Girls and Their Grills
Editor’s Note: Please welcome Melody Wren to Get Your Grill On. Melody is a published author who hails from Canada and is one of the rarest of commodities; a woman who grills. I’m really looking forward to reading her unique perspective on outdoor cooking. You can read more about her on our Bios page. Take it away Melody….
According to Frank Slaney, General Manager of Gears and Grills, Cambridge, Ontario, more women are barbequing than ever before. “Barbecuties” are taking their cooking passion to the outdoors, nudging the men aside.
Women are increasingly embracing gas and propane grills, encroaching on that final frontier of testosterone. Wives are not only making the final decision on the grill of choice and paying for the privilege, but they are cooking the meat, vegetables, and the dessert on the barbeque as well. Barbeque classes are held on the premises, and it is primarily women who have taken them, learning things they didn’t know they could do with a grill.
“Women read the manual, unlike most men, who don’t.” The newer grills are a lot more user friendly than before. Most of them now have electronic ignition, which basically is just like starting up your indoor range. It has eliminated the fear of jumping flames, the experience many women had from the old-style grills.
Gas or propane? Slaney says “natural gas is a hotter burn and 75% cheaper than propane. Once you put out the additional cost of getting a gas line to your deck or patio for the barbeque, it outweighs the cost of tanks of propane.” And of course, there is never the danger of the hissing of an empty tank just as your company arrives for dinner.
June, traditionally is the beginning of barbeque season for most outdoor cooks. However, more and more people are grilling year round. Frank Slaney from Gears and Grills emphasizes that barbequing is not just for hamburgers. You can bake cookies and cakes on it as well, “if you can do it in an oven, you can barbeque it, as the barbeque acts as a convection oven”. Slaney roasts his Christmas turkey on his barbeque and emphatically urges that “once you try the turkey on the bbq, you wouldn’t go back to oven roasting ….it is so deliciously moist.”
To sum it up, Slaney adds “I would barbeque anything I can get – there is nothing that a barbeque can’t do.”
Hi everyone, I just wanted to say that yes I agree women are taking over the barbecue grilling world. More and more girls are watching TV shows and learning to barbecue and sometimes turning out en trees that are better than the pro’s.
It’s TV shows and the Food channel that I think is why this is happening. Some girls started in the kitchen so it’s not too big of a change for them, but even girls who are learning to cook for the first time are starting out with skills never seen before that they picked up from watching TV shows.
Kim