When you see a scene like this, grilling is probably one of the furthest things from your mind. However, if you have been following me for any amount of time, you know that grilling is a year round event for me. Even when the Michigan Winter hits and the temps drop into the negative Fahrenheit digits.
Unlike the East coast of the US, snow has been pretty scarce in our neck of the woods this year. This picture is from one of the first decent snows we have gotten so far.
In the summer, I keep my grill off the right edge of this photo down on the cement slab where our patio used to end.
In the winter, I move the grill into our garage and when it is time to fire it up I roll it out into the driveway. The other weekend we made a regular trip to the meat market and my wife decided that it would be a good weekend to grill.
We have gotten in the habit of buying most of our meat all at once about every month or every other month. Then we portion it out and food save it (vacuum seal) it to freeze and use later.
On this particular trip I purchased the following (just to give you an idea of what we regularly buy):
2 pounds of thick cut double smoked bacon
2 pounds of ground pork
2 pounds of bulk pork breakfast sausage
3 pounds of ground chicken
20 pounds of boneless skinless chicken breasts
Usually when I go to the meat market my wife chooses to stay in the car because she can't stand the smell. She still doesn't eat beef and it is only recently that she has taken to eating more pork products. When we first started dating she wouldn't touch bacon, ham, or pork at all.
It is more of a taste and texture thing for her versus a moral objection. I am happy to say that I was able to wear her down because some of the best meats for grilling and smoking are pork.
All that being said, Chicken is still our go-to protein and we eat more of that than anything. If I had to guess I would say in an average year 60% of our meals include chicken, 25% include pork, 10% include beef (just for me) and 5% include some other non animal based protein like lentils etc.
Oddly enough, this past weekend when we grilled, none of the meat we had just purchased was on the menu. Instead we decided to have some pork chops that we had picked up at our local Costco. The Costco is only about two miles down the road from us and it has only been open close to a year now. They have some really great deals on meat sometimes. We got eight center cut boneless pork chops for like $15 USD.
It is exciting for me because like I said even a year ago my wife never would have touched one of these pork chops. I am still working on getting the cook down right. We have a restaurant down the road that makes some of the most tender pork chops I have ever had. My wife loves them too. Sadly, whenever I try to grill chops, I always end up getting them just a little wrong and they have that tough steak-like texture that my wife doesn't care for. She is a trooper and she still eats them anyway.
I think part of my problem is the fact that I am so used to cooking pork well done. I know that with the recent eradication of Trichinosis that isn't necessary anymore, but I honestly don't think my wife would eat them if there was too much pink.
I just need to find that perfect balance of pulling them at the right time so the carry over cooking keeps them tender. I have tried countless methods of manually tenderizing them including marinades and poking them with a fork.
I may not get the chops perfect (for her), but potatoes on the grill are something that I excel at. It really isn't that hard given the fact that you just throw the foil packet on the grill and let it go.
There is the rare occasion that I pull it a bit early and the potatoes are hard or I leave it too long and the bottom gets a little burnt. More often than not though, they come out absolutely perfect.
You will likely laugh at me, but I usually cut the chops into small bites sized pieces so that it eats more like chicken for my wife. It's not that she can't do it herself, it's just that I know she is taking a leap by even eating pork with me, so she deserves me going the extra mile for her.
We added some air-fried broccoli to this meal to make it practically perfect in every way. It was truly fantastic and I took the leftovers to work with me for lunch the next day.
Just like the old post office motto "neither rain nor sleet nor snow nor dark of night" or however it goes, that is what I think of when it comes to me grilling. It would likely take a hurricane, tornado, or tsunami for me to think twice about grilling out.
Sports Talk Social - @bozz.sports
The food looks good
And I love grilling as well but fir me it’s not year round I don’t do it when it’s down near freezing temps
That is so sweet of you to cut the meat into bite size for Mrs Bozz ♥️
Grilling in the winter actually makes perfect sense as you get the nice warm fire and you can roast some chestnuts to nibble with a drink afterwards
You know, I don't know as though I have ever had roasted chestnuts!
this food looks good, the weather looks cold and beautiful, I would like to spend a moment like this, snow does not fall here, nice post
We don't get as much snow as we used to. It was cold. I was still sitting out in my lawn chair with a beer though.
A good appetite rises in such cold weather. I think this steak warmed up well))
It's great to see that winter does not stop you from grilling.
We usually eat chichen breasts too because I think its healthier.
I havd never tried grilling the potatoes yet, but will next time for sure.
They are so good! You really need to try potatoes on the grill!
I don't believe you had broccoli until you post a picture :P Not happening.
My go to protein would be vegetable base like lentil, soya chunk and tofu. I would then consider chicken and go for lamb/goat but pretty rarely. I am using air-fryer a lot lately to prepare my meat items.
I have a pic from a different day. You just need to trust me! 😀. I eat far less meat than I used to. I still need my beef fix every now and then.
I trust you :) I love veggies and the colour they bring to the table.
I definitely agree with that! We have broccoli, asparagus, or brussels sprouts pretty much every night with dinner.
That's the wholesome dinner/lunch we want to have with the meat of our choice. Looking forward to another foodie post from you.
What a great way to eat yummy outdoors
Dam if I didn't know I would think your Canadian haha, Gotta grill them veggies(for me anyway) in the winter.
If I didn't BBQ in the winter it just wouldn't be normal
I'm probably about as close as you can get to Canada without actually being there. Just across the border!
This looks yummy I really wish I could have some
Bon appetit. While I was reading the post, it was as if I was shopping with you and cooking. Thank you. It was a very gripping post
Thanks, I appreciate that!
Grilling in that cold, amazing!👍
It was cold for sure but definitely worth it!
grilling in the snow is absolutely perfect. Bon appetit
Thank you!
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