Cookin' with Wood

Been Grillin'

Been Grillin'

Where I got the recipe:  What recipe?

Tools you'll need:  Grill, tongs.

Ingredients:  Whatever you wish.

When I made it:  all week.

Please forgive me, but I haven't made anything in my kitchen lately.  Well, not anything that required a recipe.  I've mostly been on my front porch with my little hibachi.  It's a propane-powered one that I got on sale at a drugstore a couple years ago.  It's only going to last one more summer, then I'll have to buy a new grill next spring.  Maybe I'll get a more complicated one or not.  I might even switch to charcoal.  In fact, I have a charcoal grill in my camper that's never even been used.  I might have to try it.  I haven't used charcoal in a long time.  All of my grilling has been done over an open fire or propane for at least the last ten for fifteen years. 

I live in a great neighborhood where everyone sits on their front porch, so it's a pleasure to hang out while I grill.  On Independence Day, I was grilling hot dogs at 5 O'clock in the morning.  The neighbors weren't out then, but I wanted to get an early start on our nation's birthday.  Independence Day is my favorite holiday of the year.  I grilled hot dogs later that afternoon as well, which makes me twice as patriotic as a lot of people.  The weirdest Fourth of July I ever had was the one I spent in France.  I bought a bottle of Champagne and drank it all by myself.  Their big day is July 14th, I think they call it Bastille Day, so I was there a week or so too early.  Enough about the French.

I not only grilled hot dogs, but also steaks, and bratwurst.  Believe it or not, I didn't grill any hamburgers.  I'll have to get around to that. 

The steaks I made with a store-bought marinade.  Seven minutes on one side and seven minutes on the other side.  The condensed version of that sentence would say seven minutes on both sides.  The condensed version of this blog would say that I'm enjoying my summer and sometimes you just gotta go with the flow and hang out with your neighbors and your buddies down at the river lot and not worry too much about your responsibilities and just eat whatever you want or whatever is put in front of you and just try to not speak in excessively long sentences or people won't be able or even care about keeping up with what it is you're talking about.  The hot dogs and bratwurst just need to be heated and turned until they're cooked through.  I also tossed some onion onto a piece of non-stick aluminum foil and threw that on the grill to compliment my whatever it was I was making at the time.

I guess the bottom line is that you should eat whatever you like.  Making fancy dishes is like line-dancing:  You only do it to prove to others that you know how.

By the way, my buddy Kevin came up with a nice French bread recipe for the grill, and I hope to share it with you soon.  I have to make it myself in order to pass it along.  Wow.  Somehow the French worked their way back into the conversation.  Silly, considering they don't even speak the same language.

Bob is the author of "Don't Fry Bacon with Your Shirt Off!  A Single Man's Guide to the Kitchen"  a PublshAmerica book.

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alicia
07-10-08 1:33 PM »Report Abuse	Sounds like fun sittin on the porch grillin'. Try a Flat Iron Steak and you'll never go back to hot dogs.

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