Well, it actually took place a year or so ago, but I'm finally at a point where I can write about it...
This is something I forwarded on to my daughter, decided to "share" with y'all.
We had ribs and CHICKEN LEGS last night. I had a bbq accident =( Last week, y'know, first bbq of the "new season", I had to burn all the yucky stuff off the grates, so like always, I started some coals, added some cut up pieces of wood, made a fire and spread it across the coal grid so I could put the grates over it to burn everything off, then brush them and re-coat them with oil to season them so nothing would stick... same old routine, do it very year and have been for 20+ years.
Well, for SOME REASON, much different results this year, and notsomuchfun... The fire got sorta out of control, caught some grease on the inside sides of the bbq on fire and started burning over the edge of the hood.... it caught the handle on fire (because it got so hot. it started it on fire from the inside!) and when I opened it up to put out the fire, it burned the hair off my hand and wrist!!!!
Worst thing was, no handle left on the BBQ and the meat grates got so hot they turned pink and lost all of their "seasoning" (which is what keeps meat from sticking). I spent the past week searching for possible replacements and it looks like anywhere between $280-400 to get one like what we have (mine was $180 10 years ago!) because almost all they sell anymore is gas "grills", which as you might like to know, I think are like patio stoves
So, I started a reclamation project on Saturday and think I MAY HAVE BEEN ABLE to bring my bbq "back from the dead".... scraped off all of the char and blistering on the inside of the box and hood (so it wouldn't drop on the food) and steel wooled the grates, then gave them a coat of oil and brushed it into them... started a SMALL coal fire (operative word here is SMALL!!!) and put smoker chips on it to try and slow cook the seasoning back into the grates, and repeated the oil, brush, fire, smoke routine 3 times... then it was on to the handle issue. Had a few branches I had saved from the alder I cut down last year and was looking through those and found one that had some possibilities... measured it up, cut it to size, drilled it out and used some steel concrete screw anchors for spacers between it and the bbq hood, and VOILA! Back in business!!
Still need to finish cleaning up the box (as you can see) and might consider giving it a coat of high-heat black paint (if I can get all the grease off the outside first), but then again, IT IS a bbq, right?? So maybe I'll just leave it looking MANLY.... ribs sure were good!!
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