Weber O' Weber How Do I Love Thee?

A couple weeks ago we took our Weber charcoal grill to Mexico for spring break - after 20 years of faithful service, it seemed like the least we could do. 

The grill, which was a wedding gift from my brother Dennis and his wife, has been a tireless and faithful servant.

This grill has traveled to, competed in and won medals at several BBQ competitions.  Over the last 10 years it's taught at our BBQ Schools, showing more than a thousand students the path to outdoor cooking enlightenment.

It's faithfully served as a marshmallow roasting pit for the kids of our neighborhood.  It's been demeaned without complaint, serving as a cooling rack for things cooked "inside", degraded when used as a place to store food overnight when the fridge is full ("Salad!? Really!!? ").

In addition to the typical parade of grill items; burgers, steaks, chicken, salmon, dogs & brats; this faithful friend has effortlessly churned out; pizza; whole fish; veggies; Thanksgiving turkeys and Christmas prime ribs; whole lobsters (humanely pithed of course); cold and hot smoked salmon (I like hot better); grilled croutons; pans of caramelized onions, as well as bacon and eggs.

It bears the scars of the Tuscan Experiment, when I super heated an oversized pile of coals with a hairdryer to sear a T-bone steak (Tuscan style). 

The wood handle on the side of the kettle spontaneously burst into flame and burned away, leaving just the core metal skeleton of the handle (a lá The Terminator) and the fire grate glowed red and sagged under the weight of the coals (really cool).

This year, Trish & I and our girls volunteered to cook for our church group on a trip to Puerto Peñasco (Rocky Point) Mexico to build a house for a local family in need. 

When the idea came up to include a neighborhood BBQ in the itinerary, I thought of my faithful Weber and the opportunity for it to serve on the international stage, and of course it didn't let me down (I'm getting a tear..).

My point with all this sap is that your grill has a lot more utility than you may have realized and exploring the possibilities of what it can do for you is not only a great adventure, but it will make you better cook (a legend even....)