grilling, the primal connection.........

I love charcoal grilling. Almost everyone I know loves it. It tastes better, there seems to be an almost ritualistic art to the whole process. There is no written formula to the cookout, but they all seem to go the same routethere is a decent amount of foods, great cuts of meat, salad, alcohol, music, and merry-making. I can imagine in primal times, the hunter would bring in the food and when there was luscious meat, it was a call for celebration. They would dance and rejoice while the food was being prepared, then the stories of the hunt and of the elders and great times past. All would eat their fill and be done.

The hunter is now the host/cook and everyone listens to music, tells jokes, and stories. I think it is ingrained into us. It is a throwback to what we once were; before supermarkets, and electricity, our lifestyle is new, speaking historically. We've only been away from wood fire cooking for about 100 years or less. And most parts of the civilized word only cook and heat with fire out of novelty, not necessity.

Somewhere back in the deepest recesses of who we are, there is that primal creature. The hunter, the survivor, the thing that kicks in from time to time. The one that knows what to do when everything falls apart. Ingrained within our very being, he see sees that big, raw steak and knows what to do. He knows how to make it good.........

The fire.