Legal Commentary

Mere Mortals

By Kenneth Anderson

Bow and scrape, mere mortals, before my awesome grill powers ... with wife away for another week in Guatemala, and daughter just back from there, I decided it would be too hot and time-consuming to do much cooking this week.  So I opted instead to make a gigantic fire in the grill, and then throw onto it pretty much anything grillable for the upcoming week.  So.  The buffalo flank steak ? if you go more than an minute or two, it will overcook and get tough, there is so little fat ? had been dry aging in the fridge for a straight week, smeared with a dry rub of cocoa, coffee, cinnamon, garlic, ginger, and chilis; once off the grill, drizzled with blueberry and lime and balsamic vinegar and olive oil, plus the blueberries, which are currently in season and on sale.  The slab of silver-bright salmon, rubbed with oil and chili powder and also finished with blueberries and fresh lime juice and zest.  The tray of thin sliced chicken breasts, flash grilled, and then tossed into a bath of coconut milk and ginger.  The round roast, browned all around the outside, then put on the patio in a slow cooker with red wine and garlic to braise.  A pot of quinoa and amaranth, with chopped clams, cooked in clam juice, white wine, garlic, and herbes de provence, finished with lemon juice and zest, vinagre de Jerez, and a truly yummy Spanish smoked olive oil (smoked over pine cones).  Roasted corn on the cob, parched on the grill and then re-moisturized with lemon and lemon zest, sea salt, just a bit of molassass, and  a splash of whisky, and also that smoked olive oil.  Whole peppers, tomatoes, garlic cloves, broccolini, green onion, asparagus, in olive oil and salt.

You will not be surprised to learn that I have been reading Catching Fire: How Cooking Made Us Human.  Every time blueberry season comes round, I think, forget all this academic law writing ? do a cookbook, Weight Loss Secrets of the Apex Predators: The Grizzly Bear Diet. Of course, speaking of grills and grizzly bear diets, did I mention the chubby neighborhood cat, the roast German shepherd, and the adorable little tyke from down the street looking all ... Gorey-like?

Full post as published by The Volokh Conspiracy on June 26, 2010 (boomark / email).