Chillin' & Grillin'...

Jakey in June is a local BBQ contest organized by one Richard Schmidt and held in the next-town-over, St. Jacob. In just a couple of years it has grown to be a truly respectable event featuring some champion bbqers, live entertainment and a kids cook-off.

Amelia enjoys cooking as much(or more) than the next kid but, she avoids the grill like she avoids spiders, high places, and... well... fire. Regardless, when I asked her if she wanted to participate in the grilling competition this year, she enthusiastically said "yes".

The age group that she is in grills 1 lb of hamburger. The contest provides the meat, a small weber-type grill with smoldering charcoal and some brave judges. It is up to the contestants to provide the rest. A couple of days before, I mentioned to the kid that she needs to decide what ingredients she wants to put in her burger and get them together. She requested the spice rack and a bowl and sat with them at the coffee table to experiment. I was cooking, in the kitchen, as she would ask,"What does ground ginger taste like?" and "How about allspice?". My answer every time was "You have to try it." Then I would hear "Oh, I like that" or "much too spicy" and such. She sprinkled the desired amounts of I-have-no-idea-how-many-or-what-type-of spices into the bowl. After about half an hour she brought the bowl to me and announced she was pleased with the result. I emptied the mixture into an old spice container and gave it to her to label and put away for safe keeping.

Two days before the event, Amelia informed her mom that she would be needing a new apron. Happily, gotoworkJulie went to the fabric store on her lunch hour and bought a couple of different fabrics and some complimenting trim what-not. Immediately following dinner she began designing/cutting/sewing/embroidering and hemming. By 9:30 she was finished. By 9:33 she had decided that she wasn't happy with the results and promptly started disassembling the garment and re-sewing. By 11:59 she was finished. Again. My wife's unspoken maxim is "nothing is worth sewing that isn't worth ripping apart and sewing again." The results speak for themselves. It is truly an awesome apron.

The day before the competition, Amelia said she would like to put some chopped pickles and shredded cheese into the burger, as these are the only condiments she finds tasty on her own burgers. I agreed that this sounded good and that we would finish getting these items together before we went.

The day of the show, we bagged up all of our ingredients and a spatula and arrived right on time for the competitor's meeting. Here, Richard Schmidt, went over the rules/requirements/suggestions and judging information. The kids were each given a pound of burger meat and told to get to it.

Amelia had never "handled" ground beef before and, after having dumped all of the ingredients on top, stood and stared at the uninviting pile for a moment. Reluctantly, and ever so gingerly, she began to knead the pile. It is amazing how giant 1 lb of burger meat appears with little-tiny hands sunk into it to the wrists. With some encouragement from me she mixed, divided and patted out 2 somewhat irregular shaped burgers. She indicated her satisfaction with the product and we bagged them to wait for the appointed grill time.

After an hour we were led to the awaiting grills. That it was hot is an understatement. 95f, in the direct sun, 20 charcoal grills with kids and parents(desperately trying to keep their kids safe/on the right track/not overly controlling...) swarming about made for a seriously intense half hour. Amelia approached her grill with understandable hesitation. I told her she had to "do it herself" so she reached in the bag, extracted the burgers and carefully dumped them, from a safe height, onto the grill. After a minute or two of watching and seeing the girl next to her flip her burgers, prematurely, she started telling me she wanted to do the same. This was the only place, so far, that I intervened. Patience my dear, Patience. By the time I offered my approval, her burgers had a perfect golden-brown crust while most other kids were knocking what little doneness they had off their patties, every couple of minutes. You should have seen my kid overcoming common sense to turn those things as the flame were leaping out of that grill. I admit, I was more than a little frightened but she accomplished it without tearing them up or flipping them off the grill. A pretty awesome effort for a first timer.

Amelia received an honorable mention ribbon and a check for $5, just like 27 of the 30 kids in the show. I don't think I could be prouder if she won Memphis in May...

stayathomebryan has found Barfy's grillmaster-in-training