Bar-B-Q In The Snow!

 Once upon a time: Let me tell you about one of the finest memories I’ve ever created for myself, my family and for my out of country guests. This has now become a long anticipated event for me, and I often find myself preparing for that special occasion far in advance of winter. Of course this absolutely fantastic experience can only have its full effect when you live in a place where winter offers its citizens a reasonable expectation of falling snow. And our lovely State of Oregon does this on a somewhat regular bases, especially if one lives above the thousand foot mark. The time of memory isn’t without effort on ones part, and it often takes some strong encouragement from family members which they themselves might be reluctant to become involved in. But this is where long distant friends are so important. For when the winters fierce grip is fully upon us, the streets are icy, the wind is raging cold and the snow is blowing, this is where your friends who live in sunny California or distant hot Australia must call you and ask, “Hey, how’s the weather there?” This is the sign you’ve been waiting for, this is when you make your move, now is the time to go for it and make those memories!

You now step out onto the patio or deck, of course you have to have a patio or a safe place where you keep your bar-b-q. It should be always ready, and for this occasion the propane type are the best. You first fire it up, and of course in a heavy wind this often becomes a little difficult but after 500 matches, two warn out spark guns and a blow torch you finally get the dang flames among the rocks going. After it heats up and you know its going to be burning good, you pull it out into a fully exposed area to completely receive the full effect of this experience. An open place where the snow is blowing, falling and piling up and there you begin the memory making. Now you run into the house and wake up your wife and guests and tell them everything is ready. “What the heck do you mean, get out of my warm bed and come out side and watch you Bar-B-Q?”

Okay, it doesn’t have to be that dramatic but on this one occasion it did seem a little out of place, until my Australian guests did experience “Bar-B-Q-ing in the snow” and finally tasted the results. We had special friends staying with us and they had just come out of a very hot summer in the southern hemisphere. It was the end of December and yes it was one of those extremely cold winters and I mean cold. The snow had fallen and had been piling up for a few days and the forecast was for more flurries. It was late one night and everyone was tired and yawning but I couldn’t let this moment of inspiration pass. You might ask, what inspiration? Well, it was a full moon, blowing clouds, windy and yes, the snow was falling in flurries. The flakes were thick and huge, floating down in all directions and the moon whenever it could would silhouette the trees and the purity of white would show as the moon beams found their way between the clouds and it was awe inspiring. Anticipating this long waited moment, a day or so earlier I had taken from out of the freezer my pre-prepared very well marinated lamb chops. These were beauties, specially cut, then well saturated in aromatic herb salts, sprinkled lightly with garlic flakes, and every layer smothered with those sweet seasonal Walla Walla onions, then each layer soaked with real lemon juice and oh wow, what a fine scent rose up out of that container. Truly, this is where the true memories are born.

With wide eyed stares following me, I stepped outside carrying my nose opening treasure of marinated chops into the snow, while everyone was saying that I was crazy! The wind had died down a little, it was about 1:30 am in the morning and the moon was finding its way among the clouds and the snow was now falling soft as feathers and it was magnificent but the beauty of the moment had just begun. Right there and then, among the snow gusts I began laying those thick meaty chops dripping with herbs, onion and lemon across the red hot grill and immediately the sizzling of aromatic meat began its song of “Delicious”! Soon the grill was covered, the sizzling was loud within the soft falling snow and oh yes, the aroma had to be paradise! The moon beams danced among the clouds while the wind shook fresh snow from the silhouetted oaks and the morning was absolutely still. Soon my guests could not stand it any longer, they bundled themselves up and soon found themselves in this magic world of swirling snow flakes an the delicious sweet scent of Bar-B-Q-ing meat. Everyone stood in awe, this was insane, and, well, rather fantastic! There is just something about the aromatic scent of Bar-B-Q-ing well marinated lamb chops in the middle of a snow storm. The powerful scent rises and mixes with the fresh purity of the new snow, the scent is absolutely pure and exact and there’s nothing like it.

Snow flakes hissed on the red hot coals while the broiling chops sent up their scent when I poured the marinating juice over those thick sizzling slabs of cooking meat. And soon the wonder of winter, hunger and life came alive like never before. You got nature at its best, you got man and his inventions working for you and you realize your starving and the instinct of the human psyche leaps alive and you are happy that you are full of life! Soon the magic time passed, the moon hid itself, the wind howled and the snow really blew and I was piling those delicious sizzling cuts of meat into a glass covered container. I shut off the Bar-B-Q and we all lined up, dusted the snow from our clothes and traipsed into the warm waiting house. There in the middle of the table I set that huge bowl of sizzling chops and we were all mesmerized for a moment until I broke the trance and told everyone to dig in. My wife set out plates but we all ate with our hands, one chop after the other, moans of deliciousness arose among the silence until a few words of delight were finally able to be uttered. “O wow,” “”I can’t believe this,” “Ummmmh,” “I’ll never forget this,” and so on and the memory was sealed! When our winter feast was done, everyone sat there utterly full staring at a huge bowl full of bones! Our guests were laughing, saying they couldn’t believe this, we’re all crazy! This has now become somewhat of a tradition in my family and we often get long distant calls in the midst of winter, from people inquiring if it is ok for them to come on over? “Sure!”

By: Michael M. Michaelson

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