A Short History of Grilling

by Pamela Rice Hahn

I imagine the first cookout occurred one day when, after a thunderstorm, cavemen (and women) from the Bar-B clan formed a queue around a wooly mammoth that had been zapped and charred by a bolt of lightning. Once they tasted that fire-roasted flavor, mammoth tartare just didn’t satisfy their palates anymore. Finding a way to duplicate that aroma and piquancy became as important as their hunting rituals. This was a can-do tribe!

So, because they were a forward-thinking group of nomads, they formed a committee. The committee then designated project teams, whose job it was to find ways to grill meat for the next feast. They rounded up herds of animals and trapped them in the valley, while the more limber members on their team danced a rain dance around the perimeter. They herded those animals to different locations, just in case the rumors about lightning strikes frequency were true.

One day, tired and frustrated of being one link in a human fence, and also getting very hungry by this time, a junior member of the team took a break from his daydreams of becoming a freelance consultant and decided to make use of some loose rocks lying in the gully. First he stacked them in a spiral pattern that encompassed his tribe’s understanding of their outreaching purpose of life on this planet, sacred geometry, and the Feng Shui dynamic he intended to write a book about once somebody developed a language. Eventually though, growing weary from his task, he stumbled on some loose stones and dropped a rock, which struck some flint, which kindled some twigs clinging to another rock, and the rest, as they say, is history. (Alas, his boss took credit for the discovery.)

However, this breakthrough not only led to expertly grilled meals (and arguments among alpha members of the clan as to whether or not the food was done yet), it also led to smoke signals, which evolved to other means of communications, which resulted in the Industrial Age, which made possible standardized grill construction, which eventually brought us to where we are today — hoping I now have your attention so you continue to not only want to read my cookbook, but savor the recipes and have a good time in the process. Enjoy! (Please.)

Sample recipes and more information about the book

Copyright © 1998-2008 Pamela Rice Hahn
All rights reserved.

Note: This page updated to reflect the revised and expanded edition of this book; original title was Master the Grill the Lazy Way.

Author bio:

Pamela Rice Hahn is publisher and editor-in-chief for The Blue Rose Bouquet and author of Lazy About Grilling: the feet up, hands down easiest ways to barbecue and twelve other books (so far). You can learn more about Pam by visiting her personal Web site and CookingWithPam.

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