Men who can't grill?

[Stuart S]

Wow, reading the stories of you guys who's dads taught them to throw a ball and BBQ the wrong way (lol), and those who would give anything for another chance to be with them really touches my heart and reminds me what a class A douche my father is.

I also grew up with a single mother...and we did have a cheap charcoal grill, but mainly because my mom is from Trinidad and gas grills were like UFO's to her back then. I never learned how to BBQ from her, but I did learn how to season food without recipes and measuring spoons and how to make things like ox tails and blood sausage taste great well before they became popular.

I've got two kids and both of them help me cook, everyday. In fact my 12 year old made the marinade for some skirt steak and shrimp on her own tonight...without a recipe and from scratch I might add.

Those of us who know better have a responsibility to teach our kids and the mis-guided youth we encounter how to do these things. In an age where people rely on others to do everything for them, they need someone to awaken a passion to want to learn how to do things in them so they become like I think many of us are: experts at every little thing that catches our fancy.

There are people on this site who do amazing things every single day of the week. Innovative cooking, re-habbing grills...using battery chargers to renew cast iron skillets.

I truly think that we are a bunch of kindred spirits on this site and I feel richer for taking part.

 

[Russ Harris]

Hey now...don't discount the ability to use the indoor gear too.

Hey man - I hear you. Don't get me wrong, I can get busy on a stove-top all day long. Like I said, I was raised by a pack of women so I can saute and bake and all that stuff too. I used to bake cakes and pies and cookies with my mom all the time. But I had to wait until I was in my 30s to learn how to grill and now I enjoy it so much, the only time I'm in front of the oven these days is when I'm heating up my grilled leftovers in the microwave. Like I said, I let Mrs. Harris handle that. Just like she lets me handle the grillin' and smokin'. That's the way we roll.

 

[Hayden McCall]

Originally posted by Russ Harris:
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">
Hey now...don't discount the ability to use the indoor gear too.

Hey man - I hear you. Don't get me wrong, I can get busy on a stove-top all day long. Like I said, I was raised by a pack of women so I can saute and bake and all that stuff too. I used to bake cakes and pies and cookies with my mom all the time. But I had to wait until I was in my 30s to learn how to grill and now I enjoy it so much, the only time I'm in front of the oven these days is when I'm heating up my grilled leftovers in the microwave. Like I said, I let Mrs. Harris handle that. Just like she lets me handle the grillin' and smokin'. That's the way we roll. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

It's a good way to roll.

 

[Janet Lovett]

Even though this is for the men who can't grill thread, I had to respond. I started grilling about 5 years ago, after I moved to Florida. I started with a Thermos charcoal grill. Looks like the OTG. Always struggled with lighting it, being afraid of lighting fluid, I stayed away from it. Started to do research on the internet, and finally got a chimney that I saw someone use on the Food Network. Again, I still struggled. Finally got some lighter fluid, and had somewhat some success. But the taste of my grillings led me to find another alternative. It took me awhile, but I came to this site, and devoured all the information I could. I tried smoking, using my Thermos grill with great success. The more I tried, the more adventurous I got. Then I started looking at Craigs list, and bought a Genesis Silver A
, for $30, WSM for 100,2 Performers, one for 125, and the other for 95. I've learned so much from this site, as to how to repair, clean and use them. I have to tell you, I feel like I'm a grill-aholic! Because of you all I have become a better cook! I have been a good student from Virtual Weber bulletin board forums!

Thank you all!

 

[Ray Crick]

Janet,

Sounds like you have learned well. Congratulations!

Ray

 

[Scott Dace]

I was lucky as a kid, my Father managed a dairy farm and I grew up on it. On a farm you learn to do things on your own. And as a kid growing up there I had the run of the place so me and my buddy would take full advantage of the land, hunting, fishing and camping which led to cooking on an open fire. I was never taught to grill or smoke, all that just evolved from desire and necessity. At 12 and 13 years of age my buddy and I would dissappear for a week into the woods and my Parents would never worry about it. Too bad you can't do that nowadays.

 

[Tony R]

I found this thread looking for a recipe...but my son will learn how to cook and his on his way....he has been helping me since he was 3 he is now 6 going on 7 in August 21

He has his mini WSM that I gave him and lets me borrow it.

 

[Jerome D.]

Tony, thanks for resurrecting this thread. Those are great pictures of you teaching your son - he looks like he's having fun. I learned how to grill from my older brother, and have shared some of my knowledge with my younger brother (when he goes to cookouts, his friends find it mindblowing that he actually knows how to do crosshatch sear marks). I think grilling is an important craft to pass to future generations, as BBQ is as much about camaraderie as it is about the food itself.

This is a little off-topic, but one thing that really annoys me is when I see super-wealthy people who own top-of-the-line grills with all the bells & whistles, and all they use it for is to cook hot dogs and pre-formed supermarket burgers. It's kind of like when I see people who can afford a 15,000 BTU Viking stove and all they use it for is to boil water for boxed mac & cheese. Ok, rant over.

 

[DarylB]

We had a gasser in the yard growing up but we used it a couple times a year. I learned a lifetime of lessons from my dad but grilling with charcoal wasnt one of them. I had to figure that one out on my own.

The way I see it, the world needs men (and women) who can grill or cook in general, fix cars, fix computers (times have changed, life with it), grow or raise the food we eat, cut grass, fix stuff around the house, and all sorts of other services we all need to get by. I tend not to hassle a guy who cant do one of those things. I dont care if the guy that does my taxes can light charcoal or not as long as he does a good job on my taxes.

That said, I think the accountants of the world (no offense intended to the grilling accountants on the board) should at least be able to cook a burger on a gasser. Doesn't have to be great, just cooked over fire.

 

[Frank H]

Likewise my dad was (is at 87) a tremendous cook and I grew up watching and helping him cook meat. In the oven and on the grill my old man ruled for many years. I passed on that knowledge to my boys and they both know their way around a grill (and a kitchen). Gotta teach them how to cook!

 

[S Riddell]

My dad was never taught to cook because his dad didn't like to cook and also liked really bland food. My mom however is a really good cook, but all we had growing up was a gasser. I started to do the grilling on it when I was in my late teens and got pretty good at it. That was all the cooking I did at that point though, so I still fell into the lazy category when it came to my cooking. I think I really learned the most from my grandpa. He always had at least 3 bbqs, although I used to wonder why he had so many. Now I know. I invited the whole family over for fathers day this year. I made ribs and ABTs on my WSM and cedar planked mashed potatoes on my gasser. Everyone was raving about how good the food was, my grandpa even said I was a better cook then he was, and my grandma wants to hire me to cook for a party sometime! It is a very rewarding experience when someone you look up to praises you like that and it just makes you push that much more to expand your grilling/smoking/cooking skills.

Now if I could only convince my wife that I need that green performer in our backyard too....

 

[Dave Alvarado]

I'm backwards. My dad is a gasser, and growing up we didn't have much so it was a cheap-charlie charcoal grill with lots of lighter fluid.

At 34 I dove head-first into charcoal cooking, picking up a Performer and a 22" WSM around Christmas last year. Now I'm teaching dad all the tricks. I keep taking Q over to his place and he raves about it, then I share how I did it.

The way I see it, it's never too late to start learning the right way.

 

[Pete in PG]

I learned to cook on my Dad's Weber when I was 8 years old (early 60's). George Stephen was a family friend and we had a Weber all the time, but Dad wasn't a griller. His idea was to have a Scotch or two before flipping the burger or steak. One day he suggested I learn to use the grill (it was Winter and below freezing) and that was the start of it.

 

[Steve Whiting]

Great Pictures Tony. You Son will remember and cherish these times with his Dad someday.

 

[Dustin Flavell]

Great pictures Tony! Brings back memories of when I was a young man about the age of your son. My dad always cooked with charcoal and even built his own mortar and brick charcoal, not gas, bbq island. He would cook every meal, every night, rain or shine on a charcoal bbq. One year for my birthday I asked for fried chicken for my birthday dinner and that's what I got fried chicken cooked in cast iron on his charcoal grill. From that day forward I remember learning and helping my dad with Qing. My dad was also the one who introduced me to using a weber kettle instead of the junk I had been using as I grew up.

He never got into smoking, but sure was interested when I bought my first log smoker. Last month when I bought my WSM he made the hour and half drive so we could take it on its maiden voyage that very same day.

 

[Jo Torez]

You have a point. Guys in my street keep coming to my door asking to see my "smoking equipment" which I take to mean the WSM. They always stare at it like aliens landed in my yard and left their technology. I'm now a legend just for knowing how to make a fire without lighter fluid let alone cooking edible food over charcoal.

Our friends can all swing a golf club, but they don't seem to have much by way of practical skills. They roll their eyes because we have alternative power, a stock of food and water in the basement, battery operated radio, and a good first aid kit. Being organized for an emergency seems like common sense to me - and with our charcoal cookers, we can make food if the power is out, too! If that makes us nuts...oh, well...

^^^ also a girl who bought a OTG and a WSM and teaching myself through all of you for that reason. Hurricane Sandy was the straw that broke the camel's back.

 

[Tony R]

Great Pictures Tony. You Son will remember and cherish these times with his Dad someday.

My dad really didn't teach me but I just saw what he did...my dad would let me hang out around the grill with my uncles and other men while my aunts and other moms would tell the their kids to keep away from the "guys talking around the grill".... Good times.

 

[Robert McGee]

I have really enjoyed reading this whole thread, again! Tony R. - I loved the shots of you and your family. That young man will NEVER forget the experiences he is experiencing with his father. Good for you!

I am a certified "Old Fart" at age 78 and tomorrow morning I will put on a Boston Butt (already injected and rubbed resting overnight in the refrigerator) and tomorrow will be tending the fire on my 18.5 WSM. I taught all three of my children essential skills and can tell you for sure that they can do all of the normal maintenance on their cars, electrical work, and finish carpenter work (my daughter does no auto work, but she DOES know a good bit about it). Her husband is an enthusiastic griller and does a good job. All three of them (my two sons and son-in-law) grill rather seriously. Four or five years ago a hurricane passed through here (unheard of in Ohio) and took the power out for most of the State. I believe 81 out of the 83 counties were pretty much shut down. Frankly, we (my wife and I) didn't suffer much at all. I just did our meals on the grills and also my Coleman Stove from camping days, etc. We did just fine. Many did not... No comments on that...

I have been a back packer for much of my life. Cooking over open fires and back packer stoves in true wilderness areas was just common for me. My children were all introduced to back packing (including my daughter). My son-in-law picked out a Father's Day trip of Canyon Hiking (Utah) with my daughter and two grand children (my grandson is six and my grand daughter is eight). They are all accomplished outdoorsmen (and women). My oldest son is retired military (a medical officer and a full bird Colonel with Delta Force). He is a great griller and smoker (with his Performer). He and his family will be up here next week for a few days. We will greet them with pulled pork and after they get here, the smoker and grill will be blazing until they leave. My youngest son is a pretty dern good cook, also, as well as a good mechanic and finish carpenter (makes his living as a business consultant). My daughter and son-in-law as well as my oldest son are doing extremely well with their children. They all know where food comes from and how to prepare it. You should watch the little ones jump to help prepare food and the older ones are quire competent in their own right.

We are blessed, that is for sure.

I have been a competitive shooter for all of my adult life. I cast my own bullets and reload. I have taken a half dozen deer with a handgun. My kids KNOW where food comes from. I was raised on a farm and it gives me a different prospective than others I have met. I started out in life with two great parents but not much money. We learned to do a LOT of things for ourselves. My "career" was thirty years as a Major Case Claims Representative for an insurance company. My skill set was useful far beyond what anyone would imagine in my job.

When I first got married, I married a GREAT cook (she is formally trained but also came from a "cooking family"). We recently celebrated our fifty-fifth wedding anniversary - like I said, I have been blessed. One summer (we had been married a year or so) we had our first home and there was no air conditioning in those days. My wife really didn't like the heat (she is from NORTHERN Ohio). So, I told her I would grill every evening meal at our house for eight months. I kept my promise. We did EVERYTHING on a cheap grill (but it had a rotisserie) so I learned to do sweet corn on the cob, roasted chickens, of course chops and steaks, as well as LOTS of hamburgers and hot dogs! I had a neighbor that liked to grill and we became great friends and swapped food over the fence, etc.

All in all, charcoal has been a friend of mine for some time. To be truthful, time got to be a problem for me, and I bought a gas grill and used that for some time. The last one died on me and my younger brother (a pretty dern good cook in his own right) gifted me with a 18.5" OTS to tide me over. After using it for about a week I realized what I was missing (like FLAVOR) and away I went. I have been back in the fold, for some time, doncha know.

FWIW
Dale53

 

[Bill - Bigbill]

It is only going to get worse

To make matters worse, they are reproducing. It is an entirely new world out there.
When I was a kid, we had to be dragged indoors by our parents (for meals & chores & bedtime & other such nonsense).
Todays youth has to be KICKED OUT THE DOOR, and even when you do, they sit and Text or play games
on their phones.

We grew up in Scouting, learning to cook on REAL WOOD fires in the woods, or frying up a batch of Smelt that we dip netted in a CI pan
full of bacon fat on a creek-side fire. This continued on through adulthood during 'backpacking' deer hunts.
Cooking on charcoal is an extension of this early training. I will admit to owning a gasser, but that is a matter of
convenience more than anything.

Enough ranting for now, this forum is for HAPPY THOUGHTS.

 

[Briant]

Great thread! Moderately handy when it comes to home repairs, useless on cars, but...

I'm 36 and have 3 Webers... My dad's 1974 kettle, my kettle he bought for me when I moved to my first house in college and the WSM my wife bought me last Christmas. I stole dad's old one for a party a couple years ago, and never gave it back... He's in his 70's now, so really only wants to use his Genesis. I actually use my dad's top grate and ash pan on the newer kettle- as I find they are better than the ones that came with my mid 90's model. When we bought our current house, I got a Brinkmann gasser that I am about to replace with a Weber gasser. Also going to upgrade to the Performer soon.

I don't have boys, I've got a tremendous 12 year old step daughter and a 4 year old daughter. My oldest loves to cook with me and already knows how to light a chimney and get the kettle set up for direct and indirect grilling (and with only one minor burn during training). She can also work the WSM, knowing vent principles and starting methods. I've told her my goal is to send her to college as a grill master, and she's cool with it. I randomly throw questions at her like 'what temp do we cook butts to?' and 'how can you tell when baby backs are done?' and she's getting good. I remember hanging with my dad outside cooking, and I hope she can look back the same way.

On the other hand, just this past Saturday, I had to email a friend (a 30 something male) Chris' link from this site on how to use a chimney starter- which he owned but didn't know how to use. His wife was complaining that he was trying to start his smoker with lighter fluid....