Sunday, the weather was perfect. No wind, no clouds, about 80 degrees.
We drove to the folks' house in the afternoon for a cookout. The cook: me.
The folks don't own a grill, so H borrowed one from a neighbor. Everything was laid out with surgical precision when I got there, as is H's way: beneath the grill was a drop cloth, in case ashes or charcoal fell on the patio (which is made of stone, so WTF?), a table next to the grill with all the implements in place, the stuff to start the fire with, the charcoal...
I told H: "My dad and I had a tradition when we grilled together. We'd stand around the grill drinking beer and the rules required at least one piece of meat to fall onto the ground and be hurriedly wiped off and put back. Extra points if none of the guests saw this occur."
"Let's go inside and drink a Metaxa," H said, no doubt preferring that as an alternative tradition.
----
I'm no expert with a grill. I recently learned there's an alternative to charcoal briquets and that's lump charcoal. This stuff lights easier and burns hotter. I've only used it once but it's my new charcoal of choice, and this is what H had on hand.
I messed up, though. I'm accustomed to lighting charcoal with a chimney, which accelerates the process. With no chimney I futzed around a while before finally getting the stuff to ignite properly, so as a result we ate 30 minutes later than expected. But it gave everyone extra time to enjoy the beautiful day.
We had my "famous" (in my mind only) pork tenderloin, grilled veggies on skewers, and potatoes. B's mom made a couple of different sauces and B brought along a delicious cucumber dip.
B found a nice marinade for the veggies: melt some butter, put in a few drops of walnut oil, a few spoonfulls of white wine, and a couple of crushed garlic cloves. Put the veggies in the pot and stir them around until everything is coated. Pro tip: wood skewers are probably better than metal ones with this marinade, because the veggies tend to slide right off of metal skewers and into the fire. As I found out the hard way.
Everything came out fine, but because there were no hickory chips to flavor the meat with, and because I had to tone down my infamous rub to accomodate the taste buds of the non-cayenne eating family, the pork didn't have its usual BAM! POW! quality.
Still, it did not suck, sitting in the shade with the family, enjoying each other's company.
Every time I do this I realize how much we'll miss it when it's no longer possible...
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6 comments:
Yep. Nothing better than a family cook-out with a family actually worth spending time with (unlike a certain in-law of mine who is only on her good behavior when company is around...)
And I have been on the lump charcoal band wagon for a couple of years now. Love it. I never even thought of passing that on to a paisan! Sorry bud.
Tip of the day (which you may already know you old griller you): When you are grilling veggies, skewer the different types separately so you can adjust the cooking time as required for each. I used to put them all on the same skewer and invariably some would be under and others over cooked.
Maybe we can grill and engage in your father's family tradition when you get back to OK rather than do Italian.
:)
Mod, I seem to remember a long-ago cookout (back in our Radio Days) in which a certain Pack was gathered in your back yard, eating Good Stuff You Grilled.
I also remember an incident of around that time in which I embarrassed myself by not getting the fire hot enough to sear the meat, when Lisa and I hosted you and S. for a cookout at her place.
I've gotten better since then but you're still the capo di tutti capi when it comes to putting your meat on hot metal, if you get my drift.
Great tip RE the veggie kabobs, too---I'll remember that one, paisan!
Ahh, the days we were running with the pack.
OW-OOOOOOOO.
I still have the golden icepick!
You must've left out the bit where B lectures you on the proper lighting of fires. Her Girl Scout troop used nothing but tinder and a single match. Or was it flint?
M
M, you know that we've already settled the question of whose scouting methods were more purist decades ago once and for all (i.e. the Barcelona American girl scout chapter's or the Vienna girl scouts' way) when we tried to load a bicycle into my car in Brussels and discussed the value of each other's knots, right...;-))??
Did we ever get that bicycle actually transported that day, do you remember..?
B
B and M:
The bicycle probably fell off the car because you didn't use a BOY Scout knot.
Just sayin'.
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