I pulled the cover off my grill last spring and found a mouse nest in the grease tray. A mouse had apparently spent the entire winter living there, dining on the charred burger remnants I never cleaned off last fall.

The grill still worked. But the first batch of chicken tasted faintly of… mouse house. I had to scrub everything and start over.

Start with the grates

Remove them. All of them. Take them to the sink or a patch of driveway and hit them with hot soapy water and a wire brush. If they’ve been sitting all winter, there’s probably rust mixed with old grease. That’s normal.

For cast iron grates, dry them immediately and rub with a thin coat of vegetable oil. They’ll rust within hours if you skip this step. I learned that the hard way — had to replace a set of grates after one season.

What’s living in the grease tray

The drip pan or grease tray below the burners. This is the part I ignored for years. It catches everything that drips off your food. Over a summer, it fills up. Over a winter, it becomes a science experiment.

Slide it out. Scrape the solid gunk into the trash. Soak the tray in a bucket of degreasing dish soap and hot water for an hour. Scrub. Replace.

If yours is disposable — some gas grills have foil pans — just toss it and put a new one in.

The burner check

Gas grills: turn the burners on high and look at the flame pattern. Should be mostly blue with yellow tips. If it’s all yellow or orange, the burner tubes might be clogged. Turn everything off, disconnect the gas, and use a small wire to clear the burner holes.

Charcoal grills: dump out last year’s ash. Ash holds moisture. Moisture rusts the bottom of your grill. Scrub the bowl with a wire brush and check for rust holes. Small rust spots are cosmetic. Holes mean it’s time to replace.

Season before you cook

After cleaning, heat the grill for fifteen minutes on high with the lid closed. This burns off any soap residue. Then — this is the step people skip — oil the grates. Crumple a paper towel, dip it in vegetable oil, hold it with tongs, and rub it over the hot grates.

This seasons the metal and prevents sticking. First batch of burgers will slide right off instead of tearing apart.

I’ve done this routine every spring since the mouse incident. No more surprises. No more mouse-flavored chicken.