The weather guy says that today is going to be beautiful! A bright sunny day will keep the temperature in the low 70's and a gentle southerly breeze has made me forget that tomorrow will be a day when I'll see a few flakes of snow.
God made this kind of day for us in the midst of winter, so we could get outside, dust the leaves off the old barbeque grill and soak up the sun while smoke from the grill drifts down the street and make all the neighbors envious!
Not being one who questions the Lord's motives for such a wonderful day, I've already raked a path through the leaves to the concrete pad where my smoker/grill proudly stands. Neglected since Thanksgiving when I smoked the yearly turkey, after taking off the black cover that helps prevent rusting, I'll throw out leftover ashes from the last cookout. Not that I'm lazy, but the ashes are still hot when you finish cooking the meat, so I leave them there until the next time I need the smoker.
The barbeque grill is already clean and with just a little dusting and rinsing off, it's ready to use. I always clean the cooking grid immediately after use. If you allow the grease, bits of fat and meat that collect on the cooking surface to remain there until the next cookout, there could be bad stuff growing there that even a hot fire wouldn't kill.
It's also an attractant to dogs and other animals that just can't resist the aroma of freshly cooked meat. Before I learned the importance of having a clean cooking grid on my backyard grill, I would hear something crash in the night and wake up to see my grill turned upside down by some critter with food on its mind.
A few days ago my neighbor Marvin told me that he had read somewhere that smoke from a barbeque fire is dangerous; it could even kill you if you breathe enough! Well, if that's true, then that's the way I want to go!
It is true that fat will burn faster than lean meat. Because of that, it can more easily become scorched and possibly contain carcinogens in the charred areas. That research is inconclusive at this time, so I'm not worried about it. It seems to be another "cranberry scare".
Back in the '70's just before Thanksgiving, some researchers decided that cranberries could give you cancer. Well, even back in the dark ages, the media knew how to milk a story. Within a week of the media blitz condemning the loathsome cranberry, virtually every can of cranberry sauce and bags of cranberries in the country were taken off the shelves of America's grocery stores.
A week after Christmas that year it was discovered that a human would have to eat almost ten box car loads of the stuff before suffering even the possibility of cancer. They were more likely to be hit by a bus coming home with the groceries that having the big C lead them to the grave!
Barbeque smoke can be dangerous if you've soaked the briquettes with something other than lighter fuel to start the fire. If so, you could inhale toxic gases from products such as paint stripper, liquid sandpaper and even Coleman fuel. Then there is gasoline, as my neighbor Marvin will agree, is not a wise choice to light a fire.
Gasoline explodes when introduced to a lighted match! For those who have not experienced the excitement of a gasoline explosion, it doesn't detonate with a bang, but with a Whooooomp! It's pretty scary!
Charcoal lighter ignites with a slow and steady burn, insuring that you're probably not going to burn your house down at the beginning of your cookout. If you're sensible with your cooking, both your home and your pride are still in tact when you take your first bite of delicious barbeque!
It's wonderful to have a beautifully warm and sunny day in the grip of winter. I'm going to make the most of it because the weather guy says that tomorrow will be cold and cloudy with snow flurries.
Bob Alexander is well experienced in outdoor cooking, fishing and leisure living. Bob is also the author and owner of this article. Visit his sites at:
http://www.bluemarlinbob.com
http://www.redfishbob.com
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