As soon as it’s time to grill something I get elbowed out of the way by Husband, wearing his “grilling face.” “Grilling face,” is an interesting expression that you will often find adorning the faces of self proclaimed Grill Masters as they hover over outdoor cooking flames. Brows furrowed in concentration, lips pressed together as single-minded focus leads them towards their ultimate goal– dinner.
It begins with a systematic appraisal of the raw materials. Some stirring and patting, definitely some last minute seasoning, and always some sort of eye-level evaluation that I won’t even pretend to understand. Next we need to heat up the grill. When lighting the grill, a sane person (ie. me) will toss in a match and jump the hell out of the way. It’s an impressive eyebrow-protecting maneuver that comes naturally to me. (It’s only embarrassing when the match doesn’t catch and I have to do it a second or third time.) Grill Masters never jump or scamper. A lit match slips from steady fingers and the Grill Master manfully stands his ground when the flames catch with a loud whooshing boom and a burst of heat. Like I said, I value eyebrows over manliness, but maybe that’s because I’m a chick.
Gigantic (grilling only!) tongs are used to ever so gingerly encourage a row of skewered eats onto its side. What we’re looking for here is an optimum grill mark pattern which will result in satisfied head nodding. I stand to the side and perfect my golf clap. ”Grilling face” includes a certain amount of eye squinting once things start to get smoky, and it only adds to the mystique of the Grill Master. The squinting indicates that it’s almost time.
For me, grilling is an exercise in dropping food through the little holes and scraping what remains off the grill to find that our dinner has developed a nice “blackened” seasoning that I hadn’t planned for. But for the chosen few, the Grill Masters, it is a timeless dance. A courtship between flames and food in the hopes that it will culminate in a flavorful marriage. You know, like pizza.
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5 Comments
What a gorgeous photo, it’s bursting with color (and I imagine flavor too!)
This made me burst out laughing, too funny! I love to grill. Over the past few weeks, I haven’t been doing it too much because it’s so hot. However I do think I’ll be grilling before the week is over. I’ve been craving some grilled black bean burgers.
i live with one of them “Grilling Masters” and the lips pressed together are a definite characteristic of the species. do you ever see the variation of tongue curling in concentration over the top lip? or maybe that’s only seen in the canadian breed…
Thanks Moondancer
More power to you! Get thee to the grill!
Corina, I know exactly what you’re talking about, lol.
Oh man this looks delicious! Everything here looks so yummy! And your photographs are beautiful!
I recently launched my own blog http://www.prettygoodfood.com I’d love for you to check it out and let me know what you think! Thanks and Happy Cooking!
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