I am not sure what it is with grills and dads, but there is something timeless and memorable about dad going outside and cooking meat. Perhaps it is ingrained in us from our ancestors going back to the caveman days cooking meat over open fires. Whenever I fire up the grill, it just makes me happy and I think: “Meat….Good!” said in a caveman voice.
In the household my dad grew up in in New Britain, Connecticut, it was your traditional 1950s home. His mother, Ruth, did all the cooking, cleaning, gardening, and tending to everything else in the home, and his dad, Ed, worked outside of the home and made the money. However, during the summer at special events Ed became the chef. I still have an image as a little kid of my grandfather leaning over a little hibachi grill about 8 inches off the ground and cooking steaks. They were a thing of beauty; I can still taste those thick, juicy, delicious steaks. My dad, uncles, and I share a fair amount of cooking skills, but we all agree we cannot top the steaks that Ed used to make on that little hibachi grill.
My dad kept the tradition going on his classic Weber charcoal grill that he would ignite with a heating coil that looked ancient the day he bought it, and still scares the bejesus out of me every time I plug it in 30 years later. My dad’s magic was in the form of his burgers. I have never gotten his special recipe (it was never the same), but he would put in a little of this and a little of that, sear them over high heat and they came out perfectly every time.
I have to admit that few things make me happier than when I ask my older son, Max, what he wants for dinner and he asks me to fire up the grill and make some grilled buffalo steaks or burgers. I love it because I know he will eat (I mean devour) his meal. And I love it because I feel part of a chain of Resnik men passing grilling down from generation to generation.
Wild Idea’s June monthly special has a ton of grill-ready delights from T-bones to burgers, from ribeyes to flank steaks that would make the perfect gift for Dad on Father’s Day, or an aspiring young griller celebrating a graduation. With Wild Idea’s (very) good meat, a hot grill, and a summer night, they will be saying, “Meat Good” too.