We bought a Blackstone a little over a year ago. Our grill had died and there was a blowout sale at our local Lowes that sealed the deal for us. Though I work with history now, back in the day (centuries ago), I worked as a short-order cook at a golf course. It started out innocent enough – cute girl serving well whiskey to old guys out on the links. But the cook calls out, everyone is on cart, and I’m the last one standing who was eager to take up the tongs. It didn’t take me long to figure out how to make a Salisbury steak with extra onions. In fact, the old fellas who I normally pulled cold beers for out on the course were happy to sit at the bar and guide me on the ways in which the usual cook made their lunch. The flattop was a revelation – never had I thought cooking food could be that versatile, quick, and fun. I stayed in that kitchen, occasionally taking a sojourn out to the greens, until I went off to college a year later.
That’s why the Blackstone intrigued me. The thrill of cooking on a flattop hit me once again, with domes for melting cheese and crispy hashbrowns, eggs, and bacon in their dedicated zones. Admittedly, I didn’t use the Blackstone all that much last year. The weather just didn’t cooperate, and we don’t have any cover in our backyard for me to cook during rainstorms. But it’s gotten a workout this year. And let me tell you, the look on my kid’s face when I made her broccoli and cheese on that thing was hilarious. She thought she was getting out of a vegetable for dinner. Oooohhh no. Pot, cheese, wire rack to keep the cheese from burning at the bottom of the pot, sauté that broccoli, pop it in the cheese, and voila. And I’m here to tell you, she ate it. Begrudgingly, but she did.
Despite the heat, despite the unpredictable weather, despite my crazy/hectic schedule that often means a quick salad or skillet meal for dinner – cooking on that thing has been a delight. I am reminded of why I fell in love with cooking. A memory of a much younger me figuring it out all by myself and being surprised at what I can create. A brief distraction from the craziness of the world around us. Therapeutic and cathartic and delicious.
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