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To grill or not to grill, that is the question?

Posted by tricia on 06.19.09 | 2 Comments Short Link: http://onceamonthmom.com/?p=2512  Print This Post

In honor of Father’s Day this month I dedicated the June menu to dad’s who spend time cooking in the kitchen and blogging. One of the things that I was most impressed with was the number of men who contacted me to say thank you for including their recipes. John was one of those. He is the author of the Fresh-Fruit Pancakes on our June menu. Here are a few words on approaching your Father’s Day cooking endeavors.

Used with permission Flickr, Creative Commons, crshmidt

The idea behind Mother’s Day is pretty self-explanatory: moms get a break around the house (there’s not just one reason it is the most popular day of the year to dine out, there are 364). For Father’s Day, though, how does the stay-at-home-mom celebrate her man without adding to her considerable responsibilities? For that matter, how does the working mom do the same thing?

Fortunately, there’s a way out-grilling. The man will want to do it, and if he doesn’t, I’ll leave you with an easy recipe that’s sure to make his party a hit.

The barbecue was first patented some 150 years ago by a French man with suffragist leanings. He recognized the primordial connection between men and fire and built a grilling station that caused a minor ruckus in his hometown. Men were drawn to flame as if they were moths, and the townswomen suddenly found themselves with more free time. The inventor was eventually hanged, but summers were never the same. Much more recent brain-imaging research has revealed that the sight of fire and the smell of dripping fat on the grill has distinctly different effects on the male and female brains. In men, it activates an anterior region tied to pleasure and pride (curiously enough, the same effect is seen in peacocks and apes). In women, splattering fat and searing heat light up the frontal regions of the brain, an area tied to wisdom and questioning of foolish behaviors.

Most men will want to grill. They probably learned to do so from their fathers. That wasn’t my experience. My mother told me that my father, who died last November after a long illness, grilled a bit only when they were first married, long before I was born. “He took so long to do anything,” she pointed out, “that eventually I took over.” My best memories of wild and raging barbecues come from my great aunt Lois. She used to have fantastic Forth of July parties in her suburban backyard. Kids would run unsupervised around the pool and later the men, also unsupervised, would shoot off illegal fireworks that were so bright and colorful I thought they came from N.A.S.A.

Used with permission, Flickr, Creative Commons, D'Arcy Norman

If your husband is on the fence about grilling, there are certain things you can do to get him interested. My Aunt Lois gave me some tips: “Buy him a fancy barbecue apron, or a new set of tools. Get him a chef’s hat. Let him be the king for the day.”

On the other hand, if you want to do the cooking but don’t feel like grilling, the following recipe will be your salvation. It is so good it will make everyone forget about the grill. And it is so easy that it’s almost shameful.

I made it last June for a party for my dad. He was at home with late-stage prostate cancer, in a state of hospice care. I was troubled about what to cook. I knew that it could very well be his last Father’s Day celebration. My father wasn’t passionate about food, but he liked to eat and he always felt better with a lot of people around. Most of my siblings and their spouses and their children were on the way. I wanted the day to be a joyous celebration. We were blessed with good weather. All we needed was a big meal.
The first choice for the day was a barbecue, but I didn’t want to spend all my time slaving over the fire. I wanted to sit with my dad, look into his blue eyes, and see him break into a smile at the sight of his grand kids and children. I wanted to hold his hand and tell him about my day and hear about what book he was reading.
Instead of building a fire, I made a slow-roasted pork shoulder. It is one of the easiest and most crowd pleasing things in the world to cook, so long as you have the time. I first learned about this devilishly delicious dish years ago on a beach vacation with my extended family. I saw an article in the New York Times by Mark Bittman about cooking one over a gas grill. That time I fed eighteen (my older brother, who has five kids, was around).

For this particular Father’s Day, I made a variation on Bittman’s recipe for Pernil, the classic Puerto Rican pork roast. It takes a cheap cut of meat (one that is super easy to cook; it’s so fatty you’d have to leave it in the oven for week to overcook it) and dresses it up with a delicious marinade that can’t be beat. It will feed a lot of people with the least amount of effort possible. You basically stick it in the oven and forget about it. The cook won’t even have broken a sweat and the guest of honor, Dad, along with everyone else, will be licking their fingers and ooh-ing and ahh-ing.

Slow Roasted Pork Shoulder, Puerto Rican Style

• 1 pork shoulder, 4 or more lbs
• 4 or more cloves garlic, peeled
• 1 large onion, quartered
• 2 tablespoons fresh oregano leaves or 1 tablespoon dried oregano
• 1 tablespoon ground cumin
• 1 teaspoon ancho or other mild chili powder
• 1 tablespoon salt
• 2 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper
• Olive oil as needed
• 1 tablespoon white wine or vinegar

To make the marinade:

Put the garlic, onion, oregano, cumin, chili, salt, pepper, wine (or cider) in a blender or food processor. Puree until smooth.

Score the outside of the meat with a knife in a cross-hatch pattern. Rub the marinade on the meat and let sit for up to twenty-four hours. It’s not particularly important to marinate overnight, but doing so makes the day of the party a bit easier. I prepared the pork a day ahead of time at home and put them in zip-lock bags, which made it easy for me to carry it to the party.

When it’s time to cook the meat, preheat the oven to 300 degrees.

Put the pork in a roasting pan and cover the bottom of the pan with water. Roast the shoulder for about three hours, turning once an hour or so and adding more water as needed. Finish skin side up to make it crisp.

Take the meat out of the oven an let it rest for about fifteen minutes. The meat will be so tender that cutting it in slices will be a challenge. Just cut it into chunks.

Note: The recipe can also be used on the grill. A gas one would be the easiest.

About the Author:

John Donohue is a writer, editor, and cartoonist who lives in Brooklyn with his wife and two young children, writes about cooking for his family at www.StayAtStoveDad.com.