“Grilling, broiling, barbecuing – whatever you want to call it – is an art, not just a matter of building a pyre and throwing on a piece of meat as a sacrifice to the gods of the stomach.”
The sun has already disappeared though I expect it will peek back in every now and then. Rain, thundershowers, are predicted, and the rain will be heavy at times. I look forward to the storm. It hasn’t rained in a while, and I love a rousing bit of thunder. It will be nature’s way of celebrating the 4th.
Houses are all decked out in buntings and flags. The 4th has become a huge celebration again. For a while, back in my college days, celebrations were muted. Flags were burned and worn as shirts or cut into pieces for patches on pants. The flag no longer held the reverence which should have been accorded to the symbol of our country, but over time those feelings changed. Patriotism, love of country, has returned and is celebrated. I put bunting on my fence and happily and proudly wave our flag.
I always think of the 4th of July as a family holiday. Everyone in our neighborhood had a cook-out, and you could smell and almost taste the charcoal fluid in the air. My dad loved his charcoal fluid, and often we would hear the whoosh of a fire as he lit the fluid drenched briquets. That was often followed by stomping as my dad tried to put out the fire on his shoes and the bottom of his pant legs. He’d take a lawn chair and sit by the barbecue and tend the meat. He’d have a beer and a few pops, shots of whiskey, as he cooked. It was tradition.
My dad cooked the meat just right. It was always still juicy and tasty. When we were young, it was hot dogs and burgers. When we were older, it was steak tips, chicken, ribs and sausages. My mother always made her potato salad, and, if we whined enough, we got her deviled eggs. Once in a while she’d cook peppers and eggs, still a favorite of mine. The kitchen table would be heaped with food, and after dinner, we’d all groan about how full we were and how great the food tasted.
Later, that night, we’d sit at the table and play cards until late into the night. July 4th with my family was always the best of days.
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This entry was posted on July 3, 2011 at 10:50 am and is filed under Musings. You can subscribe via RSS 2.0 feed to this post's comments.
Tags: Barbecue, Deviled egg, Independence Day (United States), Potato salad
Both comments and pings are currently closed.14 Comments on ““Grilling, broiling, barbecuing – whatever you want to call it – is an art, not just a matter of building a pyre and throwing on a piece of meat as a sacrifice to the gods of the stomach.””
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keepthecoffeecoming.blog 
July 3, 2011 at 11:24 am
I don’t like to barbecue or grill because I can’t compete with the great barbecue places in Texas. One of the best in Dallas is a place called the “Hard 8”. They smoke all of their meat outside over mesquite wood under a huge overhang extension of the restaurant. You order the meat by the pound under the overhang next to the heat of the smokers. The meat is cut by hand from a huge metal bin. The wood is fired in separate burners until it turns white hot and then the logs are moved to the bottom of the smokers. You can choose from sliced beef brisket, prime rib, pork ribs, pork chops, chicken, sausages, hot links and corn. Their spicy sauce is made from apple cider vinegar and you serve yourself the pinto beans which you ladle from a steaming bucket. They also have the sweet store bought kind of barbecue sauce for the less adventurous. It’s authentic west Texas barbecue.
It’s hard to obtain that kind of quality on your home grill. Who wants to cook next to a hot grill in 100 degree heat anyway. At the hard 8 you can eat inside in the air conditioned dining room or outside in a screened in covered picnic area. Cold beer is also available. What could be better on the 4th of July.
July 3, 2011 at 11:44 am
Bob,
I don’t envy you your heat, but I surely envy that barbecue. There are none here, and your list of meats made me salivate with envy. I am in the land of seafood. The one barbecue place we had didn’t make it and went out of business. People want shrimp and clams when they come here, not ribs or chops.
Backyard barbecues are a tradition here. My dad would fire his up lots of summer nights. Cooking under the trees in the shade beat cooking in a hot kitchen. We even barbecue in the winter.
I admit, though, I’d love some Texas barbecue. The two times I was in Texas I hotfooted it to a barbecue place almost as soon as I arrived.
July 3, 2011 at 11:57 pm
Ah, but there is a difference between barbecuing and grilling. Your dad was grilling I think?
s
July 4, 2011 at 9:43 am
S,
Here we have a barbecue and we barbecue. It’s both a noun and a verb. Yes, he was grilling, but we don’t usually call it that. Barbecuing on a grill is about as close as we get.
July 3, 2011 at 11:45 am
I have no idea if this will reach You Something is wrong somewhere and Your page looks really strange, I can´t reach my blog at all 🙂
I can´t remember when we changed from hotdogs and hamburgers to other things to BBQ, but I still prefer hotdogs to be honest 🙂
Cloudy and sometimes hot here, just to swiftly change to cool again. I wouldn´t be surprised if we get thunder today too. Yesterday we had one loud bang and that was it 🙂 🙂
Have a great day!
Christer.
July 3, 2011 at 11:51 am
Christer,
Your comment arrived just fine, and I went to your blog, and it is perfect. I left a comment about the butterflies. I think it is a temporary glitch.
I love hot dogs and have them all the time, but cheeseburgers are my favorite, especially grilled.
The humidity is now in the air so rain is definitely on its way.
July 3, 2011 at 1:48 pm
It is several servers over here that makes internet strange at the moment. When I was commenting here the space for comments were half an inch wide and half that in hight 🙂 🙂 🙂 I finally made it in to my own blog as well 🙂
Any burger is good grilled 🙂 But the more cheese there´s on the better 🙂 I think I hear thunder from somewhere far away now but it´s cool and nice here so I doubt it´ll come this way.
Christer.
July 3, 2011 at 5:25 pm
Christer,
I expected the rain earlier but it hasn’t arrived yet. The air still has that feel though.
July 3, 2011 at 6:39 pm
Cookouts, now pool parties, make the 4th and the two chefs in the family, me and son Jon, cook on two grills, one charcoal the other a five gas burner. There is 10 to cook for so tomorrow we will be cooking all afternoon and the girls get to clean up before we all head to the Village to watch fireworks. This year each County, township, has a different day for fireworks. Ours is tomorrow night. I haven’t been very social today. I’m glued to the Casey Anthony closing arguments.
July 3, 2011 at 10:44 pm
Z&Me,
It sounds like the perfect July 4th. I’d want to be with you on the cooking-I love to barbecue and find new foods to serve. The cleaning is my least favorite part.
Many of the towns no longer do fireworks because of the cost, but a few towns still manage. Hyannis over the water has the best show of all.
I’ve only read about the trial-not watched it.
July 3, 2011 at 7:38 pm
When I was young ( was I ever young) we simply walked down to the beach with my mom or friends and saw the fireworks. We didn’t have any cookouts as my parents ran a business that was open during the 4th. Now, I stay home with my cat, and celebrate with her, although I am not sure what we are really celebrating. It is a warm day today and I am just taking a break away from poolitics. I wish there were a place I could swim in the ocean all day, shower, and get ready to walk on the beach to see… oops, that was my childhood ( senility may be approaching). I’ve been invited to some holiday festivities, but haven’t made up my mind yet about if I will attend.
Waving Lori
July 3, 2011 at 10:46 pm
Lori,
We had the parade every July 4th when I was young then, after we moved to the Cape, we had a cookout every July 4th. That’s how we still celebrate, my friends and I. It just seems so all-American.
Go to the festivities. We don’t have all that many holidays we can enjoy with friends so grab one when you can!
July 3, 2011 at 9:50 pm
If it takes a great deal of effort, and people are less skilled than they aver, it’s called “Art”.
Cheers
July 3, 2011 at 10:49 pm
Minicapt,
The effort is great, but I think a good barbecue is a skillful activity, but I agree about poor “Art.”