Looking Forward to Labor Day Weekend

A week ago last Thursday, that'd be the 16th, my wife asked me to grill burgers for lunch on a weekday. Apart from that, I've been in my regular routine: putting burger patties on the grill for the noon meal each Saturday and Sunday.

Labor Day weekend is coming, so hypothetically I might get a chance to grill on Monday. Then again, I might not.

My grilling style is still simple - or unimaginative - or elegant. I go out, grill the burgers on one side until they're starting to turn brown around the edges, flip them, and then either wait until they're done all the way through: or over-done.

I'm getting better at not making burger briquettes: and should have my 'summer' skill refined by the time it's winter again.

Summer: Getting Used to the Heat

Thanks to my son-in-law's advice about flipping the burgers once, and no more - and flipping them when the edges have started to turn brown - I'm not longer taking hamburger briquettes off the grill.

Then there's the annual adjustment to summer. Grilling in winter, the flame is just as hot - but around the grill can be below zero. Fahrenheit. In summer, it's anywhere from 'room temperature' up to 90 or so. That makes a difference in how fast burgers get ready to flip.

This summer, I flatter myself that I've learned a bit faster than usual - again avoiding taking briquettes inside.

Grilling and Spring Thaw

I grilled burgers for the noon meal yesterday and today: standing on pavement each day, not snow and ice.

It's a welcome change from winter.

I've even learned when to flip the burger patties - when they start turning brown around the edges. That advice from my son-in-law, who's visiting today.

The trick now will be to apply that knowledge in the field. Or, rather, on the grill.

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.

False Alarm

The flatbed I saw, getting ready to unload, is delivering supplies to our neighbor across the street, north.

Frost is out of the ground by now, for the most part, so it's time to get outdoor work done. The joke around here is that Minnesota has four seasons: Fall, Winter, Spring and Road Work.

March Winds: in April

It's been two weeks, about, since I spent a nearly-sleepless weekend getting tax-related reports ready. For some reason, it takes me longer to bounce back from that sort of thing now, than it did when I was in college. In the early seventies.

Since the last post, I've gotten a new spatula. Not the $4.29 Char Broil model I mentioned before. I went a little more upscale and got one at Fleet Supply: a solid number by Grill Zone that set me back a little over $5.00 USD, after tax.

I think it was worth the extra expense: the spatula blade and core of the handle are a single piece of stainless steel, with hardwood bolted on the handle to give insulation and a better grip. It should last a while.

I grilled burgers again this weekend. There was so much wind that I had to get a sort of tiny bonfire of matches going before the LP gas would light. And that was with #1 daughter holding the sandbox cover up to provide a wind break.

The burgers were a little over-done, but I think I'm handling the transition to summer grilling pretty well. And learning when to keep 'enough' from becoming 'goo much.'

Oh, boy: I think material for the patio is being delivered.

Grilling in the Minnesota Springtime

Ever wonder why so few people who live in Minnesota lapse into poetic ecstasy on the subject of springtime? This video may explain why:

It's Spring: Minnesota Style

I'm able to see more of the base of the grill now.

It's springtime in Minnesota: which isn't the blooming-flowers-and-chirping-birds event it is in some places. (See March 3, 2010, Sauk Centre Journal Blog, for photos.)

At this rate, by the weekend I may have to decide whether it makes more sense to stop down snow in front of the grill to provide solid footing, or scrape away what's left and hope the sod isn't too sodden.

Sunday, Ice, Snow, and a Suddenly Sinking Cane

I grilled burgers for lunch this afternoon, with #1 daughter to keep me company. It's warmer - not far below freezing - so the snow and ice is melting in spots. #1 daughter found a slick spot, but I think I have her beat: My cane abruptly sank in an extra couple of inches at one point.

That was an interesting experience - particularly since I was holding a plate of frozen burger patties at the time.

I think I'm definitely back in the grill-each-weekend routine now: and loving it.

Grilling in Winter: Nice to Know I'm Not Alone

I ran into this item today:

"A little cold weather doesn't put the freeze on cooking outdoors"
Courier-Journal, Louisville, Kentucky (February 24, 2010)

"The snow has piled up on the deck. A brisk wind sweeps across the yard. Night has fallen hard by 6 p.m. But the grill outside Elizabeth Bartholomew's kitchen has been fired up, waiting to cook supper: salmon on a cedar plank with honey-mustard glaze, potato wedges and asparagus.

"For some aficionados of outdoor cooking, seasons are irrelevant. Most barbecues are tucked away in garages or basements, or snuggled under weatherproof canvas wraps by Halloween. But Bartholomew and her husband, Chris, have never let a little cold weather or even a half-foot or so of snow interfere with their passion for grilling...."

One phrase, "even a half-foot or so of snow" hints that whoever wrote the article didn't live here in Minnesota - no surprise, since it's in a Kentucky newspaper. A half-foot of snow here isn't "even" - unless it's in September. As wrote in another blog:

"...Snow. We've had snow this winter. Lots of snow. A drift in my back yard just about covers two lawn chairs - and even after excavations, I have to bend over to reach the grill when I'm fixing burgers on the weekend. I figure I'm standing on at least a half-foot of compacted snow and ice...."
(Sauk Centre Journal Blog, February 24, 2010)

Although I applaud them for grilling year-round, the Bartholomew's obviously have a different approach to outdoor cookery than I do. I mean to say: can you imagine the Easy Griller preparing "salmon on a cedar plank with honey-mustard glaze, potato wedges and asparagus"?

It sounds delicious - but I'm not likely to spend that sort of time and effort on a meal.

If you're interested, though: the article includes a few recipes.

Winter Grilling: Near Zero, and Glad of It

The temperature was up to about three degrees above zero, Fahrenheit, when I went out to grill this noon. I actually prefer that sort of temperature, if I'm going to be standing around for a while. When it's closer to the freezing point, ice and snow under my feet are more likely to melt, and standing in near-freezing water is colder, in my experience, than standing on dry frozen snow and ice.


A degree or two above zero, Fahrenheit, but it's still good to grill. (December 13, 2009)

Anyway, I got the burgers grilled - it took a bit longer, with more flame, than when it's in the nineties - and seem to have regained the knack for winter grilling.

They were done - but not burned to a crisp.

A Really Fine Grill: For Someone Else

"Kalamazoo Outdoor Gourmet™ Hybrid Grills Bring Precision, Versatility to the Outdoor Kitchen During the Fall Grilling Season"
Kalamazoo Outdoor Gourmet press release (October 2, 2009)

"With football season underway and the fall holidays fast approaching, Kalamazoo Outdoor Gourmet™ says it's time to kick off grilling's second season.

"The Hearth, Patio and Barbeque Association estimates that 40 percent of Americans close up their grills for the fall and winter seasons.Kalamazoo Outdoor Gourmet™ thinks that amounts to too many people missing out on the enjoyment that comes from grilling in their outdoor kitchens later into the year...."

I took a quick look at the Kalamazoo Outdoor Gourmet website - it's fairly impressive. They sell outdoor grills, outdoor refrigerators - outdoor kitchens, even. And T-shirts.

The press release isn't just fluff and 'buy our stuff' rhetoric. There are some pretty good bits of advice - like 'keep the grill lid closed.' They say it's important in fall, when the temperature goes down. True enough, but it's a good idea in summer, too. As the press release points out, with the lid down, you concentrate ("lock in" they say) the smoke - which in my book is the reason for outdoor grilling in the first place. It's the smoke that gives meat a taste you won't get on the stove.

Me? I'm not likely to buy their products. Their outdoor grills start at a mere $1,895 and work their way up to a beauty that goes for $11,995. The grill I'm using now, I bought at Wal-Mart. For about a tenth the price of their low-end unit.

It looks like Kalamazoo Outdoor Gourmet has a great product line - but it's not for someone at my end of the economic spectrum.

Which is okay.

From the looks of it, that $12,000-minus-$5 grill is (probably) worth the 'extra' $11,845 I'd pay for it, compared to what I've got. There's a plethora of controls, trays, storage space, and the option to use wood for grilling - which should add significantly to the flavor.

That super-grill looks great.

But - and this is important - pretty good results are possible with a $150 grill. I'm all for someone who's got the income and the interest to go high-end: provided they get high quality as well as a hefty price tag. But there's no reason to feel left out at the other end: I enjoy what I've got.

One thing I really appreciated about the press release was the emphasis on out-of-season grilling. I think American culture's pegged grilling as a summer-only activity. I'll grant that it takes someone like me to grill in anything short of a blizzard - but grilling in autumn would be a great way of stretching the 'outdoor activities' part of your life.

Autumn, Three Burgers, and a Loud Motor

It was about 50 out when I grilled burgers this noon: a fairly typical fall temperature here in central Minnesota.

Today I'd been given three burger patties to take care of - apparently my wife isn't storing 'leftover' burgers any more. I'm learning - one side of the burgers got darker than most of the family likes them, but they're far from incinerated.

Aside from the pleasure of eating grilled burgers, I like the fifteen or so minutes I get, standing by the grill and enjoying the neighborhood.

Today the background noise wasn't birds, or wind, or the occasional passing car.

I think someone was using one of those big shop vacuums, maybe a block or two away. That muted whine isn't the sort of thing that most people wax eloquent about - but it's part of the ambiance here, and it's okay.

Autumn's Here: Chilly, Damp Autumn

The forecast says it'll get up to about 50 degrees Saturday. It's been raining - which we need - but there's a good chance the grass will have dried out by then.

And, if all goes well, I'll be out there, grilling burgers around noon.

I'm not one of those summer-only grillers. It takes something like a high fever, a blizzard, or a tornado warning - plus my wife - to keep me from grilling, in all four seasons.

The only frustration I feel, now that it's cooling off, is that I finally re-learned how not to incinerate burgers in summer. During winter's low temperatures, it's a whole different ballgame.

Still: I'm looking forward to having quiet moments with me, maybe a member of the family, and the passing season this weekend.

Grilling on July Fourth: Burgers, Steaks, Church Bells, Birdsongs, and a Really Hot Handle

I got to grill twice today: burgers at noon and steak for supper. I got the steaks overly-done, even by my standards: I'll get back to that.

Both sessions were accompanied by birdsongs and church bells: Our Lady of the Angels church is two blocks north, on the other side of the street, so I heard the noon and five o'clock peals clearly.

Time passes, and with it comes change. For years, I'd hear a dog about a block away, east and a bit north, howl in response to the bells. He - or she - was quite musical, in a canine way. That doesn't happen now. I suppose the owner may have moved, or the dog is gone.

A mourning dove's call is one of the few birdsongs I recognize. There was one vocalizing when I was fixing the steaks.

Crunchy Steaks and Other Learning Experiences

I go through the same process each time the seasons change: as summer heat settles in, I re-learn how to use a grill that's already part-way to the heat needed to grill meat. And, in the process, come pretty close to reducing at least one meal to briquettes.

Today's supper was a case in point. The grill had been up to normal (for me) grilling temperature at noon, and had at most cooled down to the 79 degrees I was enjoying. After five minutes, I flipped the steaks - and found they were already black in a few places. I learned something else, too: I'm getting to that.

Long story cut short, my wife quite properly gave me part of the crunchiest steak of the lot. It was pretty good, actually: the burned-black meat was strictly on the surface, and they were done evenly all the way through. I'll remember to turn down the heat a bit more and earlier, next time.

This winter, I'll probably go through the same learning experience, in reverse.

Singed Hair and the Spatula as a Lid-Shutting Tool

The hair on my left forearm is growing back nicely, after a little incident recently involving the grill and tongues of flame. The lid of our current grill swings rather far back. When open, the distance between the front of the grill and the handle suggests to me that whoever designed the thing must have been closer to seven feet tall, than six.

That experience encouraged me to re-think my approach to opening and closing the grill. The happy thought struck me that, while I needed to reach around the grill to open the lid, I could use the spatula as an extension of my arm when reaching for the handle. Now, I often use the edge of the spatula that's closest to the handle to hook one of the supports for the lid's handle. That keeps my arm further from the fire: and a bit safer.

Oven Mitts aren't Just for Ovens

Today, I learned something else: the handle can get very hot, very fast, under the right conditions. Like grilling steaks for supper, after using the grill at noon.

When I lifted the lid - or, rather, started to lift it - to flip the steaks the first time, I got the lid about three inches up before my fingers lodged a formal complaint. That handle was hot!

#1 daughter was out with me, giving her rabbit, Giol, an outing, and went in for an oven mitt. That solved the hot handle issue quite neatly.

Tomorrow, I hope to do the same thing: grill, I mean, not zap the steaks and nearly burn my fingers.

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.)

Springtime in Minnesota

I didn't realize, when I started "Easy Griller" - the blog - how hard it is to write about grilling burgers.

Well, actually, it isn't. I could go on for what would seem like forever, detailing how it's a bad idea to turn on the gas, and then get a match out; or the "foomp!" when the fire starts; or how my eyes sting, letting me know that we've got enough smoke to make the grilling worthwhile.

But I noticed that each grilling session is like that. Saturday and Sunday, regular as clockwork, I go out with a plate of burgers - or burgers and a wiener - put them on the grill, light the fire, flip them several times, and then take them back inside.

Sometimes I light the fire first, and then put the burgers on, and sometimes there's a different number of burgers, but that's about all the variety there is.

So, that's why I haven't made entries lately.

Today, there is something to report. Minnesota spring is happening!

Elsewhere there may be the stereotype blooming flowers, but here in Minnesota, spring is the season when winter melts.

Water flooded the space where I stand, in front of the grill. That's drained away, happily, but you can see where it was, in that photo. See the edge of the ice? That's where the waterline was.

Something else has changed, too. We need a new grill. This old workhorse has served us well, but it's getting to the point where I'm a little concerned about parts wearing out.

Not the metal grid where I put the meat: one of the crosspieces wore through in one spot, and a few others are nearly there. That just means I have to be aware of where I put the meat. I'm more worried about the valves and tubing, that have been subjected to the wild temperature changes all these years.

I suspect that it'd be about as expensive to replace all that, as it would be to get a new grill - one that isn't deformed from that time when I learned that chicken fat makes a pretty good fuel.

Problem is, this family had quite a bit of month left at the end of our money this month, and a new grill lags far behind medical bills, household maintenance and repair, and food: in terms of priority.

Grilling: a Four-Season Pursuit

Outdoor grilling: that's just for summer and maybe fall, right?

Especially in places like Minnesota, where water becomes a mineral for several months each year, and National Guard arctic maneuvers have been canceled, due to inclement weather.

For the casual griller, perhaps.

For one dedicated to Guriru-do, all seasons are one. There is not the griller, the grill, the burgers, and the weather. There is only the grilling.