The Flames! The Flames!

We recently got a little gas grill from Walmart for $25. We've cooked some cheap steaks on it a couple times, and decided that we'd use it to cook something a little different: Chicken. We had some chicken leg quarters in the freezer, which we thought would be yummy grilled, so I got to work. Dale set up the grill, and we warmed it up, then I put the chicken on and turned down the heat. 10 minutes later, I looked out the door onto our porch and saw... flames. Uh-oh!

I thought at first that they wouldn't be too bad, maybe just some small flare-ups. Then I opened the grill. AAAH! As my man rushed to help, I hurriedly turned off the gas, then got the tongs and a pie plate. He carefully removed the charred chicken from the flames into the pie plate, which helped the flames considerably. We then closed the grill and waited. It didn't take long for the flames to go out completely.

While we waited for the grill to be "safe," we thought over this a little. I think it had to do with several things:

1. Our grill has one burner. There is no such thing as "indirect heat."
2. The "drip pan" is actually the bottom of the grill, so the fat from our steaks added with the fat of the bone-in, skin-on chicken made a bad combination.
3. I apparently need to clean out the grill after EVERY use.

Luckily, we didn't have to use the nearby fire extinguisher. The flames died out fairly quickly by themselves, and (other than some peeling paint on the outside) the grill seems fine.

While we let the grill finish cooling, we went to Burger King for dinner. It was nice--no flames.