Monday, August 9, 2021

On Grilling and the Love of God

 From The Catholic Gentleman:

One of my favorite pastimes is grilling meat. While I am very much an amateur, I find the flavor of grilled meat to be far superior to meat cooked in any other way. Grilling is the polar opposite of perverse modern forms of cooking, barely worthy of the name, like heating something in a microwave. Grilling is a process, and enjoyable one at that.

I also refuse to use a gas grill, though I won’t deny their convenience. There is something authentic and even primal about cooking with hardwood charcoal. At the very least, it is certainly more challenging to control the temperature and make sure the heat is distributed easily, and I enjoy a good challenge.

Heating a charcoal grill usually involves building a pyramid shape with the coals or in placing them in a metal chimney to heat up. Sparks burst forth like small fireworks as the charcoal begins to warm and catch fire. As the fire grows, the heat is usually located in the center of the pyramid, where it increases in intensity and begins to spread outward to the coals on the periphery. Before long, all the coals are pulsing with heat, and cooking can commence.

Recently, while heating my grill to cook some chicken, I watched the warmth and light in the center of the pyramid spreading outward toward the cold, black coals on the edges. And in these warming coals, I saw a parable. For fire, with its light and heat, is never content to stay in one place. It is compelled by its very nature to spread itself as far as possible. Indeed, fire never ceases to communicate warmth and light to its surroundings—it always spreads. (Read more.)


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