Grill Maestro

About a month or so ago I was grilling up a great leg of lamb sent to me by the American Lamb Board along with some spices and some skewers. Well, apparently the leg of lamb was too greasy (I didn’t trim any of the fat, I wanted it to grill and infuse the meat with some great juices) because the grill kept flaring up and flaring up (even though the TEC claims never to flare up!) without seemingly an end. I kept moving the lamb around to let the flames die down and eventually I gave up, moving the lamb indoors. As I turned off the burners and opened up the lower door, I was shocked with what I saw.

There was something flaming dripping down and melting onto the fuel line!

I have the pictures to show what I mean and I’ll post them in the future (they’re on another computer that’s experiencing some technical issues) but it was a scary sight. Luckily the tubing was thick enough because I immediately turned off the tank and ran for cover in case something happened. Luckily nothing happened.

I emailed someone at Charbroil about it, sending the pictures, and they requested that one of their guys come pick up the grill for investigation. After a brief investigation, they informed me that the likely culprit was the grease trap. Apparently, the grease trap is a lot smaller than most people expect and probably too small for the size of the grill (their assessment anyway) so they would tell their designers for the next iteration and send me a new grill. Whew! I’m glad I’m getting a new one but that experience really drove home the idea of safety when grilling. You never know what’s going to happen so always keep an eye on everything.

The whole probably was partially my fault because I didn’t clean out the trap, in fact I never checked it prior to starting the lamb, but the size of it was a contributing factor. Either way the end of the story was positive - I was safe and sound, we’re getting a new grill, and Charbroil is thinking about increasing the size of that trap. Thanks Charbroil!

(Pictures to go up this weekend I promise!)