Celebrate Father’s Day

Food

June 16, 2009

Janis Saunders, Democrat Food Critic

Anonymous The Weatherford Democrat Tue Jun 16, 2009, 02:35 PM CDT

By Janis Saunders

Democrat Food Critic

Typically, on Father’s Day morning, Mom and the kids drag out a new grill for Dad to cook on. It will be better than the last one. Remember, he probably started out with a little grill and each year, he has been gifted with one that is better and bigger than the last. It just works that way. Finally, he is able to stand before a huge outdoor cooking kitchen with all the bells and whistles he deems necessary to be able to do his magic on.

Unfortunately, Jim won’t be getting a new grill this year. He wanted a complete outdoor kitchen to do his magic on, but my thoughts and his thin pocket book had something to do with that.

Nevertheless, he can manage to turn out some pretty good tasting steaks and burgers on his old one.

He likes a steak about 1 to 1-1/4 inch thick. Any thicker it’s hard to get it to the right doneness, and if it’s too thin ... well forget about it. You’re wasting your time and money on a thin steak. I agree with him on all counts. I like to marinate a good cut of meat like a filet or a rib eye. First rub it with some good garlic then you can use a commercial marinade or make your own.

Jim likes to take a good Italian salad dressing and rub on the meat, put it in a plastic bag and put in the fridge until 30 to 40 minutes before you get ready to cook. Take it out and let it come to room temperature before you cook it. He sprinkles it with a little salt to bring out the juices and they caramelize giving the steak that nice flavor.

Get your charcoal briquettes hot through and through or turn your grill on high and let it get hot. Now, you are ready to pop those steaks on the grill and cook them. Cook a couple of minutes on high then move or adjust the temperature down and give it time to cook not burn. Don’t ruin a good piece of meat by cooking it to death. It should be soft to the touch. When done, remove from the grill and cover with foil and let it rest for about three or four minutes. This give the steak time for the juices to redistribute and it will be moist not dry. If you cut into a steak and it is grey inside, you’ve cooked it too long. It should have a little pink in the middle.

Kabobs

One of our favorite things to cook on the grill is Kabobs. There are so many options. You can use all kinds of vegetables and/or meats, mix and match and have a complete meal on individual skewers. How easy is that?

I got to thinking, if Jim was to get a new grill for father’s day, I know he would have to have a new power tool and socket set and who knows what else to assemble the thing, and no telling what all that would cost. I can buy a new purse and shoes for a lot less and have money left over. Besides, he doesn’t need new a new grill to cook on, he does a wonderful job burning every thing he cooks on the old one. Well done.

u

Janis may be reached at: jks4417@aol.com.

Text Only

Food

Harvest food is just around the corner
The calendar says it’s almost autumn, and that means time for harvest festivals and good food.
The word is out — pumpkins may be scarce this year, so if you need pumpkin for that pie, buy now so you won’t be without when Halloween and Thanksgiving roll around.

September 20, 2011 1 Photo
School ‘daze’
I can’t believe summer is over for thousands of kids. Now begins nights of homework, tests and maybe sports of some kind.
My grandson, Jeffrey, started school in Plano Monday and came home with homework in four subjects. I can’t ever remember having homework assigned on the very first day of school. Things have really changed.

August 23, 2011
Pretty peachy in Parker County
As a cook, I look forward to certain times of the year. One is pecan time in Texas, and the other is Parker County peach season.
There is nothing any better on a summer day than a juicy, fresh peach. Peaches are versatile as well, and there are peach recipes that have been around for years.

July 12, 2011 1 Photo
El Rey Taqueria — the small restaurant with big taste
At 1213 Fort Worth Highway, there is a little jewel of a restaurant. El Rey Taqueria has been open four months serving good homestyle Mexican food.

July 5, 2011 1 Photo
Sis-boom-bah
I cannot believe June is almost gone and July is waiting in the wings. We are in he middle of a heat wave as far as I’m concerned. I love summer, but I don’t want the temperature to go above 90 degrees. Of course, Mother Nature doesn’t listen to me, and she gives us what she wants us to have.

June 28, 2011 1 Photo
Summer’s bounty is here!
I love the months of June, July and August. School is out and I will get to see my grandkids who live in Plano more often. It’s also swim time at our place, cookouts, family get togethers and shopping for those lovely, luscious vegetables and fruits that are in the markets and stores.

June 14, 2011 1 Photo
Brother Ed and Brother John
I’ve written many times about the fun I had whenever I got to be around my cousins in Comanche County. I always hoped we would go on a Friday evening. That way June, John, Claudia, Gary and I would have a chance to play all day Saturday. On Sunday more cousins would show up.

June 8, 2011
Have we gone too far?
Late night TV is a vast wonderland for those of us who have trouble sleeping at night or choose to stay up late.
Last night I saw the ultimate, most useless item being hawked on one of the shopping networks. It was for an automobile automatic lap top computer.

May 24, 2011
The best friend I ever had — May 11, 2011
As a child, I never knew the joy of having a dog. My mother didn’t think a dog should live in the city. I accepted her feelings, but when I had a family and my girls wanted a dog, they got a dog. Whiskey, a stray, was named by the family who first found her because of her color. When their son went away to college, they didn’t want to keep her, so we got her. She fit in just fine, and for 11 years she was a part of our family.

May 10, 2011 1 Photo
Wow, what a week it was!
This past week, in my estimation, was momentous. First, the royal wedding of Kate and Wills (as he is known in England). It was a beautiful wedding with all the pomp and circumstance of royalty.
Wills and his brother Harry gave it a little comic relief. Harry was very cheeky as the English called him. Wills had a grin on his face as if he was enjoying himself.

May 3, 2011
More Food Headlines

The Komen Foundation recently cut ties (before announcing they would reinstate them) with Planned Parenthood and stopped funding breast cancer screenings — was that a good thing?

Food

Search Results