Growing Up BBQ
Growing up in NW Iowa and SE South Dakota, barbecue meant something very different to me than it does now. BBQ was Kingsford charcoal, a Weber kettle grill, and some kind of grilled meat slathered in BBQ sauce, which I can still smell burning over the coals.
I remember my father’s red Weber kettle in the backyard. It was the summer before kindergarten. At that age, a kettle is about as tall as you are or taller. Wondering if it was hot, I touched it with a couple of knuckles on my right hand. Though a little faded over the years and a few more wrinkles, I still have that scar today. Maybe that’s where the fascination and obsession comes from. Maybe I was branded by that red kettle grill almost four decades ago. My two boys, on the other hand, are surrounded by the stuff. One of their first words was Bah Bah Que. Smoked chicken, pork, or brisket was some of the very first solid foods they’d had. They both request daddy’s barbecued chicken when asked what they want to eat for dinner. I have pictures of them sitting in 30″ Oklahoma Joe off set cookers, turkey fryers, pots, pans, and now the new Big Green Egg. Even our Christmas card featured a family picture taken after we won Grand Champion at a contest in the fall. It’s as much a part of their lives just like brushing their teeth, going to school, and our dog, Amy.
Michael, soon to be 4, got to come to several BBQ contests last year, including the American Royal. Just like dad, he has his own set of BBQ friends like “The Girls” (daughters of my BBQ friend, Andy). He’s got his own “pig tail” and meat thermometer. Whenever I’m tending the cooker at home, he has to have a pair of food service gloves on, just like I do. Whenever we buy something and he’s not quite sure what it is, he’ll ask if it’s for barbecue. It’s the beginning of January and he’s already asking when the first BBQ contest is. Michael is almost as anxious for the competition season to start as I am.
Christian, age 2 1/2, has had an infatuation with pigs since he could talk. Pig was literally one of his very first words. For quite a while, every animal said Oink. Well, it wasn’t oink, it was a very throaty, nasally snort… I just don’t know how to spell it. In the picture, Christian is posing with a Traeger Lil Pig and Phil from Smoking Guns BBQ.
As I was taking the boys to pre-school one day last summer, we passed a local BBQ joint. We’ve passed this restaurant every day for at least a year going to and from school. Christian spots the logo on the sign and shouts, “Pig!” Quietly, Michael says, “That’s a BBQ pig.”
When two boys under four years old know the difference between a pig and a BBQ pig, they are truly “Growing up BBQ.”
