Grilling in Winter: Usually

I've noticed that I enjoy grilling a lot more than I enjoy writing about grilling.

There haven't been many missed opportunities since my last post, to get outside at noon on Saturday and Sunday: but today's one of them.

There's a winter storm in progress - not much of a one, but there's been a bit of wind and snow. That wouldn't be so bad, but I've been running a fever - and my wife said that I wasn't grilling. After about a quarter century, I'm learning to listen to her. That's another topic.



That's what the grill looked like a week ago, after my son shoveled it out.

It'll have to be excavated again - maybe tomorrow: or more likely next weekend.

Doing Outdoor Grilling Outdoors: What a Concept!

I ran into this post today:

"Outdoor Grilling: Do it Outdoors!"
RecipeTips Blogs (June 30, 2008)

"Those of us who live in the northern latitudes and who have suffered through a particularly brutal winter could hardly wait until we were able to fire up the grill for the first time this past spring. Yes, I know it's possible to use your outdoor grill during the winter months, even in the coldest climates, and many folks in the upper Midwest do just that, but I suspect that a majority of us are not too keen about grilling a steak or flipping a burger outdoors on a breezy January afternoon of minus 10 degrees with a wind chill of 45 below. ... No, personally, I'd much rather wait until the sun is shining, the birds are singing, the temperature is a balmy 60 degrees (hey, that's balmy around here!), and the fruits of my grilling labor can be enjoyed outside on the patio.

"Okay, perhaps a lot of you are thinking: 'During the wintertime, you can always push your grill into the garage and use it in there if you want to feel a bit warmer.' Aha…okay…I know that plenty of people do that very thing, but I wish they wouldn't, because there's just one little point that some people forget when they use their grills inside…IT'S DANGEROUS!!!..."

The photo (the full-size version is on the RecipeTips Blogs post - you're looking at a thumbnail) shows what happened after someone decided to grill chicken in the garage.

That's not the garage, I understand. The garage was (past tense, notice) on the other side of the house.

I'll admit it: I've grilled in the garage. Once or twice. More like in the garage door, actually. Not the best idea, though: the author makes some good points.

For the record, though: grilling in winter, outside, isn't as bad as the author seems to think it is.

I suppose I'm biased, though, since I regard my home, here in central Minnesota, as being 'down south.'

Products that Make Grilling Easier? Maybe

"Grilling gadgets add sizzle in a snap"
Kristi L. Gustafson, Albany Times-Union, via the Houston Chronicle (September 9, 2009)

"Slap a steak, or a portobello mushroom if you prefer, on the grill and take a whiff. Smell the smokiness of the food? Now listen to the sizzle on the hot grate and feel the heat as you stand over the smoldering coals.

"For many, grilling isn't a task, it's an experience, and there are many new products on the market to make the event a little easier — and more fun. Here's what we found:

"The Grill Daddy: The grill-cleaning brush releases water that turns to steam when it hits the hot grate to help remove cooked- on gunk. Available in two sizes, $19.99 and $24.99, both available at www.buygrilldaddy.com, Walgreens and select Ace Hardware stores...."

There's more: grill tools that fold up; a grilling basket with a non-stick surface, something to grill pizza on - not a bad idea; and more, including flexible steel grilling skewers and a gas grill with a 1.6-cubic-foot refrigerator.

The non-stick basket sounds good - although I wonder what sort of unsticky surface could take grilling temperatures.

As for the flexible grilling skewers and the grill with a built-in fridge - okay, maybe they're useful, too. I just hope the skewers aren't too flexible.

The Grill Daddy teeters on the brink of my tolerance for elaborate grilling gadgetry. Between a water reservoir, snap-on detachable brushes, and a mechanism to deliver the water - that's a complicated doodad.

I'm obviously not the target demographic for the product, though. The Grill Daddy's website has a video that demonstrates how it gets the grill looking like new - and sanitizes it.

Looking like new is okay - but I associate that with the new-car taste our old grill had, before I broke it in.

Sanitizes, though? I use the spatula to scrape off the grill before I use it - and during the grilling process. But "sanitizes"?! Okay: "Sanitize" means "make sanitary by cleaning or sterilizing" (Princeton's WordNet). The "cleaning" part's okay. On the other hand - if the grill is hot enough to flash water into steam, there aren't any disease organisms left.

Oh, well: it's still a nifty gadget.

I won't be getting one, though. I'm the Easy Griller - and sanitizing grill surfaces sounds like work.

Related posts:

• "Let's Hear it for Simple!"
  (August 12, 2009)
• "Going to Grill on the Fourth of July? You Might Want to Read This"
  (June 27, 2009)

Holiday Grilling: Independence Day, Canada Day, 14 Juillet, Grundlovsdag - - -

Grilling on Independence Day is a sort of American tradition: but this isn't the only country where people celebrate something special by setting meat over a fire until it's ready to eat.

While I was looking for something else, I ran into a PR Newswire article about grilling on holidays. Turns out, people like to grill on:

• Canada Day
• Australia Day14 Juillet
• Grundlovsdag
• Midsommarafton
• Dia del Padre
• Pfingsten
• Summer Bank HolidayFerragosto
• You get the idea

It may not be quite universal, but my guess is that people in many cultures like to get back to a very basic food preparation techniques: grilling. I find a lot of satisfaction in turning raw meat into something with a taste that you won't get in an oven - and the PR Newswire list suggests that quite a few other people do, too.

Meanwhile, in America, Good Advice and Fussy Cookery

The USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service has some good advice: and some that strikes me as verging on the fussy.

The USDA FSIS article is intended to keep people from making themselves sick. It boils down to 'keep your food clean, and heat it thoroughly.' All good advice.

As usual, in this sort of article, they say that it's important to use a meat thermometer. In the case of smoking meat, which the article discusses in some detail, that may be a good idea.

I don't use a meat thermometer, although I don't see any harm in doing so.

My guess is that not everyone likes meat the way I do: fairly well done. When "grilled" means that a piece of meat has started changing color on the outside, but is just barely not raw inside: yes, then I see the need for a thermometer.

I pay attention to food safety, though. On those rare occasions when I've grilled a steak and a test cut through the thickest part shows a touch of red inside, it either goes back on the grill or in the oven until it's done.

Complicated Recipes, Exotic Dishes, and Grilling My Way

About the most exotic foods I've grilled are shishkebabs and corn on the cob (delicious, in both cases).

The corn on the cob is simple, done my way. I grill the meat first, then as that's getting toward the end of the flipping cycles

I put corn cobs on the grill with most of the husk and in place. I've read that it's a good idea to soak the corn cobs before grilling, but ours is pretty fresh, so I don't.

Depending on how hot the grill is, I'll leave the cobs on a couple or five minutes, lift the lid and see what's happening. That's why I leave 'extra' husk on. When it's burned up to near the cob, I flip them and repeat the process.

So far, they've turned out pretty good.

But, not all people are as simple - or crude? - as I am, so I put links to some of the more likely-sounding articles, websites, and recipes in the "Background and resources" section at the end of this post.

Gluten - This I am Fussy About

I'm able to digest gluten, happily, but my oldest daughter can't. Thanks to her need for gluten-free foods, I've become more aware of that particular dietary requirement. The "Background and resources" has one or two leads that might be useful. Or, not. The "Supermarket Guru" search was surprisingly unhelpful that way.

My Plans for Independence Day

My wife may have something else in mind, but I plan to celebrate America's birthday by grilling burgers at noon. I do that most Saturdays, but that doesn't mean I can't enjoy it on July Fourth, too.

Background and resources:

• "The Fourth of July 2008"
  Facts for features, U.S. Census Bureau (May 5, 2008)
• "Independence Day Grilling With Sandra Lee"
  Fox and Friends, FOXNews (July 3, 2009)
  • Hot Italian Sausage and Peppers with Balsamic Pepper and Olive Sauce
  • Jose Cuervo Golden Margarita Over Ice
  • Red Pepper Pasta Salad with Hot Italian sausage
  • Grilled Buttery Herb Corn
  • Star-Spangled (Birthday) Cake
• "Independence Day: Drills for the Grill"
  USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service (June 29, 2009)
• "While July Fourth is America's Favorite Grilling Holiday, Other Countries Celebrate Their National Holidays Much the Same Way"
  PR Newswire (June 24 (2009??))
• "Gluten-free grilling can be simple and delicious"
  Examiner.com (June 17 (2009??))
• "You'll Love These Recipes!!!"
  Phil Lempert, Supermarket Guru
  • I'm a bit dubious about anything with more than one exclamation mark, but he could be right.
• "Extreme Grilling: 4th of July roundup"
  • Grand Rapids Press
  • BBQ.about.com
  • Epicurious' A complete guide to grilling
  • Martha Stewart
  Slashfood (July 4, 2009)
• "Independence Day Grill: Gluten Free Grilled Pizza Recipes and Fourth of July Recipe Roundup"
  Book of Yum (July 3, 2008)
  • Grillable gluten-free foods, with links
• "Gluten-free grilling can be simple and delicious"
  Examiner.com (June 17 (2009??))

A Grill Propane Tank Infotisement and My Equipment Maintenance Philosophy

The Cody Enterprise¹ article starts like dozens of others across America:

"Independence Day is the most popular outdoor cooking holiday of the year with more than two-thirds of Americans firing up the grill, smoker or fryer, according to the Hearth, Patio and Barbecue Association. A few simple steps can help you prepare your grill to make sure you have a safe backyard celebration.

"Make sure your tank is ready..." (Cody Enterprise)

So far, so good. Whoever wrote it packed a lot of information into those two sentences, without making the reader work at prying facts out of the verbiage.

Here's what's next:

"...Make a trip ahead of time to a Blue Rhino propane exchange outlet to help make sure you have enough propane so your party...." (Cody Enterprise)

My attention swerved, skidded, and came to a rocking stop.

It's not often that a news piece directs readers to a particular business. Possibilities popped to the front of my mind.

• There's only one propane service within a day's drive of Cody?
• "Blue Rhino" is a generic term for LP gas retailers in that part of Wyoming?
  • But it's capitalized
• It's an advertisement?
  • But there's no "advertisement" label

You've seen things like this in magazines, sometimes in newspapers: It looks like an article, but extols the virtues of some product, brand, or service provider. Infotisements² I've seen in print have the word "advertisement" somewhere along or near their border: in small print, but visible.

Nothing like that in the "Fourth of July" infotisement. Or around it, or anywhere on the page: apart from "Courtesy of ARAcontent" at the bottom of the piece.

I suppose I could be outraged at this 'violation of the public's trust,' but I like to think that most people are sharp enough to recognize the infotisement for what it is.

Plus, it's got some pretty good safety tips.

I'll Keep My Own LP Tank, Thanks

I'm not criticizing Blue Rhino, or any of the other companies that provide tank-swapping services.

I think I understand why people like to bring an empty tank in, turn it in, and walk away with a full tank. You don't have to wait for someone to fill your old tank, and there's the comfort - for some folks - of knowing that a 'qualified professional' has inspected and passed the tank they're using.

As for me, I'll do my own inspections. I've seen tanks on swap racks with the sort of corrosion and wear that I'd never tolerate on pressure vessels. Particularly ones that contained a potentially explosive substance. Since those had passed inspection, I've wondered what the sort of attention had been paid to the valves and overflow protection devices on the newer-looking tanks.

Fussy? Maybe.

As I said in another post, I'm not a particularly jittery advocate of safety. (June 16, 2009) But I do pay attention to the basics, like making sure that liquid propane will stay in the tank until I want it to come out.

I'd rather fill my own tank, but I don't see self-service LP filling stations so much now. Which may be just as well. But my trust extends to whoever fills the tank for me. Besides, if the tank got damaged, I'd see it, and know that it was time to turn it in for a new one.

My old tank would probably be repaired and re-sold - as a repaired tank, which makes good sense. Then it would be the new owner's concern, not mine.

That's the way I do things.

From the success of Blue Rhino and other companies, it's obvious that not everybody has my approach to equipment maintenance. Which is okay.

The main thing, as I see it, is to have fun grilling, enjoy the food, family, and friends, and not burn down your home in the process.

Related posts:

• "Going to Grill on the Fourth of July? You Might Want to Read This"
  (June 27, 2009)
• "New Jersey Townhomes May Ban Grilling"
  (June 25, 2009)
• "Don't Set Fire to Yourself or Your House: Good Advice from the NFPA"
  Cody Enterprise (June 16, 2009)

In the - news?

• "Fourth of July grilling safety tips"
  Cody Enterprise (undated)

---

¹The Cody Enterprise newspaper is published twice a week in Cody, Wyoming; and was founded by founded by W.F. Buffalo Bill Cody and Colonel John Peake in August 1899. Its online version has reader-submitted news, as well as the more conventional news, sports, obituaries, classified ads and op-ed content.

²"Infotisement?!" That's something that looks like an article, and may give some useful information, but is mainly intended to promote a product or service. An unsourced Wikipedia article says that a copywriter named Matthew McDermott first used it in 2000.

Going to Grill on the Fourth of July? You Might Want to Read This

I enjoy grilling year-round, which takes care of some of the seasonal maintenance issues that come with grilling. From what I read, some folks in America start grilling around July 4th. Which I see is coming up: fast.

There's some pretty good advice out there, so instead of repeating it, I'll just link to a few items in the news.

There's Sparkling Clean - and Easy Griller Clean

Although I make sure that the working parts are reasonably clean, I'm not all that fastidious about scraping every bit of material off the inside of my grill. That's partly my disinclination to do what I see as unnecessary work. And, partly my preference for the flavor that grilled food gets, if you let it.

It took several weeks, before food from our first grill lost that new-car taste. The family's current one didn't take as long to break in: but even there it went through several cycles of use before the burgers were obviously not cooked on the stove.

Don't Eat Burned Meat

I know: you've probably read that grilling, along with everything else on Earth, causes cancer. I discussed this in the safety section of the Easy Griller website. When I dug past the 'scare' articles and read what people who had done actual research had to say, it turns out that it's the burned-to-a-crisp meat and fat that have carcinogens.

So, unless you burn your food to a crisp or eat the debris that collects at the bottom of the grill (disgusting thought), you should be okay.

Related posts:

• "Don't Set Fire to Yourself or Your House: Good Advice from the NFPA"
  (June 16, 2009)
• "Fire Safety, or A Tale of Two Matches"
  (August 11, 2007)
• "The Most Important Grilling Tool: Common Sense"
  (July 31, 2007)

In the news:

• "Caution stressed when grilling on Fourth of July"
  Arizona Republic (June 27, 2009)
• "Barbecue 101: Clean it before you grill it"
  San Francisco Chronicle (June 26, 2009)
• "Don't Get Burned When You Cook: Grilling Safety Tips"
  eNews Parks (June 22, 2009)
• "Backyard StayCations: The Perfect Swarm"
  CNN (June 16)
  (This is more about mosquitoes than grilling - but since this might be an unusually 'good' year for mosquitoes, you might want to read it.)

New Jersey Townhomes May Ban Grilling

In a culture which finds it necessary to warn consumers that a clear jar of peanuts contains peanuts, when the peanuts are clearly visible, and the label already says "PEANUTS," I suppose this sort of thing makes sense.

The Hermitage Townhomes Complex is discussing whether or not to allow residents of the townhomes to cook outside, using barbecue grills. The fire marshal said to have the grills a certain distance from the houses, which put the grills in the back yards.

That's not enough for the housing board. They think grills are unsafe, and want them banned.

Grillers of the World Unite! You Have Nothing to Lose But Your Fire Permit!

The residents didn't see it that way, and raised a fuss.

It's anyone's guess how this will come out.

The housing board has a point, in a way. a few days ago, someone let a barbecue fire get out of hand. About $10,000-worth of car and house got cooked, instead of the meal. And, fire can spread easily in townhouses.

It's not just a safety issue. The housing board is afraid that all those people grilling in their back yards will bring down the property values.

Maybe the board thinks that most people are afraid of barbecue grills and the fires they cause. Or, maybe it's a class distinction thing.

I rather hope that the folks living in Hermitage Townhomes Complex get to keep their grills.

Related posts:

• "Don't Set Fire to Yourself or Your House: Good Advice from the NFPA"
  (June 16, 2009)
• "Fire Safety, or A Tale of Two Matches"
  (August 11, 2007)
• "Most Important Grilling Tool: Common Sense"
  (July 31, 2007)

In the news:

• "To grill or not to grill?"
  The Voorhees Sun (June 25, 2009)
• "Wayward barbecue grills house, vehicle in Martinez"
  San Jose Mercury News (June 23, 2009)

Don't Set Fire to Yourself or Your House: Good Advice from the NFPA

If you've read the "Extreme Safety: Above and Beyond the Call of Reason" page on Easy Griller, you know that I'm not a particularly jittery advocate of safety.

I think that's partly because I remember a world where transparent jars of peanuts didn't have a 'warning - contain peanuts' label. Growing up next door to regions where being stupid sometimes resulted in your body being recovered next spring may have contributed.

Given the legal and cultural system that makes it necessary for manufacturers to warn people that a see-through jar of peanuts, labeled "PEANUTS," contains peanuts, I didn't know what to expect from an outfit with "protection" in its name.

I was pleasantly surprised at "Grilling" (NFPA (National Fire Protection Association)). The page has some common-sense "safety tips" about how to use propane and charcoal BBQ grills without setting fire to yourself or your house.

There's a collection of "Facts & Figures" that shows why being careful with grills - particularly the ones that use liquid propane - is important. ("...Although gas grills are used roughly 1.5 times as often as charcoal grills, they were involved in five times as many fires...."

NFPA's page has links to audio recordings, and (in principle) a video about grilling safety. In practice, if you start at NFPA's page, you'll drop into the second of two videos.

I figured, if there's a video #2, there was probably a video #1. And, sure enough, there is. I put both of them here, from NFPA's YouTube account.

Together, they take less than six minutes to view, and have some pretty good, common-sense advice, like:

"...If you see a white fog, or smell gas, it's a sign of a leak. It's very unlikely, but if it should happen, just call your local fire department for help...."

"...Now, grills are not inherently dangerous, but any time you work with fire, there are risks...."

The second video discusses some safety aspects of charcoal grills. And, gave a good reason for keeping high-velocity kids and grills away from each other. Emergency rooms report that children younger than five account for about a quarter of burns from hot grills.

Finally, the NFPA videos give the viewer credit for some sense. Not once does NFPA's Principal Gas Engineer, Ted Lemoff, say 'don't pour gasoline on a burning grill.'

"Grilling Safety Tips - Part 1"

nfpadotorg, YouTube (June 01, 2009)
video 2:52

"Grilling Safety Tips - Part 2"

nfpadotorg, YouTube (May 22, 2009)
video 2:58