• Grill Outdoors
• Don't Let Your Grill Get Lonely
• LP Gas
• When to Get a New Gas Cylinder
• Close the Valve
• Don't Overfill
• Don't Let Your Grill Blow Its Top
• Storing the Cylinder
• A (Fairly) Clean Grill is a Happy Grill
• Fire
  • Water and Grease Fires Don't Mix
  • Remember: Dry Leaves Burn
• Fireball Fryers
• Safety Goggles
• Raw Meat and the Potato Salad That Wouldn't Die

Safety:

Fireball Fryers

I made an important discovery, the first time I grilled chicken. Grilled chicken meat produces a great deal of grease, and chicken grease burns.

I call the phenomenon "fireball fryers." Here's how it was done. Once.

Following directions, I had made an aluminum foil tray on the grill, and laid the chicken pieces on it. Chicken fat melted and gathered in the tray. Soon, enough had collected to bend the aluminum foil and spill most of the grease onto hot metal and briquettes below.

With a small but insistent roar, a grease fire flared under the chicken. And around the chicken. Then flaming grease dripped into the grease trap, and a merry little blaze sprang up in that little dangling soup can under the grill.

Happily, I was standing at the grill. It took several minutes, but finally I had some of the grease drained off, some of it burned off, and not enough around the now very well done chicken to cause more trouble. That chicken came out a little crisper than we usually like, but it was quite edible.

That was the last time I let grease accumulate. I still grill chicken, but now the chicken gets wrapped in foil, rather than put on a foil tray. I still get a few flare-ups, but not anything like the conflagration that so nearly consumed an entire chicken dinner.

And, the chicken comes out juicier.

You know this already, and don't need to hear it again, but I'll repeat it just to cover all the bases: don't put water on a grease fire. That just spreads the grease, and the fire. It may be possible to put out the fire by covering it with something fireproof, like a pot lid or metal pan.

If the fire and the supply of fuel is small enough, and there is positively no danger of it spreading or damaging anything, it may be safe to let it burn itself out. If you have to, use a fire extinguisher.

Then there was the time that a drop of flaming grease fell from the grill and onto dry leaves. The leaves caught fire, igniting the leaves around them. At this point, my daughter helpfully pointed out that my shin would soon be turning medium-rare, if steps weren't promptly taken.

By this time the fire didn't involve grease, so I used water to extinguish the fire, and to soak the surrounding area.

I then resolved to never, ever, let plant waste accumulate around a grill again.

One more thing: Don't leave a grill unattended. That doesn't mean that you have to stand over it every minute, when you're baking something like potatoes. Go ahead, stroll around the yard. Have a seat in the shade.

But don't let that grill out of your sight, and don't take a nap. Even good grills can go bad. If yours does, you'll want to be no more than a few steps away. Those little accidents I described could have gotten very serious, very fast, if someone hadn't noticed what was going on within seconds of the start of trouble.