Arlo and Janis by Jimmy Johnson for January 12, 2021

There is always that One person that wants WELL done! 8^ )

Personally, I like meats that are still juicy. Like Janis, my wife insists on well done. “You’ll get worms” is her favorite line from Christmas Story.

When I say I want my steak rare, I want you to pass a match under it.

When I say I want it well done, I want you to light the match first…

Thanks, Jimmy.. that really gave me a good laugh this morning. Love Arlo’s face in the 3rd frame… I’ve been there and know that feeling. :)

What is it with barbecues and Americans? Osmosis? Barbecue drug? In the middle of winter you can grill steaks in the kitchen. ;)

I see that Arlo is a real man. Barbecue season is year round for real men!

BTW I didn’t know that Janis is a Hockey fan. I’m only saying that because most people order their steaks rare, medium, or well but it looks like she ordered hers “Hockey Puck”. ;-)

Our new house has a great gazebo and a little platform on the side for the grill. It’s in a corner, so the wind is blocked on two sides by the fence, the house is a third side, and the wind always comes from the fourth side.

I remember an incident in Canada awhile back where fecal matter was discovered in ground hamburger meat. The advice of the Minister of Health at the time was: “cook the s—t out of it.”

Same at my house. Problem is….mine gets cold while “ruining” wifeys .

My mother used to char hamburgers until they were black. Finally, when I was a young teen, I took over the task simply to get a burger that wasn’t a briquette.

Always looks after his own interests. Next, he’ll fluff up the pillows.

We recently discovered sous vide (“under vacuum” – says the cookbook) cooking. The victim – is it always meat? – is vacuum sealed in a plastic bag and immersed in water that is kept at a specific temperature for at least half an hour, but time beyond that does not matter much. Medium rare beef ranges from 130-140F for example, and we usually go with 135. 130F incubates bacteria; 140F eventually kills most of them. When it is time to serve the meat, we sear it (killing germs on the surface and making it tasty.) For obvious reasons we have not tried this approach on ground meat. Even 145F for an hour or two seems wimpy for meat that has bacteria deep inside. Still studying that issue.

My steaks are medium. Burgers are well done. They’re eating burgers because she has a bun in her hand. All restaurant menus warn about meats that are not fully cooked.

When I order medium rare I qualify it with I want in needing a bandaid, not a tourniquite.

My sister liked her burgers so well done you had to start cooking them the day BEFORE the cookout.

What a great idea, if the temp gets above 25 today maybe I will fire up the old grill…

The eerie parallels continue… Who charcoal grills on a Weber in icy mid-winter? Well, Arlo and I do. I’m a Southern Californian. In CT, I found it is hard to grill in 15 degree temps. It’s too cold to cook.

Our high today is predicted at 20°; tonight I’m doing burgers on the grill.

When Hurricane Isaias (I think??) passed over NH a few months back, I looked out our window and our across-the-street neighbor was standing outside in the howling wind drinking a beer and cooking out on the grill. He finished up just in time for the torrents of sideways rain to start.

We don’t get much cold in SoCal.

I never thought someone would want theirs BURNT until wa was grilling at a facility picnic. The warden’s assistant stood right there until I had to cook her bratwurst and hot dog completely black…and she ate them!