I find it impossible to have a breakthrough day without worrying it’s a sign I must be about to drop dead or stroke out. Breakthrough days are rare. Progress is almost always one step forward, two steps back. But today was different. Today, I cracked open the world like it was a snow crab at Pinchy’s in Sevierville. First, a new video from Sal at SJ COOKS on YouTube, in which he dominates a picanha on a Weber Smokey Mountain with the water bowl out and the door off. Of course! The one thing I haven’t tried is the door off! Sure, I’ve cooked with the lid off for short bursts, but never the door off.
Oh wait. One time, I tried door off and lid off. Lots of oxygen feeding the fire. Flames everywhere. The results of that experiment were don’t try this ever again.
Door off allows you to add more wood or charcoal easily, without generating a bunch of dirty smoke. Dirty smoke is to barbecue as having your wife take a brick to your head is to marriage. Not desirable. Granted, for chicken thighs, you’re not going to be adding more wood or charcoal, because it’s a fast cook. But knowing you can if you want to? Freedom, baby!
You would think with the door off and all that air rushing in, you might be battling flare up’s. But with the lid on, there are no flare up’s. And it’s a clean burn. And oh, that delicious, smoky smell, with a combination of lump charcoal and apple and cherry wood chunks from Ukraine. They’re round, like tree limbs, rather than square like Home Depot.
Delicious! Yes, I was out there every ten minutes to make sure nothing burned, flipping and turning those chicken thighs like I was Muhammad Ali, floating like a butterfly, stinging like a bee. When they were done, I thought, “wow, somebody else must have made these.” They were that good.
Later in the evening, I turned my attention to my arch-nemesis, the chromatic harmonica. I’ve been on again off again with the chromatic for over forty years. It’s way more challenging than a standard blues harp like the Marine Band. I’m good at the blues harp, maybe even very good. After playing for the social media team at Bristol Caverns, they wanted me to move there and join the team so I could serenade them in the cave every day. I would have said “yes,” because I dream of setting up shop in Tennessee, where storytelling lives. But Penny dreams of migrating to Oregon, where our only-born daughter lives. So we remain in Boise, where no one lives, knowing that although we’re billed as the City of Trees, there are way more trees pretty much anywhere else.
What’s tripped me up on the chromatic is trying to play songs that are too hard to play, then giving up when I can’t play them. What I’m trying this time is easy songs, like On Top of Old Smoky and Moon River. I’m making headway, and not only that, I’m enjoying myself. I might even try A Hard Day’s Night before too long. That’s how cocky I’m feeling after the BBQ and chromatic victories.
Two breakthroughs in a day ought to be enough. But I’m not satisfied. There’s got to be something else doing the Damocles dance over my head.
A Hard Day’s Night is turning out to be a little bit trickier than I anticipated.
I’m Louis Barney Katz, Boise’s #2 storyteller, wedding officiant, and mobile notary. If you like my stories, share them with the people in your circle and introduce me to your magazine editor friends and event planners. I’ll travel anywhere the money’s right to tell stories up on stage or play harmonica in your cave. Also, keep an eye out for my first and so far only story collection, Stuck Inside of Boise with the Jonesborough Blues Again. I expect to complete it (and start it) any day now.