Sunday, February 19, 2017

Fortuitous Timing...

...guided me home at the right moment to see the BBQ grill engulf itself in flames with black and grey billows of smoke pouring out of it. I quickly shut the burners and opened it while stepping back.  After that, I grabbed the nearby tongs and moved the two racks of lamb off to the far side of the grill that was not in flames. My dearest wifey had decided to grill lamb chops without checking or cleaning the catch pan first. Evidently it had a bit too much grease and probably water in it and up everything went.

As I was trying to assure that the meat was salvageable and take it off of the grill, Brendan and Linda came outside. Brendan was back further than me and had a better overall view and he noticed flames from the cabinet underneath the grill, the area in which the propane tank sits. I opened that and he handed me a mini fire extinguisher. I doused a small flame down in the far corner of the cabinet but still much to close to the tank for comfort. I had to douse it 5 or 6 times, since it went out then would start up again a second or two later. I used the whole can on a tiny flame even though the foam in the can was supposed to be good for grease fires. Like tits on a turtle, it was good for nothing. I asked Brendan to get me a bag of sand from the shed as I was about out of the foam in that worthless piece of junk and he came back with half a bag that I promptly threw all on the flame in the cabinet to assure it did not reignite and then all over the top of the grill to kill the flames up there. Took a little doing but out they went pretty easily.  

My timing was perfect. I do not want to even think about what may have happened if more of the burning grease had gotten down next to or on the propane tank and had burned for another 5 minutes or so. I am guessing that they can go bang from enough heat and if it did go off that it would not have been a good thing. I will be giving the grill a good cleaning tomorrow and will test it after that. I hope the burners were not damaged by the high heat or the sand. I usually give it a looksee and clean it as needed before grilling but that did not happen this time. Tomorrow will tell as to the condition of the grill. I am keeping my fingers crossed it was not damaged.

As for the chops, they were blackened on the outside and just about raw inside so Linda separated them all from one another and cooked them a bit more in the broiler. They were much to my liking once I had added a bit of salt to each of the four that I wolfed down. Seemed that everyone of us enjoyed them just the way they came out.

All the best,
GB

1 comment:

Humble wife said...

Wow, that is a bit scary but you all are quick thinkers. I am thinking we all should be able to react this way!