Grilling hamburgers is one of my earliest backyard grilling memories. Our Family would get together, usually on the weekends, and have a hamburger and ice cream supper, as we say here in Utah. I can fondly remember sitting on top of the old ice cream freezer while my Dad and Grandpa took turns at spinning the old hand crank attached to the water-soaked wooden ice bucket. It was years before we got a motorized freezer, but you couldn’t sit on that.
My dad was one of the first to buy a covered grill that used charcoal bricks. We cooked hamburgers and hot dogs most weekends on the patio. It was some delicious eating. The ice cream would be flavored most of the time with a can of crushed peaches or strawberries. Or, just maybe, someone would have given us some fresh ripe peaches to mash and toss into the vanilla ice cream mixture.
Cooking out then was a real big treat for the entire family, always with a lot of laughter, running, and playing.
Grilling the hamburgers soon became my responsibility, even though I was only about 14 years old at the time. Carefully building the charcoal fire in that old grill we had was a test of my better Boy Scout skills. Once the charcoal was covered in a fine white ash, the grilling could begin. It sometimes took hours because of the wind.
The ice cream was being packed in more ice mixed with a generous amount of rock salt mixture to be allowed to season, while we all ate our terrific-tasting hamburgers always topped with lettuce, red ripe tomatoes, and onions. The catsup bottle would be passed around as everyone would take their turn, shaking or popping the bottom of the bottle to get the thick tomato sauce from the jar. Mustard was always there as well.
I remember when Dad got the first gas grill. We were up and grilling in about 5 minutes.
My grandpa sometimes would come make ribs, good tender slabs of ribs with the meat falling off the bone, slathered with a generous portion of smoky barbecue sauce. They are quite delicious, giving a nice smoky flavor to your food. And it was finger-lickin’ good!
Today we use many things to garnish a hamburger - Guacamole is also a favorite topping with just about any grilled meat, especially beef, pork, or chicken. Creaming those fresh ripe avocados together with diced garden ripe tomatoes, and chopped green onions. Season your delicious concoction with a squeeze of fresh lime juice, toss in some cilantro, salt, and pepper, and call it a meal by itself.
Thick juicy T-Bone steaks are a great treat as well as chicken fajitas. Fun to do because everyone gets to pile their own into a large flour tortilla made just to suit them.
Yes grilling today is just as much fun today as it was when I was growing up. The old three legged grill has long since been tossed onto the trash heap. Replaced with a big cast iron wood smoker and grill, sure I have a handy gas grill for almost daily use but nothing is better than firing up the old trusty smoker.
My great nieces and nephews are now the ones running and playing. They are always beaming with delight as the scoops of homemade fresh peach ice cream is served up with one of "Nana's" homemade cookies.
Someday though I think I will pull out the old hand cranked ice cream freezer. After all, they are missing one of the best parts of the family cookout. Sitting on the old freezer, holding it down while their Dad, Uncle and Granddad take turns cranking the old beast.
I wonder if they would sit still that long?
