A Burnt Offering Unto the Lord?

With the very specific instructions regarding Burnt Offerings in the book of Leviticus I'm surprised that the church has not created a 'Grilling Sunday'. Worship would happen in the parking lot with people all around their makeshift altars. Of course we already have the equivalent of the Protestant/Catholic divide, only here it would be Propane/Charcoal. I can foresee denominations forming around issues such as Brickets, Hickory, and Mesquite. I'm quite sure plank grilling would create its own cult as well.

In case you can't tell by my random musings above, on Saturday I went out and bought a grill.

First step - assembly!

The top of my 'altar' resting on its foam packing.


Various other parts strewn over both tables.

And after a couple of hours wrestling with screwdrivers and locking washers, behold!!! The only question was, would it fit through the door to the patio.

I connected up the Propane and we had heat. I was unable to test it yesterday as I had a surprise party to go to, so I rushed home after church and fired up the grill for the first time.

Now, regular readers of my blog know that I am almost fearless in the kitchen, elaborate cakes, 8 hour Cuban pork loin, complex pastry creations, fondant icing, you name it I've probably tried it. But there is something about grilling that is fearful for me - which is precisely why I bought the grill.

Men who would never darken the doors of the kitchen except to grab a beer from the fridge go almost Neanderthal at the grill. Women are banished as cooking over the fire is man's work. This is a stereotype of course, but the thing about stereotypes is that they do exist somewhere.

Anyway there is something in my internal thoughts that tells me I would not be good at grilling because I am not a 'Man's Man' - of course I have no idea what that term even means, but as I still can't even comprehend the rules of Football let alone understand its appeal, my internal thoughts have a foothold.

To conquer this I purchased this steel altar of masculinity.

And for its maiden voyage I made the following:

Chipotle Burgers

1 1/2 pounds ground beef (I used Angus 80/20 as you don't want the meat too lean)

2 Chipotle Chiles from a can of Chipotles in Adobo Sauce (Separate the rest into sandwich bags and freeze)

2 Tablespoons adobo sauce from the can.

3/4 teaspoon ground oregano

1/4 teaspoon ground cumin

3 minced green onions

1 1/2 teaspoon salt.

Mix all the ingredients together and form into 4 hamburger patties - chill for 30 minutes. If you make the patties slightly thinner in the middle than the edge then they won't balloon up during cooking.

They took about 7 minutes on the grill.

So how did it go? Well I was pleased that they weren't burnt and they weren't raw either. I cooked them over slightly too high a heat so I had a few more flare ups than expected, but I didn't lose any parts of them down into the heart of the grill and I was pleased that they were still moist when cooked.

My next attempt will be a Caribbean Pork Tenderloin, so if you hear a firetruck approaching the Heights, don't worry, I'm just conquering my fears and cooking dinner :)