Humble Pie

Had steaks for dinner last night. Juicily rendered on The Grill. A new Weber!

Now wait a second there, before you start shouting, Hypocrite! and, You Owe Erika an apology!, let me say that you would be right, it was a mouthful of humble pie for me to swallow when I finally said to the man at Lowes — who convinced me that of all the grills Lowes sold, Weber was in his opinion was the best made — “I’ll take it.”

I now think the cause of the fire may have been due to the buildup of drippings and crud in the base of the cook box, a blackened mat of greasy crud that eventually got so thick it started to burn, and burn HOT. In other words: Customer reports becoming lax regarding routine grill maintenance.

EVEN SO, if you ask this customer, poor maintenance should be expected by the manufacturer, no? And certain fail safes designed accordingly. I mean, if I never replace the oil in my car it won’t suddenly burst into flames or explode.

And so yesterday, as I “burned in” the grates to season them before I grilled our first protein (Nature Made Grass Fed Boneless Top Sirloin), I read studied thoroughly the section on “Routine Grill Maintenance.” I have not yet registered the product at Weber. With my luck Erika would see it and begin smugly parading around the Weber office where she works in Schaumburg, Ill, shouting, “Look everyone, that schmuck in Alaska bought another Weber grill! Same model even!!”

I take back everything I said. Truly, today, I am a man humbled. Tonight, moose burgers on the new Barbie!