappear.

The directions say to soak for 30 minutes or longer.

We check in five minutes for signs that the grease bullet is cutting the grease.

Then 10 minutes and in 20 minutes we see a change in the color of the burner.

It looks blue no longer black.

Thirty minutes later.

It's time to put on our gloves and find out if the grease bullet hit the mark.

It didn't bubble or make much of a fuss.

But the grease is still on there pretty good.

Alfano gives it a two on a scale of one to ten.

Our chef ends up using a steel brush to get the grease off.


It didn't do any better with the cookie pan or the burner.

"I'm saying bologna," said Alfano. "You'd probably do better with an Alka-Seltzer, at least it fizzles."

Now it does say 30 minutes or longer?

But how long do you want this grease and grime sitting around the kitchen.

We tried another greasy bacon pan and soaked that for six hours.

It did seem to make the grease easier to get off but Zanos wonders wouldn't regular water do the same?

Our verdict: keep the $10 you pay for twelve of these grease bullets.

We were not at all impressed with this one.

(© MMVI, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)